All For HIM Marketing Solutions Inc.

Thursday, March 12, 2009

Hiring On the Cheap

HR departments are notorious for trying their hardest to hire the cheapest person for the position available.  I recently saw a Craigslist.org post that was put up by a large publishing company (mainly newspaper) in the OKC area.  It simply said they were looking for  Social Media Specialist and was accompanied by a long list of requirements that an applicant must posses.  Hmm... maybe a good freelance opportunity, I thought.  

I sent a simple email stating that I would be interested in discussing the position along with links to my FaceBook page, LinkedIn profile, and my blog.  The next day I received an email from the company's marketing department expressing their interest in me and requesting my salary requirements.  Whoa there!  Talk about putting the cart before the horse.  We hadn't even talked about the details like the expectations and needs of the company and they wanted me to commit to a price I would be willing to fill those needs for?  

Eventually, I got them to divulge the salary range for the position but still have no idea what their expectations are.  As I would understand by the position title (Social Media Specialist) the chosen candidate might do some of the following things in that role.
  • Update and maintain social media sites that represent the said company.
  • Maintain, write (maybe co-write, or schedule writers) of a company blog.
  • Constantly search for other blogs and posts for information that might be of interest or use of the said company.
Funny thing is, if this does happen to be what the company I communicated with had in mind, I don't think it would require full time commitment and could be done for about half of what they are offering.  However, they are asking for a 40 hour commitment.  Most people who are skilled in and experienced in social media and social networking, will require about 15% - 20% more than what they are offering to commit full time.  This is because most people in this line of work do some freelance and personal marketing to provide income and that would be hindered by one 40 hour commitment.

Chances are the above company will end up with a semi-experienced, semi-committed employee who is content in accepting 40 hours of pay for a job that should take 20-30 hours to complete.  This person will likely spend the other 10-20 hours of their week (for which they are getting paid) chatting by the water cooler, checking personal email or tasks, being monitored, causing stress for their supervisor, and so on.  

If the decision makers in the hiring process are flexible, will discuss their needs openly and candidly, and not try to land the cheapest 40 hour employee... they could get the same job done, in half the time, by a more experienced individual, who'll show more care, attention to detail, creativity, and passion for the task... at half the price.

The cheapest person for the job will often end up being your most expensive option and will rarely be the best person for the job.

JC

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I don't know about this fact of HR Department. I read your whole post its really nice & useful.
Samuel Peterson from Job Listing