When it comes to recruiting for treasury jobs, many business owners or treasury leaders assume that the best way to find top talent is by hiring internally. This assumption is often based on the belief that an internal hiring process is more efficient and cost-effective than working with a recruitment consultancy.

However, there are several reasons why recruitment agencies should be your go-to option for finding treasury talent. Recruitment consultancies are often a much better option when it comes to finding qualified treasury candidates for reasons you may not have considered.

What is the difference between a recruitment consultancy and recruiting in-house?

A recruitment agency acts as an outsourced partner for your recruitment needs.

When recruiting in-house, the recruitment process will be undertaken by people within the organisation hiring for the role.

In-house recruitment may be managed by the person responsible for the team in which they are looking to recruit for. For example, a Treasury Manager may be responsible for the full recruitment process of hiring a Treasury Analyst. Often, but not always, a member of HR in larger businesses may also form part of the process.

Another method of in-house recruitment is to hire an internal recruiter or internal recruitment team to manage the hiring needs of the business. Internal recruiters tend to be more generalist in terms of the roles they recruit for to fulfill the needs of the overall business, meaning they are usually hiring for a variety of skill sets across multiple disciplines.

A lot of recruitment agencies choose a niche to recruit for, or at least a specific industry or sector. That said, there are still recruitment consultancies that recruit across numerous disciplines.

In the case of The Treasury Recruitment Company, we do exactly what it says on the tin! We recruit for treasury roles, and treasury roles alone, meaning we truly know what we’re talking about when it comes to hiring the best treasury professionals in the most efficient way.

But we would say that, wouldn’t we!

Using a recruitment consultancy: the pros & cons

Pros:

• Consultancies & agencies have the knowledge and expertise to identify the best candidates for specific positions, plus the resources and networks to reach those candidates.
• The knowledge and expertise of recruitment consultancies are especially valuable when it comes to treasury jobs due to the specific skills required within the industry.
• Treasury positions are highly technical and require a specific set of skills and knowledge. The best candidates for these positions are often not actively looking for a new job. They may be happily employed, and not be aware of openings that would be a perfect fit for their skills and experience.
• Recruitment consultancies have the capabilities to identify those passive candidates that may not necessarily be looking for a new role, but open to exploring an exciting when approached.
• Recruitment consultancies have the time to dedicate to the recruitment process as this is what they do for a living, whereas a hiring manager may not have the time to dedicate to a hiring process whilst doing their usual day-to-day job.

Other benefits to using a recruitment consultancy for treasury job positions include:

Time savings: Recruitment consultancies can save you a significant amount of time in the recruitment process as they often have readily available candidates.

Cost savings: Recruitment consultants can save you money by helping you to avoid costly mistakes in the recruitment process.

Access to a wider pool of candidates: Recruitment agencies have access to a wider pool of candidates than you would be able to reach on your own.

Greater objectivity: Recruitment consultancies can provide a level of objectivity that is difficult to achieve when you are recruiting for your own organisation.

Improved candidate experience: Recruitment consultants can help to improve the candidate experience, making it more likely for you to secure your preferred candidates.

Cons:

• Some businesses may not have the budget to use a recruitment consultancy, and therefore a consultancy is not always viable.
• Equally, businesses that do have the budget may opt to recruit in-house to avoid paying a fee to a consultancy for hires.
• A consultancy may not be able to provide the personal touch of an in-house recruiter as they aren’t part of the team making the hire.
• A consultancy may not have as much in-depth knowledge or information available to them about the company they are hiring for as an internal recruiter.

Recruiting in-house: the pros & cons

Pros:

• Some businesses may prefer to recruit in-house as they feel this will save them money. If you have a competent in-house recruiter that specialises in treasury, this can save the business having to pay a consultancy fee for any hires.
• You may feel you have more control over the recruitment process by hiring in-house if you have good internal processes in place.
• In-house recruitment can be more flexible than using a recruitment consultancy, which again comes back to having good internal processes in place.
• If you hire regularly for treasury positions, you may opt to hire a specialist treasury recruiter in-house which could provide you with all the expertise and experience needed to fulfil your needs without the use of an consultancy.
• In-house recruitment can be more personal than using a recruitment consultancy due to the recruiter being part of the company for which they are hiring.

Cons:

• In-house recruiters that don’t specialise in treasury won’t have the same depth of knowledge or understanding of the treasury market as a specialist treasury consultancy.
• You could spend more money overall if mistakes are made by hiring the wrong candidate.
• It could take you longer to make the hire than if you used a consultancy that have the right processes in place and often have readily available candidates straight away.
• In-house recruiters may not have a talent pool available to them for specific roles, meaning you could be missing out on the best candidates available.
• When recruiting in-house within your team, say as a Treasury Manager, you can often quickly realise you don’t have the time to dedicate to a thorough search and application process.

What do I need to think about?

1. How senior or junior is the role?

The seniority of the role is one of the key things to consider. Entry-level treasury candidates may be a lot easier to recruit for in-house than more senior positions if you’re following a good recruitment process.

Treasury is forever growing in popularity, meaning the number of candidates looking to break into the industry is on the rise.

However, the more senior the position the more complex the hiring process becomes.

This is where a recruitment consultancy provides real value in identifying top talent, usually a lot quicker and efficiently than in-house recruiters.

2. Is there a particular skill set required?

There are a number of different skill sets required to be considered a top treasury professional.

From soft skills such as communication, attention to detail and leadership to technical skills that may include cash management, FX, or risk management.

Identifying the skillset required is important and requires thorough communication between the hiring manager and the recruiter, whether that’s a consultancy or in-house.

3. What does the treasury market look like now?

A specialist treasury recruiter will be able to provide insights into the current treasury market.

This includes things such as the availability of candidates and their demand, the best approach to securing the best talent, and the market rate at each treasury level via data-collated tools such as our treasury salary survey.

These kinds of insights may not be readily available to an in-house recruiter, whereas this information will be available at the drop of a hat if you work with the right treasury recruitment consultancy.

Summary: What does this mean for recruiting for treasury jobs?

Well obviously, the only place to go for your hiring needs is The Treasury Recruitment Company. This is obvious.

But if we are to be objective, there are obvious pros and cons to hiring in-house and using a consultancy as we’ve listed.

Recruitment consultancies have access to a wider pool of candidates. This means that they are more likely to have the ideal candidate for the role you are looking to fill.

Additionally, consultancies have the resources and expertise to screen candidates so that you only interview the most qualified individuals. While it may appear more expensive to use a consultancy, the time and money you save overall makes it well worth the investment.

That said, a consultancy won’t be the right option for everyone and we’re incredibly happy to shake hands and wish you well if we have identified we’re not able to help you for whatever reason that may be.

Hiring for your treasury team or considering a new treasury opportunity?

Get in touch for a no-obligation chat on how we may be able to support you!