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Are Your Recruiters Wasting Time Or Providing Value?
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I had a conversation the other day with a corporate HR director and we were talking recruiters, corporate recruiters.
My friend had a dilemma, a classic corporate recruiting scenario. The problem is she has recruiters who are doing a decent job, but they won’t get out from behind their desk and get out into the organization and get face-to-face feedback from the hiring managers.
But, here is the real problem: The recruiters feel like they are “wasting” the hiring manager’s time.
“So,” she asked, “How do I get them out to build these relationships?”
Great question, but she asked the wrong question (was partially my answer). Her problem isn’t that her recruiters aren’t building the relationships face-to-face with managers. The problem is they feel they are “wasting” someone’s time.
They don’t value or understand the value they are providing to the hiring manager. If they did, it sounds like they wouldn’t have a problem with visiting with the hiring managers. It’s a classic leadership fail, solving a symptom instead of solving the actual problem.
I don’t think that this is rare: recruiters feeling like they are wasting hiring managers time. It happens constantly at the corporate level. Once you train your recruiters (and hiring managers) on the value the recruiters are providing, you see much less resistance of the recruiters getting in front of hiring managers to get feedback on candidates, and actually making a decision. This moves your process along much quicker.
What value do recruiters provide? Well, that seems like a really stupid question, but there aren’t stupid questions (just stupid people who ask questions). Here are a few that will help your corporate recruiters understand their real value to hiring managers:
So, the next time you hear a recruiter tell you, “I don’t want to waste their time,” don’t go off on them and tell them to “Just go out there and build the relationship.” Educate them on why they aren’t wasting anyone’s time. Then do an assessment for yourself to determine if they are adding value or just wasting time. All recruiters are not created equal; some waste time. It’s your job as a leader to find ones that add value.
A critical component to all of this is educating your hiring managers about what they should expect from your recruiters. They should expect value. They should expect a recruiter who is a pro, and who is going to help them maneuver through the organizational landscape and politics of hiring. They should expect a recruiter is going to deliver to them better talent than they already have. They should expect a partner, someone who is looking out for the best interest of their department.
Ultimately, what they should expect is someone who won’t waste their time!
This was originally published on Tim Sackett’s blog, The Tim Sackett Project.