It’s a cliché that ‘you get what you pay for’, but the significance behind the notion from a Talent Management perspective has taken on extra meaning in recent years, particularly as digitalisation takes hold. Today, perhaps a more suitable phrase would be ‘you get what you invest in’.

Mistakes or falling behind the curve can inflate to a far greater extent within a fast-paced environment. More often than not, such a challenge can either be exacerbated or solved by hiring the right people.

If you wish to scale at pace, you need to hire with suitability, efficiency and accuracy in mind. Having said this, scaling shouldn’t be used impulsively to support already established structures, people and processes. The whole notion of scaling entails a requisite need for continued development alongside each decision, and this includes recruitment; even under the umbrella of the ‘gig economy’.

From an HR perspective, companies need to be braver and more aggressive in their hiring strategies if they are to align with the inevitably aggressive targets in place during a scaling period.

The notion behind ‘getting what you pay for’ doesn’t just reflect the outlay itself anymore. You may pay more and still get poor returns in regard to the chosen candidate; hence why it’s important to merge smartness with aggression during HR investments.

Hitting the ground running

Of course, with the desire to expand and evolve rapidly and impactfully, finding the right person to integrate presents more of an inter-departmental challenge. This is because the stakes are higher.

Companies that are accelerating and expanding at a rapid pace can’t afford to have a defective cog in the machine, even for a short period. Hiring a weak link merely causes increased inefficiency through wasted resources and time. Ultimately, failing to integrate someone into the company means reverting back to Plan A and beginning the process again. As a result, there is increased pressure for companies to find an optimum candidate first time in order to avoid this mistake.

Organisations need to ensure they’re unearthing candidates that not only hit the ground running at a pace they’re already moving, but that can overtake and inject extra pace into the journey; all the while staying in the same lane of strategy and ethos that is already laid out.

Senior trusted resources

Having said this, the process of finding new employees who inject fresh enthusiasm and perspective into an already successful scaling phase is improbable through outdated, traditional HR processes and hiring techniques.

At Match Performance, we have seen numerous instances, particularly in the fintech realm, of companies growing at a colossus rate and expanding across continents to great success; only to stumble when it comes to incidents of mis-hiring.

This is where our data-driven talent identification and recruitment proposition comes in; to encourage a fresh onus on mitigating this hurdle. Many companies are subsequently reaping the benefits of leveraging senior trusted resources instead of taking a chance on untested market bargains.

Making the right decision

It is important to recognise how rare it is to find effective talent in a scaling phase. By partnering with someone like Match, you can overcome the difficulties in finding talent, and the pitfalls associated with mis-hiring. Despite the initial outgoing being higher, by placing trust in data and technologically-driven solutions, the likelihood of more successful long-term hires to accommodate evolution projections is vastly enhanced.

Recently in the UK, the landscape has diversified even further through the advent of the HMRC’s IR35. This legislation revolves around partnering with an organisation who can provide permanents, contractors and teams of people to offer clients various opportunities to work. Again, this shines extra light on making the right decision from the offset, in order to capitalise on the opportunity and maintain positive relationships with external partners.

It’s a climate that no longer forgives unnecessary mistakes. And fortunately, for organisations of all sizes, there are readymade solutions and facilitators out there to mathematically reduce the chances of these mistakes occurring in the first place.

Trusting traditional solutions to achieve scaling goals through talent detection and integration at such a critical time of an organisation’s development, is no longer a risk anyone should be willing to take.