At Risch Results, we’ve had recent success working with clients in a new way: fractional contract recruiting. In this article, we want to walk through some frequently asked questions about this arrangement. Should your organization bring a fractional contract recruiter in house? Read on to find out.
- What is a fractional contract recruiter?
- What are the benefits of this model?
- When does a fractional contract recruiter make sense?
- Case Study: Risch Results and Communities Foundation of Texas
What is a fractional contract recruiter?
Let’s start by pointing out the difference between working with Risch Results as a retained search firm and bringing us in-house as a fractional contract recruiter.
In many cases, working with a retained search firm is a great way to help organizations with your talent acquisition needs. This is how Risch Results works in most circumstances. Our clients retain us to source and fill one or more positions at their company. In return, we cast a wide net to attract and assess talented candidates who will add value to the role.
On the other hand, sometimes clients experiencing rapid growth or sourcing many positions at a time may want to bring a recruiter into their organization or HR team on a fractional basis. In this case, Risch Results dedicates one of our recruiters to your organization. It’s a flexible arrangement, but our team members will work directly with your hiring managers, HR team, and leadership to source 8 or more roles at once, typically over the course of 6 months or more.
What are the benefits of this model?
The primary benefit of bringing in a fractional recruiter is the ability to source many roles at once with an expert team member dedicated entirely to your organization’s talent acquisition. Here are a few more benefits:
- In times of growth, fill more roles more quickly and more effectively
- Have a team member who can bring in market research, industry compensation knowledge, and assessments to your hiring needs
- Receive the support of the Risch Results research team and access to our database to source candidates
- Our recruiters can implement processes if your HR team doesn’t already have an efficient talent acquisition process. Or, we can adapt to yours!
- If you’re receiving active applications, dedicating a team member to screen applicants
- If you’re not receiving many applications, having an experienced Risch Results recruiter able to source top talent
When does a fractional contract recruiter make sense?
Will this model work for you? Here are some criteria to consider:
- You’re filling 10 or more positions at once because you’re growing, restructuring, launching, or starting up
- You anticipate needing to continue filling a large number of positions over the course of six months or more
- You might have an HR team, but you don’t have a person/team dedicated to the time consuming process of talent acquisition or recruiting
- You need a talent acquisition person on board for a temporary/interim amount of time
- Your current hiring process is moving slowly because your hiring managers and HR team don’t have the bandwidth to move it along
Case Study: Risch Results and Communities Foundation of Texas
Ashley Hughes from Risch Results has been working as a fractional contract recruiter for Communities Foundation of Texas for over 12 months. CFT came to us with a large number of roles to fill. As a well-known nonprofit, they were receiving many applicants to the jobs they posted. And even though they have a capable HR team, they needed a person dedicated entirely to talent acquisition to help fill the roles effectively and efficiently.
Here’s how Ashley helped:
- Worked hand in hand with CFT’s HR team on a fractional basis as an allocated talent acquisition person
- Met with hiring managers to understand roles and fine-tune job descriptions
- Managed up to 8 open positions at a time
- Screened applicants to determine who should come in for interviews
- Sourced candidates when necessary
- Became a point of contact for candidates and hiring managers in the interview process
- Coordinated interviews, supplied interview questions, and debriefed post interviews with hiring managers
- Kept lines of communications open with candidates to “keep them warm” in the process
- Offered market research, assessments, and compensation strategy when needed
And here are the results! In 12 months, Ashley has helped CFT hire over 25 positions. She is currently in the process of hiring her replacement: a talent acquisition manager. Here are a few of the roles she’s filled:
- Chief Marketing Officer
- Executive assistant to Sr. Director, Donor Relations and Services
- Multiple finance positions
- Policy and advocacy positions
- Human Resources positions
- Development positions
- Director of Facilities
In the process, Ashley worked with hiring managers ranging from the manager level to the CEO, CFO, and CHRO.
We’re grateful to have been able to work with CFT in this way. We know this model could help other organizations moving through similar periods of growth.
Talk to us about your recruiting needs
Every organization is unique, and every hiring situation is unique. Could this model work for you? Let’s chat! Reach out to us to discuss your goals, and we’ll come up with a solution that fits.