If you feel that recruiting has become highly transactional with essential elements of the candidate selection having been lost on the way, you’re not alone. Hiring decisions might be lightning-fast, yet, a couple of months later, that same job that you just hired for is back on the market. It’s then not hard to imagine why 1 in 3 employees leave their job within the first 6 months of being hired. This is the result of recruiting that relies solely on fast but unmistakably shallow technology-based processes. Let’s talk about a better way to hire.
The fast way vs The Engaged Recruiting Model
Engaged Recruiting aims to create a bridge between an employer’s job opening, a candidate, and their desired career. Superficial recruiting is when candidates are treated as commodities, and the sole purpose of a selection process is to get a body in a seat; simply put – a short-term mindset.
When you look to understand each party involved in the recruiting process: their expectations and their needs, you do more than just fill a position (which is the case with transactional recruiting). It happens often that our clients are surprised that we ask questions in our effort to understand each search. A job description is a great start, but it falls short of defining what is truly expected of an employee. By asking the right questions of our clients and candidates alike, we can correlate expectations and needs on both ends.
What is an Engaged Recruiter?
Beyond a process, recruiters have a tremendous responsibility and opportunity. When their purpose is to create a win-win-win situation in the recruiting process, their work doesn’t just stop at filling a seat with a person and making a commission. An engaged recruiter listens to the candidate’s needs, career plans, and makes sure they go beyond a resume to understand the personality type and behavior. These are critical to a new hire’s performance, and especially their perspective regarding work. If they just joined for better pay, then they will commit until they are presented with a new opportunity to increase their income. More than often, that’s outside of their current organization. However, if their focus is to deliver on the objectives and indicators they have signed up for while at the same time pursuing continuous learning and gathering of knowledge, then the premise of their hire is significantly different and so are their results.
Engaged recruiters are able to masterfully balance the use of technology yet without losing their “human touch”.
We say this often: “Technology is a great tool, but a terrible master”. Recruiting decisions that are solely based on technology leads to both a superficial definition of the need as well as who the candidate is beyond a checklist of skills and years of experience. That is simply not enough. Remember: candidates are human beings like you and anyone close to you that you can think of. They have dreams, personal motivations, career aspirations, and professional goals. All of the funds that you invest in the extra time, tools, and resources that are dedicated to truly knowing candidates will bring back a multiple of return over the long run. Additionally, it’s the best way to avoid the cost of a mis-hire which can reach up to 6 times a new hire’s yearly salary. While you try to take the short and quick path to hire, you will find that it’s by far the most expensive.
Win-win-win situations aren’t just ideal, they are a must!
Engaged recruiting allows for a “win-win-win” situation, every time you hire, and certainly not by accident. When all parties are truly engaged in the recruiting process, they all stand to win. Hiring organizations can only win if the recruiting process is geared towards long term benefits with a strong correlation between what they have to offer and a new hire’s growth path, and expectations for their new job. Hiring organizations also win when the hiring decision leads to long-term employee commitment and high performance that goes well beyond their first year. Candidates, on the other hand, expect transparency right off the bat.
There’s no perfect organization just as candidates know they’re not perfect. When candidates are briefed about what’s truly expected of them before being hired, they won’t be faced with unexpected and many times unpleasant surprises down the line. Clarity will keep them motivated, and will determine them to have an appreciation for their employer – an organization that “walks the talk.” Not the least, recruiters stand to win in the process. It’s not about a commission. It’s about our responsibility to genuinely care about both hiring organizations as well as candidates. Hiring managers, human resources managers, and candidates are all people who have a personal stake in the right hiring decision. Engaged recruiters eventually win by being recognized and retained time and time again in the market for their work. Recruiters must reject average, and stay away from deceptive practices.
What’s been YOUR experience with recruiters, both inhouse and outsourced ones?
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