I have been thinking a lot about this topic lately. I have been trying to think of the right way to say it without upsetting the majority of people that would be reading this. But the topic is about the differences between HR and Recruiting. I have been in recruiting for almost 10 years and I have had the opportunity to work with many great HR people. (Interesting side note: the more experienced the HR person is, the more they agree with the point I am about to make).

I have been thinking about all the differences between HR and Recruiting. I have come up with some other similarities in a business setting and am going to compare them all. It all starts at the DNA level. I bring this up because I look around me in the recruiting profession and see a wide variety of employment history. It takes a different personality to want do HR processes compared to Recruiting. Quite frankly, it is a different mindset. Great recruiters will never want to be the VP of HR. It is at the core of a person.

It is the same thing as wanting your best Cold Caller, Sales person to be in the office creating marketing materials. I think everyone agrees that there is a difference between Sales and Marketing. It is the same as wanting your best Financial Analyzer to be the one entering debits and credits. Again, there is a distinct difference between Finance and Accounting. Two different roles, two different mindsets. Now, I am not saying that an individual wouldn't be able to perform the functions of both. It is just that the every person has a higher ability to one or the other. The ability comes from their DNA.

From my viewpoint, the job of an HR professional starts once the new employee starts. Some people refer to this as retention. HR plays the integral role in creating the culture of the organization. A recruiting process typically ends when a person shows up for work the first day. (Now, recruiters do play a part in helping the new employee get acclimated).

My question is why do we constantly have these conversations about Recruiting and HR? My stance is that they are two very different but equally important functions of a company. Just like Sales/Marketing and Finance/Accounting.