​There are many challenges that come with running a scaling business – demand, supply, product, projects and perhaps the biggest challenge of them all... your growing workforce.

Knowing how and when to grow your team to consistently keep up with the demand of your success, without over resourcing and blowing all hope of achieving profit, is a very fine line to tread. Ensuring you have sufficient people capability and resource to satisfy demand, without carrying too many and throwing off the balance of your organisation is often the difference between success and failure.

Who knew that one of the greatest skills you’d need as a technology business leader would be to walk the tight rope...?!

So, this begs the question – when is the right time to recruit?

There are the obvious spikes in activity…

-          January (new year, new me – ammirite?!)

-          March/April (new financial year and allllll the budget to play with)

-          September (a summer spent with kids and back to work for a ‘break’)

All of these can be somewhat planned and accounted for – your job descriptions can be carefully crafted, hiring strategy meticulously laid out and every part of your process assessed to the nth degree. You know these events are in the pipeline so you can start with plenty of headway, safe in the knowledge that time is on your side and any impact from these hires not happening immediately is all factored in.

But what happens when you win a major project? When someone leaves? What happens when you need to go OFF plan…?

How well set up is plan B?

Or plan C?

After all, we all know recruitment is rarely straight forward.. how well set up are plans D, E, F and G?!

As of August 2021, in the fields of Engineering and Technology, the average recruitment process took 49 days. From the date of role finalised, through to offer accepted, 49 days. Factor in the industry standard 12 week notice period; you and your business, will likely be without your key hire(s) for a minimum of 19 weeks. Even best case scenario, we’re looking at 5 months to handle 1 technical role.

Based on sample data of 1000 roles registered with SoCode during the past 12 months, the following trends can be observed:

-          254 roles (25.4%) registered in Q1

-          282 roles (28.2%) registered in Q2

-          221 roles (22.1%) registered in Q3

-          243 roles (24.3%) registered in Q4

With a largely even split throughout the year, the ability to time when you hire top Cambridge talent is challenging – lots of great businesses, with lots of great opportunities, all climbing over one another trying to access the best person for their role. But you’re an ambitious scaling business, aren’t you? So there isn’t just 1 role, is there?

There’s multiple….

Development teams to be built, products to be owned and sales to be made – juggling multiple stages of interview processes, across multiple roles, across multiple divisions can play a heavy toll on your lean, mean scaling machine. And, inevitably, with so many of your key players out of action and away from the coal face things begin to slip.. Products developing slower, quality falling below par, clients becoming unsatisfied… All your growth plans suddenly feeling very costly and time consuming, don’t they?

But you MUST grow, so what can you do?

Through carefully selecting your recruitment partner, you can build a pipeline of talent that will not only steer your ship through the choppiest of waters, but give you the time and space to take advantage of and maximise all of the opportunities presented to your business.

A partner that will allow you to be on the front foot and in control, regardless of circumstances, making the right decisions at the right time and really make hay whilst the Sun is shining.

A partner that becomes a trusted extension of the team, who knows you and your plans, and will consistently provide solutions that alleviate the pressure of growing your workforce.

With a Cambridgeshire candidate network in excess of 10,000 people, SoCode are the partner of choice for many of the most innovative and fastest growing businesses in the region. From FTSE 100 to Start Up, we’ve consistently delivered the personnel requirements our clients have needed and allowed them to achieve their growth objectives. Through years of relationship building with the local technology community, we know the best of the best and exactly what they want.

CV send to interview ratio of 57%

Interview to placement ratio of 23%

Offer to acceptance ratio of 96%

Against a national average of 49 days, our time to hire is 20.

How much could you gain if you saved almost 4 weeks on every hire?

How much could you gain with less interview time and more free time to spend doing what you do best?

How much could you gain if hiring and growth were completely taken care of?

Increased productivity, increased efficiency, increased confidence. A recipe for success in an ambitious scaling business.

So... when IS the best time to recruit, I hear you ask...

There really is only one answer…. When partnering with SoCode!