HR consulting

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A personnel consultancy advises companies on their search and selection of specialists and managers. It includes the support of discovery processes , the design and implementation of assessment measures that personnel development , compensation consulting, HR marketing , support in the organization (development) as well as strategic and conceptual issues in personnel work.

The development of personnel consulting

After the Second World War, due to the rapidly advancing industrialization , the service of professional personnel consulting (in the sense of the search for specialists and executives) established itself in the USA. At the end of the 1950s, the long-term human resource planning approach finally caught on in Germany as well.

In 2018, according to the Federal Association of German Management Consultants (BDU), sales rose by 7.5 percent to 2.19 billion euros. A total of around 7,600 personnel consultants work in around 2,000 consulting firms. A total of around 15,000 people were employed in the personnel consulting sector in Germany in 2018.

Advantages of a personnel consultancy

The advantage of a personnel consultancy is that the personnel consultant has very good knowledge of the current labor market situation and can usually demonstrate relevant academic training or, in the meantime, specially tailored further training (e.g. specialist personnel placement and personnel consultancy) from the chambers of industry and commerce, who have business management thinking and Action connects with human resource management. The services of a personnel consultancy are used more and more frequently with increasing complexity in the internal as well as in the external environment. Furthermore, company resources can be better used by outsourcing personnel search and selection. In addition, neutrality, discretion and image protection play an important role for the company. Another advantage is the reduction in errors in the selection of employees, which is offered by the greater objectivity of the personnel consultancy acting between the applicant and the future employer. This professionalization lies, for example, in a structured needs analysis and a professional and personal competence profile. Such personnel consultants were often active in previous occupations in similar activities. The particular advantage of this approach is the high quality of the match between the candidate's knowledge and experience and the requirements of the position. Through this precise approach required are interviews reduced and the cost reduced.

Disadvantages of a personnel consultancy

The biggest disadvantage of using a personnel consultancy is that the client has no control over the communication behavior of the personnel consultant and therefore does not know whether the personnel consultant is not also trying to acquire employees or executives from his associated business partner or his own customers. In addition, it is sometimes difficult for the client to control how confidential information or trade secrets are handled. In addition, a major disadvantage is that the industry does not have any protection for the professional title and no market standards have been established with regard to services, contract modalities and conditions. As a result, it happens again and again that headhunters can conclude exclusive gag contracts that restrict the client in the free search for personnel.

Personnel “profiling” and selection in cooperation with a personnel consultancy

If a company commissions a personnel consultancy for personnel recruitment, the first priority is a conversation between the two parties, in which the professional and personal requirement profile of the desired position holder is clearly presented through professional profiling (profile setting). On the basis of this profile, the personnel consultant can, for example, publish job offers or address candidates directly (direct telephone contact; see below). Personnel consultancies can often fall back on an internal pool of potential candidates and contribute them when they first match the requirement profile.

When filling vacancies, many personnel consultancies particularly focus on addressing candidates who work in other companies. This has the great advantage that it reaches very good candidates who are currently not looking for a new job. The so-called direct search offers many advantages and reaches significantly more suitable potential applicants. The industry-oriented personnel consultancies have often specialized in this ( direct search ). The direct approach was the subject of legal disputes on several occasions, but the Federal Court of Justice considered it permissible under competition law under certain conditions.

Another advantage for the client is that a personnel consultant usually has in-depth knowledge of various psychological test procedures in the field of aptitude tests . This helps z. B. the competence and potential analysis in the analysis of strengths and weaknesses in relation to the professional area of ​​application. The test results can be used for targeted use and to develop personal strengths in the employee's new work environment. The use of tools for competence analysis and professional profiling requires a sound knowledge of the methods of psychological aptitude diagnostics .

As a further decision criterion for hiring a new employee, the personnel consultancy is increasingly also checking certificates and references from previous employers.

compensation

The fee calculation is mostly - still - based on the target income of the position to be filled (60 percent; 22 percent on the effort, 18 percent on a mixture of both reference values). Since the foreseeable and actual effort in the search projects can turn out to be very different and has increased many times, this is increasingly used as a basis for calculation. The pioneers of this development are the large personnel consulting companies with sales of more than three million euros. In 2012, more than half of the search mandates with subsequent vacancies were settled according to calculated cost and time expenditure - also in combination with the orientation towards the target income. The average fee across all size categories was unchanged in 2012 at just under 26 percent of the target income of the candidates to be sought. The fee level varies between the individual size classes in personnel consultancy between approx. 20 and over 30 percent, with large personnel consultancies charging higher rates.

