In my last blog, I explored how you can change the dynamic of your working relationship with hiring managers helping them embrace new tools, so you can focus on delivering more strategic recruiting services. Let’s take it one step further. Now that you have started down the path of changing behavior, you can fill the time you used to spend doing things hiring managers are now able to do automatically with something meaningful for your clients. The problem is, what the heck is that?
You probably know the common saying in the recruiting world: “Good recruiters can recruit for anything.” This statement isn’t without truth. Part of a recruiter’s a role is gauging cultural fit, leaving it to the hiring manager to assess for technical skills and capabilities. When the only value you’re adding, however, is around cultural fit, you’re selling yourself short. And you’re not alone.
I have sat in rooms with teams of recruiters from different industries and different-sized companies. I have asked them about their company’s goals or strategic plan. I have pulled publically available information and placed it in front of them, asking them to comment on how they connect their recruiting processes to their company strategic goals. Nine times out of 10 when I ask these teams what the business objectives of the organization are, they cannot answer the question. If you don’t know what the executives you support value – what they’re being held accountable for – how can you hope to gain their respect? It’s true that recruiting as a function is not often provided with an opportunity to learn about their organization’s business plan, strategic initiatives or long-term goals. We are inundated with culture, values, benefits and basic facts but we have no idea what keeps our CEO up at night and what kind of talent pipelines we need to build to support that.
Here is what you need to do: Get educated. Once you learn about the business you support, you can add more value. On a fundamental level, recruiters who take time to learn about their business will be able to better assess candidate skills AND cultural fit, resulting in improvements in candidate pipelines and fewer cycles of candidate screening, review by Hiring Manager, and interviewing. In addition (and at a more strategic level) you are able to impact the organization’s bottom line by evaluating talent long term and not just based on the req in front of you. Overall, you will contribute to becoming a more strategic partner to your hiring managers while saving yourself time and getting more done. It’s a win all around.
Here are some ideas to help you get educated:
- Learn about your company. Again, these seems obvious but this is not just about the content on your career page. This is about what your CEO is talking about and what is on the mind of your hiring managers. Look for opportunities within your organization to hear your CEO speak; stay up to speed on your organization’s annual reports and information being shared with investors.
- Learn about your business unit. Start making time to read industry publications and articles to learn more about the business. Take time to learn more about competitors in your space, not just from a candidate perspective, but what their business objectives are and information competitors are sharing with their investors. Also, leverage your hiring managers to ask questions or validate what you learn. They will be thrilled that you asked and impressed with your new knowledge.
- Stop recruiting at industry events. Use the time to learn something about your industry and get smarter about what is happening in your industry. You can take this back to hiring managers AND candidates. Just think how more effectively you will be able to evaluate talent when you are able to understand the industry and speak the language.
- LinkedIn isn’t just for candidates. While LinkedIn groups are frequented by potential candidates, really smart business professionals who know their stuff also make generous use of LinkedIn. Read the articles, subscribe to the updates, and take advantage of the free digestible information published daily.
This is a large undertaking and may be a different approach then you have taken in the past. Your education efforts do not need to be done all at once. Plus you still have your very busy day job to manage. Start slowly, working to learn something new each week, something completely related to your business and not to HR or Recruiting. This can be as simple as reading a blog or as complicated as attending a lunch and learn. Either way, you are getting educated.
I would be interested to hear how this is going and if getting more educated about your business is adding value to your recruitment efforts. Post a comment below with an update.