#TalentAttraction #Tuesday – HIRING A CORPORATE RECRUITER? DO NOT HIRE AN HR GENERALIST

By RecruiterGuy | August 3, 2021

Okay, that may be too general a statement. Let us try, “Most Human Resource Generalists are not – and do not want to be, a #SalesProfessional.”

Recruiting mirrors the Sales Process perfectly. The reason I have been successful as a Professional Recruiter for 40 years is, I am proud to be a Sales Professional.

Why do Human Resource Departments hire Human Resource Generalists to recruit? Human Resources has evolved from an administrative function within a company to a combination of compliance and administrative functions. Where do Sales Professionals (Recruiters) grow within this structure? The only growth is out of Human Resources. Do you really expect a Sales Professional to investigate Employee Relations accusations? What possibly could go wrong?

If Not HR, Where Does Recruiting Belong?

What organization within a company suffers the most from a poor recruiting effort? Operations? I believe so. Therefore, should Talent Attraction become an arm of Operations? By locating recruiting (that many human resource representatives dislike) in Operations, the COO has direct responsibility and control over the recruiting (talent attraction, talent acquisition) effort.

This out of box reorganization enables the organization to flex its recruiting effort as needed. Involve the recruiter in the strategy discussions regarding talent and talent attraction. Now the recruiter has the knowledge to SELL the company, manager, and position because they fully understand the position (not often seen using HR Generalists).

Since Talent Attraction is an integral participant in the planning process, the Recruiter determines whether positions need consistent sourcing or special project attention. Additionally, the recruiter would have a better sense of local compensation paid by companies with similar talent needs.

What Interview Questions Helps Determine Recruiter Skills

Keeping in mind that Recruitment is a SALES Process, these questions are tailored to understand the level of sales proficiency for Senior Recruiters for your company.

Discuss your ideal Senior Recruiter position:
Describe the culture where you prefer to work:
What percentage of recruiting steps are sales?
What do you feel are the steps in a successful Recruiting Process?
We all experience times when hiring managers do not respond to the receipt of resumes or phone screen results. What is your process to re-engage them?
Have you taught managers how to effectively interview candidates? If so, was your training formal or informal?
If your training is formal, do you have materials that you may use to train our managers?
When dealing with multiple openings with multiple candidates, how do you prioritize your recruiting activity? ( – those positions with offers pending should be at the top)
How do you prepare candidates for a counteroffer?
Do you use metrics to discourage the acceptance of a counteroffer? What metrics do you use?
How often should a recruiter, contact a candidate who is interviewing? (ideally, every 72 hours)
Have you ever developed an annual recruiting strategy? What are the elements? Did you create a budget? After the year was finished, did you meet or beat the budget?
What is your favorite method to source candidates? What do you do if that source dries up?
What is your favorite candidate close for accepting an offer? Why?
If the candidate does not initially accept the offer, what is your next action? (They should have another step, maybe the Ben Franklin Close, for instance)
When do you discuss counteroffers with candidates? (should be during the first conversation and at offer time)
When describing (Your Company) to a candidate, how would you differentiate us from other companies? (determines if the candidate did any research)
Where would your managers say that you need to improve to become a stronger recruiter? (since Recruiting is sales, the response should be sales related, i.e., stronger sourcing skills, better production i.e., candidate closes, stronger candidates, work on relationship building skills, etc.)
Have you ever had a recruiting project that failed? How did you recover?

Every company is different, and every position is different. You may tailor these questions for your company’s use.

How Long Before Our Organization Sees Results By Hiring a Recruiter?

If the person that you choose to become your recruiter has 10 or more years of professional (not corporate) recruiting experience, you will begin to experience a different approach to the process. The experienced recruiter will begin to own the talent attraction process immediately. They will meet with the leadership to learn about their openings. Then you will see them prioritize their sourcing activity based on the responsiveness of the hiring manager (if they are slow to respond to resumes, phone screens, and especially offers, expect the recruiter to spend time with responsive managers).

Typically, the timeline will be approximately 3 months from the Recruiter’s start to riding the wave to build a pipeline of candidates. Recruiting is not magic. Hard to believe! Sometimes, we get lucky and make impacts immediately – the stars were aligned perfectly.

Within 6 months, this professional will have the managers’ respect and demonstrate the results to back up that respect.

Talent Attraction is Better than Talent Acquisition!

If you would like a conversation on how to ATTRACT talent instead of using an Applicant Tracking System or HRIS to screen them out, we should chat. Call me directly at 435-714-4425 (mountain).

I am available to consult with your company to improve your Top Talent Attraction strategy. Attracting and integrating Top Talent gives your company an industry edge. The process is worth the effort by improving productivity, innovation, and profitability – Look at Google, Tesla, SpaceX, and Apple. Retaining Top Talent keeps your industry knowledge inside your company – instead of with the competition.

The RecruiterGuy.com Top Talent Attraction business model is my differentiator. I focus on one client at a time and charge a flat monthly fee. This model enables me to attract new talent to your organization while identifying and suggesting improvements to your company’s Talent Attraction process, including Manager Interview Training. https://recruiterguy.com/

Learn how I coach my Career Transition Clients in my most recent book – Employee 5.0: Secrets Of A Successful Job Search In The New World Order http://amzn.to/2D9w39f My book includes an appendix with action verbs and sample interview questions.

I help organizations Recruit, Onboard, Actuate, and Retain Top Talent.

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Bill Humbert is available for Speaking, Talent Attraction Consulting, and Training contracts.

Bill@RecruiterGuy.com 435-714-4425

https://www.espeakers.com/marketplace/speaker/profile/23767/Bill-Humbert

USA 01-435-714-4425 Bill@RecruiterGuy.com

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