During our almost 20 years of providing recruitment services, once in a while we come across hiring companies with very narrow standards for their search process. We have come across companies that only want to hire candidates within their specific geographic region and/or within their own niche industry. Knowing what you want in your next hire is great, but certain constraints can prevent you from hiring the best candidate for your position and for your company. Based on our experience, we'd like to show you the benefits of broadening your search.
The Local-Only Mindset
It is understood why some hiring companies wish to recruit in their own local area. In addition to avoiding relocation expenses, some hiring companies see hiring outside their district as a risk. They do not want to relocate someone and then the person does not work out in the role. It is also believed that, for certain roles, the hired individual will be more successful if they are from the local area. For instance, some hiring companies look for local sales people because they will already have the desired local connections.
Arguments for Broadening Geographic Constraints
Seeking candidates from outside of your local region - whether that be out of State or outside of a certain mile radius - can bring benefits to your business. First, in regards to any local candidates you are aware of, it is likely that your local competitors are aware of them too. Competing for the same group of candidates over and over offers no competitive edge to you and may result in paying higher, more competitive wages. Second, bringing in a candidate from outside your region could mean introducing someone with a more diverse point of view, potentially improving the way you find solutions and increase innovation.
The Industry-Specific Mindset
It is understood why some hiring managers wish to hire someone who is already working in their specific niche area of industry. Hiring a candidate with direct experience in your industry comes with the expectation that they will be able to "hit the ground running" once hired. This means that it is expected the candidate won't require much training and will be able to make positive impacts to the business right away. It is also expected that candidates coming from a very similar industry will have a strong network of like-minded professionals.
Arguments for Broadening Industry-Specific Constraints
Depending on how unique and specific your area of industry is, this can really limit the number of qualified candidates available to you. The fewer candidates available with your specific industry experience, the higher the competition is to recruit them and the higher the cost is to hire them. In these situations, you might see more results by taking the time to determine what skills a candidate really needs to be successful in your industry and what other industries have candidates with these skills. This will result in a more creative recruitment approach and potentially the hiring of someone a little more under the radar. It is also important to remember that, no matter how much of the right industry experience a candidate has, there is still a level of training a new candidate will require before they will be able to make contributions to their new company. So why not hire someone with interest in your industry and transferable skills.
Running a search with narrow requirements will result in your company competing for the same candidates over and over and your candidate pool will remain small. Once you focus on just the necessary qualities of the candidate, constraints can be lifted and you open your company up to a much larger and diverse candidate pool and a much larger list of possibilities.
