After last nights officiating debacle in the Leafs game, perhaps the role of the Recruiter should include being an NHL official too. Ok, I'm still a little worked up, I digress.
Transactional. That's actually how I've had many Recruiters describe their role to me.
- Recruiter gets introduced to the role and kicks it off with a hiring Manager
- The hiring Manager outlines every detail of the role and what the interview process will be like
- Recruiter posts the role, goes through applications and does some sourcing
- Recruiter does Recruiter screens and keeps candidates moving along through the process
- Recruiter negotiates the offer with the top candidate and closes the role
Rinse and repeat. Transactional.
It shouldn't be this way. If that's truly your role and it doesn't expand outside of that scope, you might want to re-evaluate what you are doing. Perhaps more importantly, your company might want to re-evaluate the role of the Recruiter.
So Justin, what is the role of the Recruiter then? Sure there are parts of it that are transactional but we need to get further away from that sentiment. A Recruiter is a true talent business partner.
- You're building an employer brand
- You're giving a candidate experience that is different from other companies
- You're not posting a job description, you are posting a job advertisement
- You're pushing back on hiring Managers to let them know that communication, attention to detail, ability to multi task are ALL FLUFF and don't need to be in every posting
- You're helping actually develop the job! "hiring Manager, why do you think you need a Senior person for this role? You already have 3 Senior people on your team, why do you need more?" "Why do you need someone with a designation when they makes no difference for someone who has 10 years of experience being incredibly successful?" "I've seen companies hire their first Engineering Manager as someone who can people manage and contribute technically to the code, that might be who you want to hire as your first Engineering Manager."
- You're the ears on the street when it comes to compensation and you're bringing that back to your People Team so that changes can be made and your company stops relying completely on salary guides
- You're a salesperson and a marketer
- You're evaluating evaluations that come in from interviewers to make sure bias isn't present and to make sure evaluators aren't getting to fixated on one specific thing
- You're in the debrief sessions to make sure that the evaluation and selection process is effective and fair
I could keep going on and on. You are not a Recruiter, you are a true business partner with a focus on hiring/recruiting/acquiring talent. I know for many of you, this may seem obvious because it's your role right now. That's great! But I know there are many who aren't doing this. If you're not, hopefully this can be a framework for what you propose your new role to be.