Why HR Sucks at Recruiting

I have a quick pro tip for all my hiring managers out there, and that is STOP sending recruiters to HR.

Nothing against HR and I know, look I get it, you’re really busy. So am I and so as every other professional out there. We all work harder than we probably should or really want to, but you are absolutely killing your chances of success by delegating recruiting firms to HR.

Let me tell you why. Number one, HR usually can’t speak in technical terms and can’t give us recruiters the technical meat that we’re looking for, you know, the stuff that candidates are really wanting to hear about. I mean, let’s face it right now, there are more jobs available in the United States and there are candidates. So how are you going to separate your company from everyone else that’s looking to hire the same…exact…talent?

When you send us to HR they are going to give us a job description and tell us YOU are looking for a team player, with good communication skills, who can hit the ground running. Sound familiar? What would you do if a recruiter called you and tried recruiting you with that boiler plate garbage? Imagine though if a recruiter called you and said, “I had a detailed conversation with the person you will report to and they said this, that, and the other things (and those things were exactly what you were looking for). This is what today’s top talent is looking for. They are not going to stand in line and go through the inefficient HR process, they just aren’t.

Furthermore, you shouldn’t delegate us to HR because they have no idea what the intangibles of the position are. Only you know that, and that’s what we need to know. Intangibles are what helps recruiters find the best candidates out there. So if your HR department can’t give us the technical meat and intangibles on the position, then your chance of getting that position filled quickly with a Rockstar are pretty much slim to none. So recruiter tip….take it for what it’s worth….

I know we’re all busy, but you have to STOP….sending….recruiters….to HR. Spend some time talking to your recruiters to find out what their process is. Find out if they’re just posting jobs on job boards hoping that someone shows up, because if they are, get rid of them immediately. I mean, that’s something your HR department can do for free. There’s no sense of paying a five-figure fee to a recruiter that’s just going to post the job and hope the right person comes in. Make your recruiters submit the source of where they found the candidate in an effort to audit your recruiting partners. Make sure you’re finding out, do they call into companies and recruit people out of there? That’s old school headhunting. We do it and a lot of other recruiting firms out there do it as well. Truthfully that’s the best way to actually find top talent because there’s a lot of good candidates out there right now that aren’t actively looking,

they’ll never see your job posting, they’ll never be on your website, and they’ll never see your social media posts. But if your recruiter calls them at their desk and interrupts their day with a compelling opportunity that has a lot of technical meat and intangibles you better believe they will listen. Unless, of course, they are about to retire.

Right now, more than ever, because of the gap between candidates available and jobs available, we need to be able to go in and absolutely knock someone’s socks off in order to get them to consider coming to interview with your company while they’re gainfully employed. There’s no reason for them to do that. Give your recruiter something that will knock a candidate socks off and I promise you you’ll fill your jobs a lot quicker with much higher quality candidates.

That’s my pro tip for today. I hope it’s useful and STOP….SENDING….RECRUITERS to HR. See Ya.