Yeah we said it. HR, Recruiting, Hiring. The people in charge of people are the most important part of any organ.... Not only do they bring in the people that make the company who it is and what it is, they also create the culture with which future work "generations" have to adapt. The first one hiring has a crucial job indeed. Let's discuss:

Talent is more important than ever. I know that no one wants to be the person that utters the phrase "talent war"...so I'll refrain but let's get real! In a knowledge economy, it really is your people that set you apart from the competition. You can be first to market, have the best product, killer startup funding and the best pedigree in town and ALL of that can get run into the ground by a sucky team. 

Culture must be intentional. With the founders and/or executive team busy making the company and product move forward, it often falls to HR and Recruiting to bring in not only the right people, but the right ideas. Forward thinking hiring pros embrace this responsibility and run with it. In this case, SMBs and startups have an advantage that larger companies don't have. They can literally "bake" culture into the organization. In many cases, they have the autonomy and the ability to do it!

It's all about the tools. Well, not ALL about the tools, but when you realize that for decades HR professionals have ben working with large, cumbersome systems with long, exhausting implementation times and dreary, frustrating contracts....it's pretty cool when the first one hiring gets to choose new, more nimble tools that are more geared toward the hiring pro than the operational guru. In fact, HR professionals have the ability to choose the tools their predecessors might use one day or to introduce a simple project management system that makes the whole company run better.

All systems....GO! Benefits are pretty important to any company and who chooses those? Who decides whether to pick a wellness and gym program or an all-inclusive insurance program? Who looks at the employee base and decides the compensation structure? Are you going to screen people via video or email? Are you going to use niche job boards or visit career fairs? HR decides these things and it makes a difference as to the future of the company.

The name of the game? Retention. When HR is tasked with retention, this trickles down into training the line managers usually. And that affects the attitude of the whole company. Are you trying to keep your best people happy, productive and present? That usually falls to forward thinking HR pros. Employee satisfaction, training and retention are all ultimately the responsibility of human resources.

Hiring is tough and truthfully, not everyone can do it. While there are tools that make it easier for hiring managers, recruiters, HR pros, even entrepreneurs to do it more successfully, it remains a multi-billion dollar industry to this day. While marketing gets the glory and finance pays the bills, it's HR that quietly moves the organization forward. 

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photo credit: Fr Antunes via photopin cc