Unlock the Power of Flexible Hiring

How can you make smart hiring trade-offs without breaking the budget?

Hiring managers love to play the role of a sports team's GM, trading & deviating from the hiring plan set at the beginning of the year. For a finance team or business owner, they trust that the hiring manager is making the best decision for the needs of the business, as long as it stays within the budget that was agreed upon. Handing over a greater level of autonomy to the leader of a team to make the best hiring decision can save significant time in an already difficult & drawn-out process. The goal is to set up the appropriate amount of guardrails, while staying flexible for what is most often the largest expense on a company's P&L.

Here are the most common use-cases that I've come across when a team is considering adjusting their hiring plans:

• Hiring a contractor in place of a full-time role.
• Combining multiple, lower-leveled roles into a single, more experienced hire.
• Enlisting the help of an executive recruiter or offering sign-on bonuses.
• Moving the start date of a new hire to stay within an annual budget.

Below is one outline that I've used to make trades between existing hiring plans. Follow these steps to see if you're making a trade your business can live with:

1. Capture the current hiring plan (incl. start date, salary, benefits, and recruiting costs).
2. Test alternative hiring plans with those same inputs categories.
3. See how much your new hiring plan is costing or saving your business within the current year, as well as on an annualized basis.
4. Decide which hiring plan is worth pursuing, and go recruit the best people.

Create your hiring trade-offs below, then copy the results and save them wherever you'll be able to refer to them best.