Should recruiting be part of the human resources department? A recent survey of 256 staffing professionals shows that 45% believe the role of recruiting does not belong in a traditional HR department.??
“More than any other function, recruiting shapes the future of an organization,” says Maureen Conn, U.S. staffing manager at Siemens VDO Automotive in Troy, Michigan. “Companies need to ask themselves where they want to be in 10 years, and they should remember that the future is driven by the people we select to have as part of our team. Some companies may view recruiting as a transactional department, but really, they should view it as a business partner to effect corporate strategy. The business world tends to view HR as incompetent police and that makes it difficult [for recruiters] to get a seat at the strategic table.”
In fact, Conn says recruiting should move to a department that focuses on consistently maintaining customer satisfaction, quality control, and continuous improvement in order to analyze both strategic and implementation approaches.?
“Because we’re viewed as a cost center and not a profit center, recruiting tends to be very under-resourced. For example, our recruiting staff?three people if you count me?has recruited approximately 600 professional-level new hires this year,” says Conn.
Sam Modi, senior IT recruiter with the Aspen Group, Inc. in Silver Spring, Maryland, agrees that recruiting should be a separate entity. “Recruiters need to know more than timesheets and benefits, and they should have more time to research candidates and negotiate prices,” he says.
Meanwhile, 37% of respondents think that recruiting is a core function of the HR department. Jennifer Holtzman, staffing consultant for AppleOne in Scottsdale, Arizona, thinks recruiting belongs in the HR department because “sometimes it seems like you can kill two birds with one stone; the duties go hand-in-hand, so I do not think it should be moved.”
Although Holtzman says she can understand why some want to see recruiters removed from HR, she thinks the reality of that situation is less than ideal. In fact, she contends that some of the job duties could overlap, ultimately making things redundant. For example, she thinks juggling employee benefits and recruiting is part of the same job and quite manageable for one person.
“Knowing the details with changing rules and regulations and legal issues helps, and it makes it a more efficient working environment by having it all in one department,” she says.