This post isn’t about me, it’s about you. The world of recruiting is changing fast and the people in this network have the potential to change the game. Until a year ago when I changed roles within the company, I led the staffing organization globally for one of the world’s leading companies. As a staffing leader and hiring manager, my future in recruiting is through you – I’m now a fan and an advocate of recruiting. I’ve seen great recruiting and progressive approaches and not-so-effective approaches, and I’m here to tell you that there is a lot of potential to unleash.

Recruiting has a lot of challenges, as you all know from experience. Read any recruiting blog and you’ll find that application volume is high and only a small percentage of those applications meet the requirements of the job. Requisition loads for recruiters in the past few years have increased and recruiting budgets have decreased. Technology has improved the ability for the recruiter to find talent, but it takes a lot of time, and once you find them, good candidate management practices take a lot of time. Hiring managers are demanding and it’s hard to meet their requirements. You’re measured on things like time to fill and retention of the employee, which you may not have a lot of control over.

There are people who do this well and people who don’t. The not-so-great recruiters remind me of a scene from The Simpsons, where Marge was trying to be a real estate agent:

Lionel Hutz: I've been getting a lot of calls about you, Marge. People just love your no-pressure approach.

Marge Simpson: Well, you know what we say: the right house for the right person.

Lionel: I'm going to let you in on a little secret. The right house is the house that's for sale. And the right person is anyone.

Marge: But all I did was tell the truth!

Lionel: Of course you did. But there's.. [face becomes unfriendly, voice deepens] the truth [shakes head, "no"], and [voice becomes chirpy, smiles] the truth! [nods head, "yes"]

The best recruiters know that Lionel Hutz-type recruiters are not effective overall. You may get someone in the door, but filling a job requisition isn’t really the end game. I would argue that even filling the requisitions faster than anyone else is not the goal. Finding someone who is going to contribute to the company’s bottom line and is a good fit for the organization is the goal.

Effective recruiters have a way of finding the needle in the haystack. You manage to make your way through a dizzying array of requisitions and candidates and like a game of “memory”, you pull out a match. You have a strong network and you know what talent is out there. You’re leveraging new technology to build a good candidate pool and build the employment brand for your company. You keep track of your best candidates and when an opportunity comes up, you know who to call. You keep candidates engaged. You’re authentic, representing the company well and giving realistic previews of the job and the company, so you get a good fit. You know what your hiring managers want and what skills the company needs. You move fast and you stay ahead.

You can make a difference in your company. It’s not easy, but it’s recruiting bliss for hiring managers and staffing leaders, and it supersedes the challenges.

Read more of my blog posts at:
www.careertrailguide.com
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www.communities.hp.com/online/blogs/employment-at-hp/default.aspx