Flexxy Recruitment Solutions



Fractional recruitment for engineering firms: when does it work?

You have several vacancies, but not yet enough work to justify taking on a permanent recruiter. Or perhaps you’re looking for a few specialist professionals and have realised that simply advertising vacancies isn’t enough. HR is trying to handle the recruitment on the side, hiring managers are approaching candidates themselves, and in the meantime, positions are remaining vacant for longer than is desirable.

In such a situation, fractional recruitment can be a practical solution.

With fractional recruitment, an experienced recruiter works for your organisation for part of the week – for example, one, two or three days a week. This gives you consistent recruitment capacity and senior expertise without having to take on a full-time recruiter straight away.

This makes fractional recruitment particularly suitable for small and medium-sized organisations that need to recruit seriously but do not yet require a full-time in-house recruitment role.

What is fractional recruitment?

A part-time recruiter is part of your organisation for an agreed number of hours per week. The recruiter works alongside HR, management and hiring managers and can carry out all or part of the recruitment process.

Consider:

  • refine job vacancies and job profiles;
  • conducting interviews with hiring managers;
  • research the labour market and the target group;
  • actively approach suitable candidates;
  • conduct job interviews;
  • support candidates throughout the process;
  • monitoring and reporting on progress;
  • improving recruitment processes and systems;
  • building talent pools for future vacancies.

The difference compared with traditional recruitment and selection is that a fractional recruiter does not work on just one placement. The recruiter supports your organisation for a specific period and takes a holistic view of your recruitment needs.

So this isn’t about providing a temporary employee for a technical role. The recruiter themselves will be assigned to your organisation on a temporary, part-time basis.

For which organisations does fractional recruitment work well?

1. Smaller companies that regularly have vacancies

For an organisation with just a few vacancies a year, a permanent recruiter is often not necessary. Nevertheless, recruitment takes a lot of time if every vacancy has to be tackled from scratch each time.

Writing job adverts, assessing applications, searching for candidates, scheduling interviews and maintaining contact are tasks often carried out by HR, a director or a hiring manager. These are not usually the people who can devote their time to this on a day-to-day basis.

A part-time recruiter therefore provides continuity without you having to create a full-time role straight away. The recruiter gets to know the organisation, the roles and the hiring managers, and can therefore work more and more quickly and effectively.

This would suit, for example, a growing technical company that regularly has a few specialist vacancies and wishes to adopt a more professional approach to recruitment.

2. Organisations experiencing a temporary surge in vacancies

Sometimes, a large volume of recruitment work can arise in a short space of time, more than the in-house team can handle. This might be due to growth, a new project, the expansion of a branch, staff replacements or the formation of a new team.

Hiring a permanent recruiter straight away is not always the best option. The peak may be over again after a few months.

A part-time recruiter can provide temporary additional capacity and prioritise the most important vacancies. Once the pressure eases, their involvement can be scaled back or brought to an end.

This offers greater flexibility than a permanent position and greater continuity than using a different agency for every vacancy.

3. Companies with specialist vacancies

A single hard-to-fill vacancy can generate far more work than five regular vacancies.

We see this regularly in the construction, building services, infrastructure, energy, engineering and manufacturing sectors. For example, an organisation may be looking for an experienced project manager, engineer, work planner, technical specialist or professional with knowledge of a specific system or market segment.

The right candidates do not usually apply of their own accord. They first need to be identified, carefully selected and approached personally. This requires time, expertise in sourcing, and a compelling pitch about the organisation and the role.

A part-time recruiter can carry out this search on a regular basis whilst also investigating why previous attempts have not yielded sufficient results.

Is it down to the target audience, the region, the terms of employment, the candidate profile, the job advertisement or the speed of the recruitment process? By answering these questions early on, you can prevent a job vacancy from being advertised in the same way for months on end.

4. Organisations where HR also handles recruitment

In smaller organisations, recruitment is often the responsibility of an HR adviser, HR manager or office manager. This can work perfectly well as long as the number of vacancies remains limited and enough candidates apply of their own accord.

It becomes more challenging when active sourcing is required. Searching for and approaching candidates requires focus and follow-up. That work can easily get lost amongst other HR priorities, such as absenteeism, contracts, development and day-to-day enquiries from staff.

A part-time recruiter takes over the day-to-day recruitment work, whilst HR remains involved in the organisation, culture and terms of employment.

This creates a clear division of responsibilities. HR retains the scope to fulfil its own responsibilities, whilst recruitment receives the attention it requires.

5. Organisations without a recruitment structure

Some companies have grown rapidly without their recruitment process keeping pace. Every hiring manager works in a different way, there are no standard procedures for communicating with candidates, and the ATS is rarely, if ever, used.

A part-time recruiter can do more than just fill vacancies.

During the assignment, the recruiter may also:

  • develop a set of standard intake questions;
  • agree on roles and responsibilities;
  • simplify the application process;
  • setting up templates and communication;
  • set up the ATS properly;
  • provide insight into lead time and conversion;
  • agreeing on procedures for feedback and decision-making;
  • Make the recruitment process transferable to HR or a future recruiter.

As a result, once the assignment is complete, you’re left not only with a list of filled vacancies, but also with a recruitment process that works more effectively.

