By Peter Weddle, CEO TAtech
Read the commentary on social media these days, and you’ll see plenty of posts about the harm being done to talent acquisition professionals. One recent commentator noted the staggering number of TA leaders who are out-of-work, but the damage is occurring at every level. It is only slightly hyperbolic to say that this is yet another Dark Age of Recruiting – not because of what recruiters have done, but because of what’s being done to them.
More often than not, the social posts also cite a cause for this mistreatment. Most point at the c-suite and especially the bean counters in Finance and clueless CEOs. To be sure, those people are clearly culpable, but they are not the primary culprit. That distinction belongs to the HR Department.
Now, before all you HR execs rise up in righteous indignation, there are obviously exceptions to that statement. Yes, some HR Departments provide the necessary attention and support for recruiters to excel. Sadly, however, they are exceedingly rare. The norm has been for HR Departments to see talent acquisition as something to be tolerated or even ignored.
In fact, the litany of recruiter abuse by HR is lengthy:
The HR Department has long condoned the under-funding of the recruiting team. As Workable notes, “Most of the time, the Human Resources department has sole responsibility for the recruiting budget.” Yes, recruiting has slowed this year, but instead of making the case for investing in the TA function with refresher training and the acquisition of much-needed technology, HR has acquiesced in budget cuts. Veris Insights reports that 29 percent saw budget cuts this year and another 19 percent expect to see cuts in 2025. Said another way, almost half – 48 percent – of all recruiters are now or will shortly find themselves under the budget guillotine.
The HR Department has long condoned understaffing in the recruiting team. That lack of support has reinvented the term “doing more with less.” For recruiters, it’s been transformed into “doing a whole lot more with less.” According to SHRM, “National averages across all industries and employer sizes tend to fluctuate between 30 to 40 open requisitions per recruiter at any one time.” And of course, they’re also supposed to tend to the company’s employer brand, keep the content on the corporate career site up-to-date and become proficient with new technology, all at the same time.
The HR Department has long condoned the deprioritization of the recruiting team. Several years ago, a leading HR association did a survey of its membership, and was surprised to learn that the largest single cohort among its members was recruiters. When it dug into the data, it learned why. Apparently, a great many HR Departments are treating recruiters’ jobs as entry level positions in the HR Department – a place where newbies have to do their penance before they can get to the really good stuff in HR. That shortsighted approach all but guarantees that many recruiters will lack the skills and knowledge necessary to serve their employer well.
So, the question facing TA professionals is simple: How do they insulate themselves from the harmful behavior of the HR Department?
The TAtech Leadership Summit on Recruitment Marketing is designed for HR/TA leaders and senior professionals at enterprise employers and their counterparts among TA solution providers. To be held at the newly renovated Le Méridien Tampa, The Courthouse, the conference opens with a welcome reception on the evening of February 26 and then runs all day February 27. The agenda is still in development, but the focus will be on showcasing the latest technology and most innovative practices for moving to full-funnel recruitment marketing. Seating is limited at the conference venue, so register today to make sure you have a spot.
How Can Recruiters Avoid HR-Inflicted Pain?
The answer is easy; getting it implemented is another thing altogether.
The only way recruiters are ever going to be safe from HR Department mistreatment is to declare their independence. To establish themselves as a stand-alone function in the organization that reports directly to the c-suite.
The rationale is obvious. Talent acquisition is now too important to a company’s bottom-line success to be left to dilletantes, and most HR leaders have never worked a minute actually recruiting new hires. They’ve never had to ferret out what a hiring manager really wants and needs from a new hire. They’ve never had to write a job posting or figure out where to publish it. They’ve never had to make fine-grained distinctions among candidates and sell the one best person on the company’s opening. Said another way, today’s HR leaders simply don’t have the experience or the expertise to oversee recruiters.
Obviously, that’s a tough case to make to the c-suite. Most HR Departments will fiercely resist the notion because they’re loath to give up organizational turf, even turf they don’t have much interest in. Even the CFO might look askance at the idea, seeing the creation of a stand-alone Talent Acquisition Department as an additional cost for the company. So, other than recruiters themselves, who’s going to be the champion for such a move?
Hiring Managers.
That’s right, the customers recruiters serve. Not only do they have the most to gain from an appropriately funded and staffed recruiting team, but they are based in the company’s strategic business units. They do the work that generates the company’s revenue and profits, so their views have more clout than those of an overhead function, even one that’s now “got a seat at the table.”
Rallying hiring managers to the independence movement won’t happen overnight. And, it will require that recruiters get themselves organized and aligned on the move – its goal and benefits – first. Moreover, a growing number of companies now have a person in place to lead such a campaign. Whether they’re called the Vice President of Talent Acquisition, the Senior Director of Recruiting or the Recruiting Manager, that individual is in the right place to initiate and oversee the campaign.
Yes, there might be some disruption. And almost certainly, some in HR will call the move self-serving or even traitorous. But, recruiters have one unimpeachable justification going for them: moving recruiters out of the HR Department will improve recruiting outcomes – cost, timeliness and quality – at a time when the acquisition of talent is critical to a company’s success.
Food for Thought,
Peter
Peter Weddle has authored or edited over two dozen books and been a columnist for The Wall Street Journal. He is the founder and CEO of TAtech: The Association for Talent Acquisition Solutions.