Looking at your recruitment strategy for the coming months? You might be wondering whether you should be hiring for interim or permanent positions. And it’s worth having a think about. After all, there’s a number of factors that will determine which type of contract will suit your organisation.
So, in this blog, we set out to answer exactly that…
The availability of skills
One of the biggest reasons why companies choose to hire on an interim basis is because they require someone to work on a specific project – such as meeting new compliance standards or regulations. Typically, if skills are in short supply or you need them for a specified length of time, interim hiring is the best approach.
“When you hire on an interim basis, you can expect a better calibre of candidate due to the fact they really have been there and done that. If the interim has been around long enough, they would have encountered and overcome most of the common issues in the industry. It means they can really hit the ground running and get stuff sorted from the first moment on site.” Harriet Walker, Interim Recruitment Consultant at Silven.
Interim professionals will have a strong set of skills, and could have worked with a number of businesses – meaning they can bring a huge amount of knowledge and expertise to your team, and fast. However, that’s not to say that a permanent employee won’t. There’s plenty of permanent candidates on the market, looking for work now. Plus, there’s always the fact that you can train them to be the exact worker you want with the skills that you need. And benefit from the investment too!
The cost
Interim professionals may come with a higher day rate but by the time all the necessary contributions and taxes are taken into account, there is rarely much difference between them and a permanent employee. Favoured for their flexibility, the hiring of interim professionals can be scaled up or down depending on business and project needs.
However, as mentioned above, it’s important not to view any associated costs with a permanent hire as wasted money. Often, there’s more stability in this way of hiring and you know that any resources spent on training are going straight back into your business.
“Any investment into a permanent candidate should be seen as investment into your own company. Think about it this way: if you pay for your staff to go on a training course, skills learned there are only going to help your business grow.” Emma Hanson, Permanent Recruitment Consultant at Silven.
Time to hire
Need a candidate and need them fast? Interims typically have shorter notice periods and many are available for immediate work. There’s also the fact that you don’t have to focus so much on interim employees being a complete cultural fit and can instead focus on the requirements for the specific task at hand.
“Interims are a fantastic short-term fix for a specific project – for example, if you’re onboarding M&S onto a site but don’t have anyone with even basic experience of their policies and procedures. It’s an efficient way of bringing expertise into the picture.” Harriet Walker, Interim Recruitment Consultant at Silven.
But hiring for a permanent position doesn’t have to be a drawn-out process. With our very own video interviewing platform, Silven Screen, we’ve been able to reduce the time to hire by half.
If you’re struggling to weigh up the options for your hiring strategy, drop us a message today. Here at Silven, we have all the food market insight and advice to ensure that your next hire is the right fit for you.