And Increase Your Own Value Proposition as a Leader
Talent Acquisition is not historically known for being a strategic leg of HR or of any organization. We get measured on “filling jobs” and little else. And since the nuances and dynamics of recruiting are often misunderstood (and wrought with assumptions of people who grossly oversimplify the activity), the constant triage, escalations, reactions make it hard to get out of maintenance mode.
Because of this, leaders in Talent Acquisition are not developed strategically nor are they considered for more strategic roles within the HR Community as their careers grow. They get stuck.
So how do you take a very operational function, and create strategic value not only for your company, but also for your own credibility and career growth?
Here is the secret sauce:
1. Figure out what is most important to your business. COST, QUALITY or SPEED.
Spoiler alert – it can NOT be all three. There HAS to be a priority, and you have to be very observant with your leadership team to understand what they value most. Ask the tough questions and educate them on what the risks are when you prioritize one over another. This is NOT an easy conversation. You need to find the right opportunity with key executives to have this conversation as transparently as possible. You also need to be able to challenge leaders if their behaviors contradict their responses. What you want to identify is which lens they are approaching OTHER Key functions and objectives in the organization – if you’re constantly hearing messages of reducing cost in all other areas of the business – but they tell you that “quality” is most important for hiring – it’s time for a reality check.
2. Align your Recruiting model and structure to support the business priority.
I think this one may be the hardest for many TA professionals. I get it. Often you’re stuck with a limited number of resources. Maybe you inherited a team that’s already aligned to the business in a particular way, OR (worst case) you don’t feel empowered to make structural changes in your org. But to be strategic requires vision, so do what you can to influence your ability to make these changes. (side note: If your organization is limiting your ability to add value and grow your skill set – maybe it’s not the right organization for you).
How do you know which model and structure aligns to each priority?
- If SPEED is the goal, focus on model and structure that has PLENTY of recruiters and allows for low requisition volumes for each recruiter. Think – 10 or less for multi-function/multi-level roles and 25 or less for volume/low skill roles. This will ensure your recruiters have plenty of bandwidth and can actually allocate daily time pipelining candidates to ensure there are no delays. PROTIP: try to streamline interview process for speed as well. This also means you HAVE to understand your requisition volume so you can plan the number of recruiters you need accordingly.
- If QUALITY is the priority – focus on building a team of HIGHLY experienced recruiters with a low req volume to ensure bandwidth for heavy vetting and assessment. Make sure recruiters are aligned to specific functions or locations within the business to create a high touch service to internal customers.
- If COST is the priority – focus on a volume based recruiting model (i.e. reqs are assigned to recruiters based on volume). This allows you to have the least amount of resources on your team as possible (keeping cost low). Since you don’t need to support each function or location with your business, you can have a small, fixed number of recruiters. The maximum volume you allow each recruiter to have will impact the speed, but again, if cost is the priority, speed may have to take a hit. It’s all part of the conversation. PROTIP – this model requires complete centralization of process to ensure you can manage all incoming requisitions the same way.
3. Optimize the Recruiting Process
Align the most candidate friendly, and simple recruiting process your business priority – create efficiency for speed, increase assessments and interviewing capability for quality and optimize your tech stack as well as lean out your resources for cost. Whatever changes you make on the process – tell the story. Where did you start and where are you going? Your leadership team won’t know what you don’t tell them, and they won’t care if you don’t make them care. Discuss how each of these changes is impacting that strategic priority (AKA – how does it help them).
PRO TIP: PUSH for opportunities to share what you’re doing, draw attention and energy towards it. Don’t wait to be asked.
4. Track, Measure and PUBLISH….EVERYTHING!
If your company doesn’t have the systems or mechanisms for tracking good data already (good ATS and HRIS reporting, data integrations into Power bi or Tableau, etc.), you should make it your business to be building these reports and data integrations in parallel to building out your operating model. If you can’t track your data and your results – all of your leg work on structure and process will be merely a nice story you can tell during your annual review…..and frankly – nobody will care (as long as jobs are getting filled). Many TA Professionals don’t have a strong appetite or interest in the technical side of this business, but if you want to be a strong TA leader and not just a manager of recruiters – this is your differentiator.
When you talk numbers, and when you translate how the simple actions of operationalizing recruiting efforts have helped the business do something quicker, better or cheaper – you have achieved value.
Try it out and let me know – I’m rooting for you!
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