With regard to the calculation of the due date, four remuneration / fee models dominate:

  • In the case of the fee based on time spent , payment is made based on the actual expenditure on the basis of a fixed hourly wage or daily rate; there is no performance- related component. The personnel consultant thus receives the full fee from the client even if the position is not filled.
  • With the third model , the fee is paid in three steps: The personnel consultant receives the first third immediately after placing the order. The second third is due when qualified candidates have been presented to the client. If the client hires one of the presented candidates, the personnel consultant also receives the last third of the agreed fee.
  • With the 50/50 model , half of the fee is due when the order is placed, the second half when a previously presented qualified candidate is hired.
  • If the client and HR consultant agree on the 100% success model , the HR consultant will only be remunerated in the event of success. This is usually given when a candidate is hired. Additional costs such as expenses, advertisements, etc. are usually billed separately from the fee.

According to a current study by the Federal Association of German Management Consultants (see BDU 2018), the amount of the HR consultant's fee is usually based either on the target income of the candidate to be searched (in 58.8 percent of cases) or on the expected effort for the search (in 20 , 6 percent of cases). In 2018, the average agreed fee was 26.4 percent of target income. This corresponds to an increase of 0.4 percentage points compared to the previous year.

According to a study by the RheinMain University of Applied Sciences (cf. Petry 2013), however, the 100% success fee is the most frequently used. The third model and the 50/50 model follow at a considerable distance. The fee model based on time expended is used the least. Compared to the study by the Federal Association of German Management Consultants (BDU) from 2005, the low use of the third model, which was by far the most frequently used at the time, is surprising. As part of the study, it was also examined whether and how the fee models affect important performance criteria of personnel consultancies (quality of candidates, performance incentives, duration of the candidate search and transparency in the selection of candidates). It turns out that the 100% success fee is rated best for all criteria. After the 100% success fee, the 50/50 model takes second place in all criteria and is ahead of the third model. Ultimately, it can be concluded that fee models are in principle all the better, the higher the success-related share is (100% before 50% before 33% before 0%).

literature

  • Thomas Sattelberger : Handbook of personnel consulting . Verlag CH Beck, Munich 1999, ISBN 3-406-44267-6 .
  • Federal Association of German Management Consultants e. V .: Personnel Consulting in Germany 2013/2014 . May 15, 2014.
  • Thorsten Petry: Fee models in personnel consulting . In: Haufe [Hrsg.]: Personaldienstleister 2013. 5th edition. Pp. 12-14.
  • Steffen Hillebrecht, Anke-Andrea Peiniger: Basic course in personnel consulting . 4th edition. Rosenberger, Leonberg 2012, ISBN 978-3-931085-77-3 .
  • Steffen Hillebrecht: Management of personnel service companies . 2nd Edition. Gabler, Wiesbaden 2014.
  • Dieter Hofmann, Rainer Steppan: Headhunters - a look behind the scenes of a secret industry . Gabler, Wiesbaden 2010, ISBN 978-3-8349-1834-5 .
  • Michael Heidelberger, Lothar Kornherr (ed.): Handbook of personnel consulting . 2nd completely revised edition 2014 with numerous figures and tables. Vahlen, ISBN 978-3-8006-4678-4 .
  • Julia Löhr: The secret questions of HR consultants. From the first call to the management audit. So you are prepared for any eventuality. Frankfurter Allgemeine Buch , Frankfurt am Main 2010, ISBN 978-3-89981-222-0 .
  • John Erpenbeck : Competence Profiling . Verlag Waxmann, Münster 2002, ISBN 978-3-8309-1189-0 .
  • Kaevan Gazdar: Chasing Heads. The myth and reality of personnel consulting . Gabler, Wiesbaden 1992, ISBN 3-409-18719-7 .

Web links

Wiktionary: Personalberatung  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Individual evidence