Corporate Recruiting’s Misunderstanding
(963 words)
Executives, would you hire an Administrative or Compliance professional without Sales experience for a Sales position?
Yet many companies follow essentially that practice when they hire a Human Resources “Recruiter.”
I have 45 years of experience in Recruiting as both a Fee-Based Recruiter and Talent Attraction Consultant. One experience early in my consulting career demonstrated something I have believed ever since:
Recruiting mirrors the SALES Process PERFECTLY.
In 1993, MCI Telecommunications hired me to help transition its New Commercial Billing System IT development and testing organization from “IT-heavy” Washington, D.C., to “IBM Mainframe-lite” Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
Initially, I did not even know what state Cedar Rapids was in! I looked it up in my Webster’s dictionary.
My goal was to recruit 120 IT Professionals, ranging from Senior Managers to 10 College Recruits, between January 1 and December 31, 1993.
I created a strategy, shared it with the management team, and everyone bought in. It incorporated the same goal-setting principles I now teach in my upcoming Business book, THUMBS UP! How I Hitchhiked 15,000 Miles and Learned The Secret to Achieving Any Goal.
One of my first recruits was the first woman Senior IT Manager hired from a major defense contractor.
On December 31, 1993, before Internet Job Boards existed, we counted the people in their seats.
143 employees.
Of those 143, only 10 were existing MCI IT Professionals who relocated from the Washington, D.C. area.
I recruited the other 133.
Our original goal was 120.
And yes, we conducted reference checks.
All but 34 individuals and families needed to be relocated.
Then, from January 1 through August 31, 1994, we recruited another 84 candidates to Cedar Rapids, including two local recruiters to replace me and another recruiter who was not meeting their responsibilities supporting another Vice President.
Recruiting Is Sales
Professional Recruiters NETWORK their way to the best available talent.
Do they post positions on company websites and Job Boards?
Of course.
Due diligence requires exploring every reasonable avenue. But a Professional Recruiter does not simply post a position and wait.
Think about your own company.
What percentage of your enterprise sales wins come entirely from an Internet advertisement?
A company may respond to an ad, but who develops the relationship, discovers the need, overcomes objections and closes the business?
A SALES Professional.
Recruiting follows remarkably similar steps.
Want proof? Click on this link:
Talent Attraction Process Mirrors the Sales Process | RecruiterGuy
Professional Recruiters may place positions on Job Boards or their own websites. They do so because a bluebird may fly through an open window.
But they do not build a recruiting strategy around waiting for that bluebird.
What About Reference Checks?
One of the complaints I frequently hear from companies is:
“We cannot find candidates who are a Cultural Fit.”
My response is simple:
Do you conduct meaningful reference checks?
A reference check should be another opportunity to gather job-related information about whether the candidate and position fit one another.
For example:
“How does John or Mary handle stress?”
If the position requires someone who thrives under pressure and the candidate struggles in that environment, is this the right position for that person?
“Would you describe John or Mary as more effective as a team player or individual contributor?”
If you are hiring a Leader or Manager, that information could be valuable.
“What type of management environment helped John or Mary perform at their best?”
If the candidate struggled under close supervision and the hiring manager is a Micromanager, wouldn’t both sides benefit from knowing that before the hire?
Those questions provide considerably more useful information than simply asking:
“Did John work there from 2018 to 2024?”
Yet I know the response I will hear from many companies:
“WE DO NOT CONDUCT REFERENCE CHECKS! WE MAY GET SUED!”
NEWS FLASH!
Do you sell a product?
You could get sued.
Do you sell a service?
You could get sued.
Do you interview candidates?
You could get sued.
Do managers manage employees?
You could get sued.
Do you compensate employees?
Compensation practices can produce legal claims.
Does someone manage your company’s money?
There are legal responsibilities there, too, particularly for public companies.
Let’s face it. Virtually every important business function carries some degree of legal risk.
Business involves managing risk. The existence of risk does not automatically mean eliminating an important business activity.
Consider this:
In FY2025, employees filed 88,201 discrimination charges with the EEOC.
Yet there is no comparable federal category tracking lawsuits arising specifically from employers providing job references. Reference-related litigation certainly exists, but those claims are generally brought under other legal theories, including defamation and retaliation.
So why does fear of litigation cause some companies to virtually abandon meaningful reference checking while they continue interviewing, managing, compensating and selling?
The better question is:
How can we conduct reference checks consistently, professionally and legally while gathering information that actually helps us make better hiring decisions?
Where Should Recruiting Report?
Human Resources performs critically important functions:
Benefits. Compensation. Culture. Employee Relations. Employee Development. HR Technology. Training and Development.
But ask yourself:
How many of those responsibilities are SALES responsibilities?
If someone answers “ALL,” that person does not understand the Sales function.
If your company is struggling to find and attract the best available talent, perhaps it is time to reconsider where Recruiting belongs on your organizational chart.
Move Recruiting out of Human Resources and into Sales, reporting to a Sales Manager who understands prospecting, relationship development, qualifying, overcoming objections and closing.
Great Sales Managers know how to overcome Sales objections.
Great Professional Recruiters do, too.
If your organization is struggling to attract the talent it needs, reach out to me. I would be happy to have a conversation about how I may assist your Talent Attraction efforts.
EXPECT SUCCESS!
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Bill Humbert’s Bio
With 45 years of experience as a Professional Recruiter and Talent Attraction Consultant and more than 26 years as an Expert Career Coach, Bill Humbert brings a distinctive perspective to Talent Attraction, Career Search, and Proper Goal Setting.
Bill began his recruiting career in Washington, D.C., in 1981. In 1990, he founded Provocative Thinking Consulting, Inc. and developed a different approach to recruiting. Rather than relying on the traditional contingency recruiting model, Bill works directly with companies as a Talent Attraction Consultant, generally serving one client at a time for a flat monthly fee.
Throughout his career, Bill has helped organizations attract and hire talent across industries including telecommunications, construction, financial services, manufacturing, management consulting, renewable energy, and professional services.
His philosophy is simple:
Recruiting mirrors the SALES Process perfectly.
Bill has presented to audiences on three continents: North America, Europe, and Africa. He has also appeared in more than 175 television interviews and has been featured on numerous radio programs and podcasts discussing recruiting, career search, and Proper Goal Setting.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Bill authored 104 consecutive weeks of #TalentAttractionTuesday and #JobSearchFriday articles. Today, his Article Bank contains more than 400 articles sharing lessons from his decades of professional experience.
As a Career Coach, Bill has guided hundreds of professionals through successful career transitions. He is the author of three career search books, including EXPECT SUCCESS! The Science of the Over 50 Career Search, which received a 5-star review from Readers’ Favorite.
Coming Soon from Bill Humbert
Bill’s upcoming fourth book on The Power of Proper Goal Setting, THUMBS UP! How I Hitchhiked 15,000 Miles and Learned The Secret of Achieving Any Goal, transforms his real hitchhiking adventures across America from 1969 to 1971 into an entertaining Business book about setting challenging goals and developing the strategy, determination, and persistence necessary to achieve them. At the heart of the book is Bill’s THUMBS UP process for Proper Goal Setting,
