Based on our yearly State of the Agency analysis, acquiring talent ranks among the top three obstacles, with 15% of digital marketing firms identifying recruitment and onboarding as their biggest hurdle this year.

Recruiting new personnel can be daunting, given the need to balance suitable expertise with strong cultural alignment. However, scaling your business inevitably necessitates hiring to accommodate your expanding clientele. Consider these strategies for team expansion.

When Is It Time to Expand Your Team?

When growing a digital agency, recognizing when to onboard new team members is crucial. Recruiting and hiring are resource-intensive, so how can you determine the optimal timing?

Consistent Revenue Streams

According to CB Insights, approximately 25% of startups fail due to team inadequacies, and 29% falter from financial depletion. While a sufficient workforce is vital, your revenue must comfortably accommodate additional payroll. Many startups hire impulsively due to stress without a concrete plan. Sustainable client retention and income streams should precede new hires. If workload management is challenging but financially unjustifiable, consider outsourcing to freelancers or agencies until conditions stabilize.

New Market Opportunities

Whether expanding service offerings or market reach, new prospects might necessitate additional support. New hires alleviate existing workload strain and bring secondary specializations, fostering overall agency growth.

Capacity Limitations

Amidst rapid client base expansion and employee fatigue, immediate recruitment is critical. Prospect rejection due to workload or compromised product quality should be avoided. Here are indicators of potential capacity issues:

• Frequent employee mentions of fatigue, burnout, overwork
• Increasing frequency of minor errors
• Elevated employee illness and absenteeism
• Low morale
• Increased client churn (with or without specific complaints) These signs indicate staff overextension and the need to expand to satisfy business demands.

Recruiting the Right Individuals

Recognizing the need to grow your team is followed by ensuring the suitability of new recruits. Expansion can be challenging when a strong team is already in place, as new additions can impact both company culture and service quality. Effective scaling necessitates a robust hiring and talent retention strategy.

A System for Entry-Level Roles

While ideal candidates arrive fully equipped with a proven track record and industry knowledge, relying solely on experience can limit talent acquisition. Given the novelty of digital marketing, few resumes will boast extensive experience. A system for onboarding and training entry-level personnel is advisable. 41% of employers highlight entry-level roles as the most challenging to fill. This stems from agencies attempting to circumvent training by imposing excessive entry-level requirements, restricting the applicant pool and potentially overlooking valuable traits. Entry-level positions are crucial in digital marketing, where rapid learning and information retention are paramount. With Google’s evolving algorithms, industry shifts, and client fluctuation, adaptability is key. Entry-level roles offer a fertile ground for nurturing future talent.

Seeking Specialized Expertise

By this stage, your agency should possess a clear understanding of its strengths and weaknesses. Perhaps your niche is small businesses, B2B, or e-commerce. New hires offer opportunities to amplify strengths. An applicant lacking direct experience but possessing expertise in an area outside your current offerings could be valuable. They might introduce innovative, unconventional strategies beneficial to your existing client base.

Considering External Recruitment Support

Finding the right individuals can be demanding alongside training, client management, and other responsibilities. If recruitment consumes over 35% of your time, external assistance might be beneficial. Two main options exist for recruitment support. Ideally, an in-house recruiter with experience recruiting who embodies your desired company culture would be ideal. While they might not possess deep marketing knowledge, they should grasp the essentials to identify suitable candidates. Alternatively, a recruiting agency can be advantageous when needing numerous hires rapidly or lacking resources for an in-house position. When hiring a recruiting agency, prioritize specialization in your industry and an understanding of your desired culture.

Addressing Common Hiring Obstacles

Scaling your team often involves navigating common hiring-related challenges. To understand these pain points and potential solutions, I spoke with Nicole DeSisto, a member of nexus-security’s recruitment team. We discussed the hurdles nexus-security faces and their approach to overcoming them.

nexus-security Talent Acquisition Partner Nicole DeSisto

Employee Turnover

At 17%, marketing is the leading industry in employee turnover rate, driven by various factors. Digital marketing’s constant evolution presents new opportunities, evolving practices, and freelance or consulting opportunities that offer flexibility. Moreover, the average age of people in the marketing industry is 32, resulting in a workforce largely composed of millennials, notorious for “job-hopping.” Currently, 60% of millennials are open to new opportunities, with 21% having changed jobs within the past year. This trend proves costly, as millennial turnover costs the U.S. economy $30.5 billion annually. This high turnover rate impacts even leading agencies, facing competition for talent from within their own ranks. Here’s Nicole’s perspective on nexus-security’s retention strategies: “The job market in this industry is incredibly competitive. Just like us, every digital marketing and advertising company seeks top talent. Our employees are constantly approached by competitors, creating retention challenges. This underscores the importance of culture, employee appreciation, and benefits. Staying informed about competitor practices for employee satisfaction is crucial for retaining your own valuable team.” As an employee, I can attest to nexus-security’s commitment to providing ample growth opportunities and fostering a sense of value. Here are some initiatives for employee success:

• Strong emphasis on company culture and team building
• Competitive salaries and benefits packages
• Flexible work hours and unlimited PTO
• Transparent career growth paths
• Relaxed dress code nexus-security aligns management, employees, and organizational values. For instance, they’ve implemented an equal pay initiative promoting workplace diversity and actively support local charities with an employee contribution matching program.

Differentiation and Candidate Engagement

With agencies emerging rapidly, standing out to potential hires is as crucial as attracting clients. Beyond salary and benefits, candidates seek compelling reasons to choose your agency. Job postings should offer a clear outline of expectations and daily routines while maintaining an engaging and positive tone. nexus-security’s career page serves as a prime example. This is where perks, culture, and core values shine. Highlight what current employees appreciate and emphasize the opportunities you provide.

We sought Nicole’s advice on maintaining candidate engagement throughout the hiring process and how nexus-security handles new hires: “Recruiting in this market is challenging due to the rapid pace. Hesitation can lead to losing promising candidates to faster-moving companies. Act decisively! Avoid multiple interview rounds, excessive delays between rounds, or holding back on a strong candidate to explore other options. When you identify great talent, secure them swiftly.”

Interviewing Challenges

Losing candidates during interviews might indicate flaws in your process. Start with the job posting itself: Are expectations clear? Is resume screening thorough? Are candidates progressing truly suitable? Once these are addressed, scrutinize the applicant interaction phase. Crafting interview questions that yield essential information while showcasing your culture and values can be difficult. Explore common interview questions recommended by nexus-security. Prioritize applicant comfort. Open-ended questions provide insights into their aspirations and facilitate a conversational approach, revealing their personality. nexus-security incorporates current employees in the interview process, preserving company culture and offering the hiring manager valuable peer insights for informed decision-making. We asked Nicole for any additional hiring tips: “Promote your company culture actively! Establish your agency’s identity and make it known why working there is fantastic. Cultivate a strong employer brand and nurture it continuously. Treat your employees well, and they’ll stay loyal. Maintain a proactive and efficient recruitment process to keep pace with this dynamic market.”

Client Management with an Expanding Team

Agency growth directly impacts your clients. As client numbers and team size increase, internal adjustments become necessary.

Establish Processes and Systems

Hiring more people necessitates communication methods beyond informal exchanges. Scaling involves investing in tools to streamline operations.

RELATED: A 30/60/90-day plan can boost new hire confidence during onboarding. Learn how to create one! Continuously evaluate processes to identify what works best. Acknowledge and address areas where processes fall short, focusing on process improvement over blaming individuals.