Comments on: Recruiting Gets the Best of the Failing Grades

By: Sean Rehder

Sean Rehder — Thu, 30 Aug 2012 16:08:57 +0000

Corporate HR/Staffing could start earning a little respect from the business by deciding to…and doing…the following:

1) Break the addiction to job boards/postings and start recruiting. Direct engagement by a recruiter should be the #1 “source of hire.”

2) Stop using the “transactional” recruiting model and start using a “relationship” model.

3) Stop logging data with spreadsheets and start developing data in a CRM.

4) Act like your department is its own business by setting real goals and measuring against them…weekly.

5) Deliver information to your business leaders like they are the board members in your business.

Do this for 6 months and you won’t get a seat at the table, but you will start getting some respect.

“Win a battle before you start a war.” ~ Omar Little

~ Sean Rehder
http://www.linkedin.com/in/seanrehder

By: Sean Rego

Sean Rego — Thu, 16 Aug 2012 18:28:01 +0000

Interesting comments from everyone. We are all victims of working in an arena where we are expected to find the un-findable. As we begin our processing of research, sourcing to identify candidates we are often given unreasonable parameters. I agree with Richard Araujo, most hiring managers don’t care about data, they just want the Req. filled. I cannot count how many times I have identified and “brought a candidate to the table” that was “dead on” in the beginning of a search and the organization/hiring manager wanted to see others; only after months, wanted to go back to that same candidate and make an offer. Of course, the candidate was no longer on the market and we were back at square one. I have worked for firms that produce the most detailed reports; identifying each and every candidate, their experience level for each competency required, compensation etc. The clients usually say the same thing, “just close the search!” I have worked within an organization, where we utilized pre-interview and pre-employment assessment to identify candidates that were an ideal match for our position, company culture, etc and the results were basically the same. I do not believe that there is a “silver bullet” for this issue. Realistic expecations need to be set at the beginning of a search and execution and follow up needs to take place throughout. You can never please all of the people all of the time, but you can please most of the hiring managers most of the time if a clear and concise recruitment plan is put in place to execute the search and communicate with the hiring managers.

By: Mark Boeder

Mark Boeder — Thu, 16 Aug 2012 15:14:11 +0000

Connie is absolutely right. HR is “Process” oriented and should be seen as a back-office service while Recruiting is the frontward facing part of the organization tasked with procuring qualified talent who are a cultural fit for the organization. HR winds up spending too much time protecting turf while being unsure what that “turf” actually is. Recruiting needs to be about understanding organizational needs as well as position requirements, sourcing for those needs, attracting talent, qualifying and SELLING to the candidates … Recruiting is NOT an HR function but when judged within the corporate milieu, recruiting gets lumped into HR because the rest of the organization is ignorant of the distinction between HR and Recruiting.

By: Something has to change « chroresources

Something has to change « chroresources — Thu, 16 Aug 2012 13:56:49 +0000

[...] Something has to change Share this:TwitterFacebookLike this:LikeBe the first to like this. [...]

By: Keith Halperin

Keith Halperin — Wed, 15 Aug 2012 20:10:45 +0000

Good marks, bad marks, seat at the table? To hell with it- as long as we continue to get paid in full and on time.
BTW, much of recruiting is based on the irrationalities, inefficiencies, and ignorance of companies and their hiring managers. To do things sensibly and thoughtfully would put many recruiters out of work….

Cheers,
Keith “Still Working” Halperin

By: Keith Halperin

Keith Halperin — Wed, 15 Aug 2012 20:06:55 +0000

Good marks, bad marks, seat at the table? To hell with it- as long as we continue to get paid in full and on time….BTW, much of recruiting (particularly lower-level contingency recruiting and corporate board-scrapers and post-and-prayers) is based on the inefficiencies, irrationalities, and ignorance of companies and hiring managers. To do things thougtfully and sensibly would put many recruiters out of work….

Cheers,

Keith

By: Scott Weaver

Scott Weaver — Wed, 15 Aug 2012 17:41:36 +0000

I think Connie hit the nail on the head. Its funny, because I could tell you who, within my firm, is happy with the Recruiting Dept and who isn’t. There are those with unreasonable expectations while there are those who are simply picky. Obviously, the latter is just fine while it is difficult to change the mindset of the prior.

While I’d love to blame the Hiring Managers and Exec’s (and surely some blame falls on them), I’m sure there are plenty of what I would consider “HR Recruiters”. That said, its so dependent on each specific company, it would be extremely difficult to blame one segment or the other.

By: Richard Araujo

Richard Araujo — Wed, 15 Aug 2012 16:16:01 +0000

“It should be put elsewhere in an organization—-ideally with a direct line to executive leadership where its performance will be measured and driven by the analytics, metrics and data that, as Paul points out, HR generally shuns.” – Connie Gruen

Couldn’t agree more. But it’s important to remember to include non metric driven approaches too. Metrics don’t matter to some companies because they’re not metric driven, just as some entrepreneurs manage to make profits while not being profit oriented. And marketing departments, in my experience, are also notoriously hostile to metrics.

By: Connie Gruen

Connie Gruen — Wed, 15 Aug 2012 15:00:08 +0000

As long as workforce planning, management and acquisition fall under the traditional HR function, recruiting will continue to get bad marks from business leaders. HR is critical for developing, implementing and overseeing a host of policies, procedures and initiatives to keep a company’s existing workforce motivated and productive, but Recruiting is about attracting future talent, and is no more of an HR function than is Marketing. It should be put elsewhere in an organization—-ideally with a direct line to executive leadership where its performance will be measured and driven by the analytics, metrics and data that, as Paul points out, HR generally shuns.

By: Richard Araujo

Richard Araujo — Wed, 15 Aug 2012 14:44:45 +0000

Paul,

I agree to a apoint. However, some managers don’t care about data. Since I’ve been at my current company the time to fill has gone from an average of six months to less than two months, with lower level positions taking often no more than two weeks from when the REQ is opened to when their butt hits a chair. Quality of hire to the extent we can measure it is up as well, turnover is way down. No one in upper management has heard this more than twice, and last time I brought it up I was screamed at. Literally.

People with unreasonable demands will ALWAYS be dissatisfied with any level of service you offer. And succeeding with demonstrable data improvements only matters if the people you’re serving actually see that data and acknowledge its relevance. Despite the real and measurable improvements at my company my performance is still largely based on one failed position. After months of searching the owner of the company found someone in the UK who took the job, their ‘dream candidate’ in their own words which I failed to find. Of course, he had to be relocated which they specifically said they wouldn’t do for any of the candidates I found. And he was offered well over 200K when the salary cap I was given was 125K. And, to top it all off, he came from a specific industry and company that I was told not to look in or pull from.

You can’t satisfy the demands of some people. Perhaps someone should do the reciprocal study and determine just was HR and recruiting departments think of their management.

By: Paul Basile

Paul Basile — Wed, 15 Aug 2012 13:57:35 +0000

John,
This is important for recruiters to understand; it’s too bad this comes out when many may be on vacation… Recruitment is very seriously flawed. We can’t really address the problems until we admit that. The primary reason is that recruitment uses old, failed methods – or, sometimes, new often social approaches with no verifiable value. HR people all too often seem afraid of the numbers, the data, the facts. Companies that don’t fail in recruitment use scientific, proven, data-intense processes because they work. Continual denial or ignorance of this immutable fact will keep recruitment among the whipping-boys of experienced, data-comfortable senior managers.