WANTED: TOP PERFORMING PEOPLE! NEEDED: AN IMPROVED RECRUITING PROCESS!
Updated for November 2026 from my original December 14, 2021 article.
Who feels the pain when a company cannot attract Top Performing Talent?
Operations!
Who complains when recruiters introduce candidates who do not meet the position requirements?
Operations!
Who is generally responsible for recruiting?
Human Resources!
Does anyone else see an opportunity for improvement?
Talent Attraction Mirrors the Sales Process!
I have been recruiting professionally since 1981 and consulting with companies since 1990. One lesson has remained consistent throughout those years:
Talent Attraction is a Sales Process!
Think about it.
Sales Professionals identify prospects, develop relationships, determine needs, present opportunities, overcome objections, negotiate agreements, and close sales.
Successful Talent Attraction Consultants follow essentially the same process.
The difference? Instead of selling products or services, we attract talented professionals to opportunities that can improve their careers while strengthening our clients’ businesses.
Now, let me ask an interesting question.
How many professional Sales Managers work in your Human Resources Department?
In most companies, none!
Where do they work?
Operations!
Is Recruiting an Administrative Function or a Business Development Function?
Human Resources professionals perform essential functions, including employee relations, compensation, benefits, compliance, and organizational development.
These responsibilities require specialized knowledge and deserve respect.
However, proactively attracting Top Performing Talent requires a different combination of skills.
It requires identifying prospects, networking, relationship development, persuasion, negotiation, and closing.
Sound familiar?
Those are SALES skills!
I am not suggesting that companies eliminate HR’s involvement in recruiting. Compliance, compensation, and employee integration remain essential.
I am suggesting that companies reconsider how they organize, lead, and measure their Talent Attraction process.
Why not create a stronger partnership between Operations and Talent Attraction, with clear accountability for recruiting results?
Are You Attracting Candidates or Screening Them Out?
One of my greatest frustrations with recruiting technology is how easily organizations can turn a potentially positive candidate experience into an obstacle course.
A talented professional discovers an interesting opportunity.
Wonderful!
Then the company requires that professional to complete a lengthy online application before having a meaningful conversation.
Twenty minutes later, the candidate wonders whether anyone will ever read the application.
And sometimes nobody does.
Applicant Tracking Systems and Artificial Intelligence can be valuable tools. They can organize applications, improve workflows, and help recruiters identify potentially qualified candidates.
But technology is only as effective as the process behind it.
Poorly written job descriptions, overly restrictive screening criteria, and excessive dependence on automated rankings can cause companies to overlook qualified professionals.
Technology should help recruiters identify talent, not become an excuse to avoid recruiting!
As a Career Coach for more than 26 years, I have heard countless frustrations from professionals navigating these systems.
My suggestion to CEOs and business owners?
Experience your own company’s candidate journey!
Ask someone to evaluate the application process from the perspective of a qualified professional. How long does it take? Is communication timely? Does the process encourage talented people to continue?
You may be surprised by what you discover.
Recruiting Requires Proper Goal Setting!
Here is another problem.
Companies establish aggressive hiring goals without developing an equally aggressive strategy for achieving them.
“We need 25 engineers by the end of the quarter!”
Great!
How will you attract them?
Where will you find them?
Who is responsible for developing relationships with prospective candidates?
What measurable milestones will determine whether your recruiting strategy is working?
What will you change if the results are falling short?
These are the same questions I address in my international keynote, The Power of Proper Goal Setting.
In my forthcoming fourth book, THUMBS UP! How Hitchhiking 15,000 Miles Taught Me The Power of Proper Goal Setting, I demonstrate how specific goals, thoughtful strategies, measurable milestones, and persistence can turn audacious objectives into achievements.
Those principles apply just as effectively to attracting Top Performing Talent as they did to my hitchhiking adventures!
The Competitive Advantage of Top Performing Talent
Consider the potential business impact of attracting and retaining the right people.
Top performers can improve productivity, strengthen innovation, enhance customer relationships, and contribute directly to profitability.
Yet many organizations continue relying heavily on posting positions and waiting for applicants.
Posting a job is an announcement. Recruiting is an activity!
Professional recruiters actively identify and engage talented people, including professionals who are not currently searching for another position.
That requires networking, relationship development, and a compelling reason for someone to consider changing employers.
In my consulting practice, I work with one client at a time for a flat monthly fee.
This allows me to focus on the client’s recruiting goals while identifying opportunities to improve the entire Talent Attraction process, including manager interview training.
A Challenge for Business Leaders
Before approving another recruiting technology investment or increasing your job advertising budget, ask yourself three questions:
- Are we proactively attracting Top Performing Talent, or primarily processing applications?
- Are our hiring managers and recruiters working together with specific, measurable recruiting goals?
- Does our recruiting process encourage talented professionals to join our company, or convince them to look elsewhere?
The answers may reveal opportunities to improve recruiting results without simply increasing spending.
Recruiting is not magic. It is focused, strategic, hard work!
And the rewards of attracting and retaining Top Performing Talent can be substantial.
Talent Attraction is Better Than Talent Acquisition!
About the Author
Bill Humbert, known as RecruiterGuy, is an international professional speaker, Talent Attraction Consultant, and award-winning author. He has recruited professionally since 1981 and coached career-search professionals for more than 26 years.
His keynote, The Power of Proper Goal Setting, has been presented on three continents.
His forthcoming fourth book, THUMBS UP! How Hitchhiking 15,000 Miles Taught Me The Power of Proper Goal Setting, is scheduled for publication January 20, 2027.
For Talent Attraction consulting, speaking, and training opportunities, visit RecruiterGuy.com or contact Bill@RecruiterGuy.com.
EXPECT SUCCESS!
See you next Talent Attraction Tuesday!
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Bill Humbert’s Bio
With over 40 years of expertise as a Professional Talent Attraction Consultant and 26+ years as an Expert Career Coach, Bill Humbert is uniquely positioned to speak, author, and consult on Talent Attraction, Career Search, and Goal Setting.
Having presented to audiences on three continents (Europe, Africa, and North America), Bill’s career began in 1981 as a fee-based recruiter in Washington, D.C. In 1990, he founded his consulting business, shifting to a flat monthly fee model and successfully serving companies across diverse industries, including telecom, construction, financial services, manufacturing, management consulting, and renewable energy.
Notably, Bill recruited the Chief Operating Officer for a restaurant chain, with her tenure starting on March 1, 2023.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Bill demonstrated thought leadership by authoring 104 consecutive weeks of #TalentAttractionTuesday and #JobSearchFriday blogs, which are available on RecruiterGuy.com. He has a rich Article Bank with 400+ Articles.
As a career coach, he has guided hundreds of professionals toward successful career transitions over the past 26 years. He is also the author of three career search books, including the highly acclaimed EXPECT SUCCESS! The Science of the Over 50 Career Search, which received a 5-star review on readersfavorite.com/book-review/expect-success
THUMBS UP! How Hitchhiking 15,000Miles Taught Me The Power of Proper Goal Setting – A Business book disguised as an Adventure Story, will be published on January 20, 2027!
ALT text for article bank – Bill Humbert, Talent Attraction Consultant and career coach, shares strategies for finding Talent who never post for positions online.