You can read more about this section at Recruitment Empowerment.

6. Organisations that first want to find out how much recruitment capacity is required

It is not always clear from the outset whether a company needs a full-time recruiter.

By working with a fractional recruiter at the outset, it becomes clear just how much time recruitment actually takes, which vacancies require the most attention, and which tasks recur on a regular basis.

On that basis, the organisation can then make an informed decision. The use of a part-time consultant can be continued, expanded or handed over to a permanent recruiter.

Why training two days a week doesn’t automatically mean fewer results

A common belief is that a recruiter who works two days a week can only deliver a small fraction of the potential results. It’s not quite as simple as that.

Recruitment outcomes do not depend solely on the number of hours worked. They also depend on priorities, focus, speed, process design and collaboration with hiring managers.

If vacancies are prioritised effectively, initial interviews are focused and the process is well organised, a great deal can be achieved in a limited number of hours. This is certainly the case when an experienced recruiter does not first have to figure out how sourcing, selection and process management work.

The agreed hours limit the available capacity, but this does not necessarily mean that recruitment is fully operational on two fixed days a week and completely inactive for the rest of the week.

Candidates cannot always be scheduled within a fixed timetable. A response, enquiry or interview may also take place on a different day. That is why we organise our availability and follow-up procedures so that candidates and hiring managers do not have to wait unnecessarily.

That does not mean that every part-time recruiter is available at all times. It does, however, mean that their deployment is organised effectively around the recruitment process and the moments when speed is of the essence.

Fractional recruitment is therefore not a stripped-down form of recruitment. It is a deliberate choice to match an organisation’s actual capacity requirements.

What is the difference between interim and embedded recruitment?

The terms ‘fractional’, ‘interim’ and ‘embedded’ recruitment are closely related.

An interim recruiter is brought in on a temporary basis, for example to cover for someone on leave, due to business growth or a surge in vacancies. This role can be part-time or full-time.

An embedded recruiter works as part of the organisation and integrates with its internal systems, processes and communication channels. To candidates, this recruiter feels like part of the company.

Fractional recruitment specifically refers to the sharing of senior recruitment capacity. The recruiter works for the organisation for part of the week – for example, one or two days – and can adjust their hours throughout the collaboration.

In practice, these roles can overlap. A part-time recruiter can work on both interim and embedded assignments at the same time.

You can find out more about the various options on our Recruitment Services.

When is fractional recruitment less suitable?

Fractional recruitment is not the best option in every situation.

It is less suitable when:

  • a large number of job vacancies and applications have to be processed every day;
  • the organisation has a consistent workload sufficient to justify a full-time recruiter;
  • a permanent physical presence is required on five working days;
  • it relates exclusively to a single, clearly defined vacancy for which recruitment and selection are more appropriate;
  • there is insufficient time internally to interview candidates or make decisions;
  • hiring managers are unavailable for initial assessments, feedback and interviews.

Recruitment remains a collaborative process. Even an experienced recruiter cannot deliver good results if job requirements are constantly changing, candidates have to wait weeks for feedback, or vacancies are not given clear priority.

In such situations, a full-time interim recruiter, a permanent recruiter or a targeted recruitment and selection assignment may be a more logical option.

How many days of fractional recruitment do you need?

That depends on the number of vacancies, the complexity of the roles and how many parts of the process are being taken over.

One day a week may be suitable for a small organisation with a limited number of vacancies and a clear priority.

Working two days a week often works well when there are several vacancies, active recruitment is required and the process also needs to be overseen.

In the event of rapid growth, multiple hiring managers or a significant surge in vacancies, additional capacity may be required on a temporary basis. This can be scaled back again at a later date.

Flexxy therefore first looks at:

  • the number of current and anticipated vacancies;
  • the scarcity of the target groups;
  • what HR and hiring managers can do themselves;
  • the current recruitment approach and systems;
  • the desired speed;
  • the time required for sourcing, selection and process support.

On that basis, we determine a realistic level of commitment and set priorities.

Fractional recruitment for the construction, engineering and infrastructure sectors

Through its fractional recruitment services, Flexxy focuses on organisations in sectors including construction, building services engineering, infrastructure, energy, engineering and the manufacturing industry.

It is precisely within these sectors that small and medium-sized organisations regularly have specialist vacancies, whilst hiring a full-time recruiter is not always cost-effective.

Flexxy combines hands-on recruitment and sourcing with expertise in stakeholder management, recruitment processes, ATS, data and automation. This enables us not only to find candidates, but also to ensure that the recruitment process as a whole runs more smoothly.

Find out more about our experience with recruitment in engineering, construction and infrastructure.

Is fractional recruitment suitable for your organisation?

Fractional recruitment can be a good solution if you want to take recruitment seriously but don’t yet need a full-time recruiter.

It provides access to experienced recruitment expertise without you having to create a permanent role straight away. The arrangement is flexible, the recruiter gets to know your organisation, and the approach can evolve in line with your actual needs.

Are you experiencing a surge in vacancies, do you have a few specialist roles, or do you lack the internal capacity to carry out recruitment effectively? If so, we’d be happy to discuss what form and level of support would be realistic.

Please contact Flexxy for an initial discussion about your vacancies and recruitment needs.