I often hear complaints from recruiters about hiring managers. Hiring managers can indeed be very difficult and hard to please. Some times a requisition is held up simply because the hiring manager took over a week to review the resumes. The candidates were long gone by the time you called them, so like a hamster on wheel you’re forced to start running through the sourcing process again. I’ve heard other recruiters say that their hiring managers insist on deciding where to source, even though the recruiter disagrees. Following the hiring manager’s wishes, the frustrated recruiter throws away thousands of dollars while knowing that this is not the best source to recruit from. Either way, we’ve all at some point had a “nightmare” hiring manager, one who makes our days to fill a position astronomically high because he or she is continually holding up the process. One thing I have learned in the course of working with hundreds of organizations is that if you encounter one difficult hiring manager, the odds are other hiring managers in the same organization are difficult as well. It is the company culture that breeds the difficult managers who do not put hiring as a priority. Likewise, it is a company culture reinforced by top managers where hiring is top priority that breeds managers who are cooperative, appreciative, and helpful. Yes, there are probably some isolated incidents of difficult hiring managers in a positive culture, but overall, the attitude of the manager toward the recruiter seems to come with the territory/culture to which they belong. So what can a recruiter do to change a difficult hiring manager? It will take some time, but a recruiter can ultimately able turn around a difficult hiring manager by following these helpful steps:
Take pride in turning a difficult hiring manager into a pussycat. Accept the challenge rather than dreading it. By recognizing your value to the company, being the expert, controlling your process, and working hard, you become a huge asset to the company and the best friend of all hiring managers! Good luck and let me know how it goes!