Recruiters - Closest allies, foes, fence sitters, or neither?

Today I wanted to take a moment to talk about this art of mine, the wonderful community and world of Recruitment/ Talent Acquisition.

The rise of recruitment or talent acquisition (call it what you may for now really)as an actual respectable career path is probably one of the biggest highs I have had and will ever have in my career! Believe it or not, when I started in this space about a decade ago recruitment was either done by some sort of “secret agencies” or HR.? There was no “formal education” path also to become a recruiter. It was an organic mix of some HR here and some sales there. Even when all one did was 90% recruitment, you were referred to as an HR Associate. Writing and sharing this piece today brings me more joy than you could imagine because this craft now/ finally has a seat at the table when discussing people matters in business. The space has truly evolved and now good old LinkedIn and other forward organizations dish out formal learning resources for those in the recruitment space or looking to get into it; from sourcing schools to interviewer training…. It really is a remarkable thing, what an evolution!

One of the long standing debates around this field though, is where do recruiters loyalty lie? If I tell my recruiter ABCD will they share the same exact information with the HR team or hiring manager? Can I confide in my recruiter and show vulnerability or even self-doubt? These are difficult questions to answer because it's definitely not a one size fits all. The answer varies depending on organizational culture and even personal style. At times it also plays to the strengths and weakness of the individual recruiter or recruitment team at large. Ideally though, we need to play the role of middle-men & women.

There was a time I can say I leaned too much toward the candidate side of the see-saw. One might even have wondered if my organization(s) were really paying my salary or the candidates were my actual employers ??

I recall getting feedback while I was working in one of the organizations I 've had the opportunity to step into and I still keep very close to mind and heart... I was seemingly too attached or leaning on the side of candidates and overall my opinions and actions were no longer as objective as they should have been. Where was my push for the employer? How was I being a middle-man? Initially I was unaccepting of said feedback because my strength at the time was knowing my candidates in and out so why wasn’t it fantastic for us to have a leg in knowing what their next move was or whether they’d be keen on accepting the terms we were sharing??? After some weeks of silent personal observation I realized I wasn’t having as deep thoughtful conversations with the hiring team as I was with my candidates. I knew their agenda and their pain points based off a hiring kick off conversation and thought I grasped everything, but I wasn’t discovering the day to day on what makes the team tick - what new challenges have come up, what sort of persona would actually blend well into this mix of colleagues? My actions during a recruitment engagement should not only be based on what has been verbally or written and shared with me, but also based on what I have gathered from observation i.e. office drop-bys, lunches and water cooler catch-ups. I was actually doing all the mentioned on one side (candidates) but not on the other side. I had the tendency to work with alot of assumptions given being an internal recruiter (i.e. based within an organization and not an agency), it felt like home turf!

A couple of things I now keep in mind given the multiple stakeholders one is often required to juggle in the talent acquisition space:

1. We (in the recruitment space) are at our best when we build good and effective relationships. I'll focus a little bit on the second trait... Effective for me means each of us are gaining value in our engagement i.e. Candidate, Hiring Manager, Recruitment & HR. Compromise will often be required when one is trying to meet this objective so it may feel like sometimes I win some and other times I lose some but the reality is we win as a collective and that should be enough fuel to get you revved up for your next engagement!
2. Silent observation of oneself can do alot for managing relationships. I know I have gotten in my own way many times through my career because of not taking time to be still, pause & reflect and then respond vs. react. This week I challenge you to take time to play back the last couple of intense conversations you've had on the job. What were the points of contention? Did you react vs. respond? Did you have full breadth of all your bargaining/ negotiating chips? If you faced yourself off during such a conversation, would you enjoy or dislike interacting with that person?

Takeaway of the week:

To candidates and hiring managers, when you both win WE truly win even. Even when the outcome is not prime we are ready to learn from it, reiterate, test and try again. As I mentioned there’s no rule book or formal/ standard education around Recruitment so it’s an exciting adventure to discover first hand what works and why and almost make our own little patent on this specific unique project. The exploration journey is literally a roller coaster - exciting, jarring, amongst many other things but most of us keep getting on the ride! We highly embrace invention, creation, finding patterns and connecting with people - leverage these sides of us when you can.

To my fellow recruiters out there, be loud and proud of this craft and calling of ours. Continue to document so we can spread the good gospel of what we do and how we do it to those that care or dare to take on this fine balancing act we call our jobs, careers or professional calling! It’s a difficult task to be constant middle-people but we need to be both good and effective on each side of the fence. Actively listen, address and action pain points and most of all actively keep searching for solutions because people/talent problems just don’t have a standard rule book to fall back on during tough times.?

Very happy to also coach budding recruiters or those looking to transition into this amazing space! Reach out to me on [email protected] or on LinkedIn direct message to chat more about this...