How Do I Find CRM Talent?

Staffing and recruiting for technology – and specifically CRM staff augmentation – can be a tricky business. Employers are increasingly struggling in their search for technology candidates – and they seem to all be hitting the same common roadblocks. But a little knowledge goes a long way, even in the crazy world of CRM talent acquisition and staff augmentation.

So what are the Top 5 Challenges in Recruiting the Best CRM Talent?

1. A Shortage of Skilled Candidates. There is a dearth of CRM talent out there – and an even more troubling lack of development in the existing talent pool. This combined with most recruiter’s inability to identify and meaningfully engage talent has brought many recruiting efforts to a standstill. A recent survey of CIOs shows that nearly two-thirds believe a talent shortage is holding their technology (and thus their business) initiatives back. In fact, finding and recruiting very high-end talent is almost impossible at times – and those CRM thought-leader type positions sit vacant at a disproportionate rate.
2. The Right Cultural Fit. So, you hit the jackpot and actually found in a candidate what you were looking for in regard to CRM expertise. But do they fit in with the company culture you have developed? So often, recruiters and HR departments are so concerned with the technical expertise required of their CRM job candidates, that they simply cross their fingers as it relates to those folks meshing with the team. Not vetting for company culture will wreak havoc on your employee retention and cost you more in the long run. It’s important stuff.
3. It’s a Candidate Driven Market. Since, as mentioned, the talent pool is tight, CRM job candidates have an upper hand in their compensation requirements. But you know what they say about getting what you pay for. The good news here is that there are options, like CRM Partners, who specialize in staff augmentation and who have various compensation structures to choose from.
4. Your Own Inefficient Hiring Process. We all know how labyrinthian employee acquisition efforts can be. While your organization’s hiring process chugs along with second and third interview gaps of days or weeks, you competitors with a more streamlined employee acquisition process will scoop up that talent. It is essential to respect your CRM technician candidates and not expect them to sit by while your hiring process crawls along. Because they won’t.
5. Recruiters and HR Firms Don’t Have the Knowledge to Effectively Screen. Let’s be straight here. Scouring LinkedIn profiles and poring over aggregate resume sites in search of CRM talent won’t get you anywhere close to the best candidates. And you would be surprised how many standard recruiting firms do just that. Even if a recruiter does miraculously happen upon a worthy candidate, they simply don’t possess the depth of CRM knowledge needed to properly screen at a high level. Technology – and CRM specifically – have so many levels of expertise and nuance that, without engaging experts in the field, your hiring efforts are doomed to suck up both time and cash before the candidate ever makes it onto the payroll.

How Do We Get the CRM Talent We Need?
After spending years in the space, building deep expertise in CRM and understanding the challenges of CRM talent acquisition, Empellor CRM recognized the utter lack of opportunity for firms to efficiently and effectively get the CRM talent they need – and so we pivoted our businesses to include CRM staff augmentation. We offer our Staff Augmentation as a service that is built from the same process we use to staff our own firm. As true CRM experts, we essentially act as a top CRM recruiting firm, but with the insight and expertise to identify top talent and screen in a meaningful, comprehensive way.

As CRM and enterprise technology continue to expand their presence in every market sector throughout the globe – and the need for CRM talent and expertise is likewise growing exponentially – enterprise organizations are increasingly relying on the CRM Partner Staff Augmentation model.

CRM Staff Augmentation means experts vetting experts. It just makes sense.

By Christopher Smith, Founder & CEO of Empellor CRM.