Over the past year I’ve noticed more organisations trying to “save money” by recruiting directly instead of using a specialist recruiter – especially in Change Management.
I completely understand the intent. Budgets are tight. Everyone is looking for efficiencies.
But here’s the part no one talks about:
Time is money. And the time you’ll burn doing it yourself can far outweigh any savings.
Let me paint the picture…
100+ Applications… and That’s Just the Start
A standard Change Management advert now attracts anywhere from 80-150 applications (sometimes more).
On the surface:
“Great! Lots of interest!”
In reality:
Your Talent Team or hiring manager is about to lose weeks (not days) weeks of time – and they are already stretched!
Let’s break it down:
5 minutes to properly review a CV (and 5 minutes is generous).
Multiply by 100+ applications = 500 minutes = 8.3 hours of reading CVs.
Now add time for shortlisting, rejecting, writing notes, internal meetings, and scheduling.
And this is before you’ve spoken to a single candidate.
But Here’s the Bigger Issue… Talent Teams Don’t Always Know What “Good Change” Looks Like
This is the part that hurts organisations the most.
Internal Talent Teams are smart, capable and hardworking – but they are generalists, not OCM specialists.
Change Management is full of nuance:
- Behavioural change
- Operating model redesign
- Digital & AI adoption
- Enterprise transformation
- Capability uplift
- Global vs local change maturity
- Stakeholder complexity
Most Talent Teams can only assess the CV at face value – not the depth of the practitioner’s capability, nor their track record, nor their operating style… or whether they can actually deliver the outcomes your project needs.
So what happens?
The best Change practitioners never make it past the first screen.
I see this constantly.
A hiring manager will be handed a “shortlist” of 10–20 CVs, and I’ll look at it and think:
“The strongest candidates aren’t even in this pile.”
That’s not the fault of Talent.
It’s simply that Change is a specialism – one that’s hard to assess unless you live and breathe it.
The Hidden Cost: Your Hiring Manager’s Time
When the wrong people make it through the first cut, your hiring manager ends up:
- Reviewing CVs that should have been filtered out
- Interviewing candidates who were never suited
- Restarting the process when the wrong hire is made
- Losing weeks of productivity on a critical transformation
And again…
Time is money.
The Actual Cost of Recruiting Directly? More Than You Think.
When organisations choose not to use a specialist recruiter, the “savings” usually look like this:
- A Talent Team drowning in admin
- Hiring managers losing hours they don’t have
- Strong candidates slipping through the cracks
- Projects delayed
- Teams burnt out
- The wrong hire costing far more than a recruitment fee ever would
Contrast that with working with a specialist:
✔ I already know the market
✔ I know which Change practitioners are outstanding (and why)
✔ I know the cultural fit, strengths, blind spots, and delivery style
✔ I’ve built trusted relationships over 13+ years
✔ You receive a true shortlist – not 20 CVs to wade through
✔ You save time, money and headspace
Specialist Hiring Isn’t a Cost – It’s a Time Saver (and a Risk Mitigator)
In Change Management, talent determines the success of your transformation.
The right practitioner accelerates outcomes.
The wrong one slows everything down.
And when internal teams are juggling hundreds of applications, the risk of missing the right person is huge.
If you want to save real money, save your time.
If your organisation is gearing up for change (operating model, digital, AI, culture, process or enterprise transformation), and you want a curated, accurate shortlist – not 100+ CVs to sift through – I’d love to help.
Recruiting in Organisational Change isn’t just what I do. It’s all I do.
Day in, day out.
Feel free to reach out if you want to partner with someone who lives and breathes this space – so your time is spent leading change, not sorting CVs.