I don't work with HR.....

........and I have the Little Mrs. wait in the car while I go into the bank and talk about the important stuff.

How old are you? Where have you been the past decade? Watching All in the Family reruns every night? They call me old school – but I’m starting to wonder if I no longer deserve that label. Perhaps you’re the one more deserving…….

Don’t work with HR? What clients do you work with? The mechanic down the street? Your cousin’s Insurance agency? Most companies large enough to use agencies are also sophisticated enough to involve HR in some capacity. Now I’ll agree – some of those processes are just a mess and I won’t be successful. But how do you know which is which until you check it out?

Yes there was a time when hearing “You’ll need to talk to HR” meant “See ya later!” but those times have changed. HR is most likely the department that can shut you down or welcome you to the mission. I prefer to think of them as the next (or even the first) step in securing a new client.

So when I see recruiters touting the old wives tale we were taught decades ago I just have to chuckle a bit. Throw in the “Well – if we can’t recruit for ya the way we know best – we’ll just have to recruit from ya!” line and you’ve got a real winning business plan! (Not!)

Good luck. Gotta call an HR guy to see if we can wrap one up this week!

Comment by Ron Kubitz on October 21, 2011 at 11:19am: Yes I also worked on the sales side and had to call clients/possible clients daily! Yes I do....most of the calls I receive today do not even compel me to listen further! Most have not taken the time to research our company, our needs, bids won, work we do, possible solutions to our problems etc!

Comment by Brian Pho on October 21, 2011 at 11:26am: @Jerry - Been doing agency recruiting for 8 years. Although I like to work with the Managers in Charge - I also know the importance of strategic HR in a company. I ALWAYS ask for permission to talk with a line Manager through HR and when I ask to present resumes, I ALWAYS keep HR in the loop on what is happening..... They are an important asset to an organization and if your nice enough, you can work with both in your recruiting efforts..

Comment by Peter Ceccarelli on October 21, 2011 at 12:35pm: Great post. In most organizations you have no choice but to work with HR, which is most likely the internal recruiter who has more than an idea of what 3rd party agency recruiters are up against........most hiring managers barely have time to go to the bathroom, let alone manage a hiring process........therefore in order to keep all the players on the same field and keep track of who's on first, blah, blah, blah, you need HR/Internal Recruiter managing the process. And if HR is messing things up and you believe that you can only be successful working directly with the HM.....then you're most likley working with a screwed up company in general........if the HR practices and behaviors suck, then I can assure you, the rest of the company does too!

Comment by Sandra McCartt on October 21, 2011 at 1:01pm: Peter, you are so correct. The one exception is when we are rolled downhill to a young inexperienced internal bimbo or bimbette who is more worried about his or her territory than getting the best candidate in front of their hiring manager. This actually fits with your take on a screwed up process but these little darlings are often charged with talking to recruiters. Most of this ilk don't have much business experience or maturity so think they need to compete with the recruiter so they can say THEY filled the position. Most of the time they are nice kids but don't know how to get the best out of their 3PRs. They think they are doing somebody a big favor if they avoid a fee even after they have listed the position. These are the ones i go around to the SR. person in HR. If that doesn't work. I am gone. I do not do bimbos at this stage of the game. They are the worst about lying and not providing information and feedback and they will sandbag your candidate and not put them through if they have one that looks decent but not as good.

Comment by Jerry Albright on October 21, 2011 at 1:17pm: Thanks for the discussion everyone. To clarify - I'll add that you/we never know which type of "Work with HR" scenario we're going to run into until we check it out. The notion of simply shutting the door without any type of consideration (which I see implied here often enough) is the idea I was rejecting with the initial post.

You'd be surprised how many friends I have in HR. I've got 1 coming over this weekend. :)

Comment by Paul Alfred on October 22, 2011 at 12:38am: Great post Jerry, I wanted to stay rebellious forever - but I do have really great relationships with HR gatekeepers - and they usually have great Business Partner relationships with the Hiring Sponsors - which keeps things honky dory all the way around.