Chelsea vs. Arsenal: 2 strategies for recruiting talent
Roman Abramovich, the Russian tycoon, became in 2003 the owner of Chelsea and almost immediately started his aggressive policy of hiring.
That was how the Chelsea began to recruit the most outstanding figures of the world football while the Arsenal gambled on the policy of development for its lower divisions.
These two different approaches of the same question can be applied to any other organization. As certain companies follow a strategy of developing internal talent, others opt for the hiring of workers with experience in the market.
Any of these two alternatives has its own challenges and benefits in terms of sustainability and results.
The “Chelsea model” or the external recruitment:
Without doubt, to recruit talent in the market is the fastest and most simple way to cover any position. It’s also the way to get immediate results.
Obviously, the fact that a footballer (or an executive) had an extraordinary performance in his immediate past does not guarantee results in his new position.
Every newly incorporated worker needs some time to adapt to the culture of the company. If cultural differences are deep, it is very likely that the executive ends up registering a negative performance.
Within a context of scarcity of talent, football players (or executives) with experience are only going to accept joining the new company in exchange for a juicy remunerative package.
This has a weak point: the high salaries can produce an imbalance in the pay structure.
In 2007, Arsene Wenger, the Arsenal manager said: “If someone offered me 100 million pounds to buy players, I would reject such an offer. Our team is the fruit of five years of work. It would be absurd to buy football stars and destroy what we have achieved”.
“The Arsenal model” or the development of internal talent:
The development of talents inside one company is a strategy that allows not only the formation of much more loyal employees but also better adapted to the cultural norms of the organization.
But this strategy has the disadvantage of not being applicable in all cases. Imagine a company that has no players with the required experience to fill a certain position in short term.
On the other hand, this strategy tends to be less expensive than external recruitment, but it is also true that a good development program for the talents requires a constant investment over the years.
What is the best model for the management of the talent?
The best model seems to be a balanced combination between both approaches: the hiring of stars and to develop the internal talent.
Hire workers with experience enables the strengthening of our business in the short term. These executives will be useful for the young talent´s development. In this way, the company will be able to transfer knowledge to future generations. This has been the strategy of Manchester United: a strong program of internal development (players) and the purchase of a gleaming star of the market of soccer.