5 Ways Recruiters & Hiring Managers Can Make Nice

Transcription

1 5 Ways Recruiters & Hiring Managers Can Make Nice

2 5 Ways Recruiters & Hiring Managers Can Make Nice Page 2 Contents Introduction 3 Know why you re butting heads 4 Define your goals from both perspectives 6 Agree to collaborate 7 Earn the right to be respected and offer advice 8 Go above and beyond 9 Let s talk technology 10

3 5 Ways Recruiters & Hiring Managers Can Make Nice Page 3 Introduction If you re involved with recruiting or hiring, it s part of your job to collaborate with numerous roles inside and outside of your organization, and not all of those relationships are going to be comfortable at all times. That s just how people and businesses operate. Call it an occupational hazard, if you will. But here s the thing: Hiring is critical, and finding the right talent is always in everyone s best interest. After all, both recruiters and hiring managers want to bring in highly skilled employees, quickly and efficiently. So shouldn t it be easier to get along? Why does it sometimes feel like a marriage in crisis? Don t fret. All valuable relationships need help at some point, whether you re a recruiter or a hiring manager. If you find that you re not making effective progress working together, and that it s impeding your ability to source and hire the talent you both need, it s probably time to assess what isn t working and make an effort to fix it. In this ebook, we ll outline five steps you can take to improve communications right away. Here s the rundown: You need to know why things aren t working. You both need to understand the other s goals. You have to want to work together. You need to earn what you ask for. You should exceed expectations. We ll also explain how the right recruiting technology, in conjunction with these practices, can further help you reduce time-to-hire, improve quality-of-hire, and increase retention.

4 5 Ways Recruiters & Hiring Managers Can Make Nice Page 4 Know why you re butting heads You don t need Dr. Phil to explain it to you. If you want to heal a broken relationship, or maybe just shift gears on a stalled collaboration, you first need to understand why you re having trouble. Here are some of the most common clashes between recruiters and hiring managers. Hiring managers make unreasonable skill and competency demands. won t take the time to properly evaluate candidates. won t provide feedback on candidates. don t know what they really want. Recruiters don t know what the job actually entails. don t act fast enough, and they rarely respond.. don t communicate enough with hiring managers enough during the recruiting process. don t listen and, even if they did, can t understand the complexities of the occupation. Sound familiar? It s classic relationship conflict. Both sides need something, yet the other doesn t seem to get what that something is and that s a communication flaw, right? That s basic human nature at work. Right except that, in business, these gaps in communication often are the result of ineffective technology. In other words, these problems can largely be corrected if you combine the right communication practices with the right tools.

5 5 Ways Recruiters & Hiring Managers Can Make Nice Page 5 Ask yourself: How are you communicating with each other? Can you track and easily follow up on communications? Who writes job descriptions? Who decides on required skills and competencies? Who approves them? Do you have an effective method for reminding hiring managers and recruiters when they re falling behind on steps in the process? How do you pass candidates to hiring managers? Do you have a central means for compiling feedback? How do you schedule interviews? Where do you collect interview responses? These are just some of the questions to consider when isolating the reasons behind recruiter/hiring manager conflicts. Let s discuss some ways you can improve your overall communication and collaboration, and then we ll revisit how technology comes into play.

6 5 Ways Recruiters & Hiring Managers Can Make Nice Page 6 Define your goals from both perspectives Any relationship counselor (or management consultant) worth their salt will tell you that miscommunication is the result of misunderstood expectations. That s why it s imperative that recruiters and hiring managers are on the same page when it comes to objectives. If you don t tell someone clearly what you want, you re not likely to get it and vice versa. Take some time to clearly answer the following questions: What do your quotas really mean? Recruiters need to fill all their open positions, but hiring managers only care about their own requisitions. Both sides, therefore, need to understand how the other prioritizes. Recruiters: Be clear about your workload, but also be sure that you don t back-burner anyone without warning. Understand, too, the pressure your hiring managers are under with respect to filling positions. Do they have quarterly quotas at stake? Make sure they tell you these things up front. How do you each define a quality hire? Recruiters have a unique understanding of what makes a candidate stand out in a pile of resumes. This is what they do for a living. But hiring managers have different expertise. To them, quality might mean far more stringent technical standards (that recruiters don t understand), or perhaps a stronger cultural fit with a team (that recruiters have never worked with). Both of you need to make a concerted effort to clearly iron out these differences before you begin the hunt for talent. If you don t feel like you share the same understanding, keep working at it until you do. What does it mean to be efficient? Time-to-hire is one of the most critical metrics for both recruiters and hiring managers but that doesn t mean you implicitly agree on what an efficient time-to-hire should be. Recruiters have a big picture perspective, while hiring managers are dealing with the urgency of an open requisition and all it entails things like lost productivity, product deadlines, and so on. Recruiters: Make it crystal clear what your timeframe looks like for each open requisition, and be sure your hiring managers know what is realistic based on today s competitive market and your current workload. If one of you can t meet the other s timeline, work together to come up with a compromise. Perhaps hiring managers will be willing to cover some of the initial phone screens or help with scheduling. If the position is urgent enough for a manager, it may mean getting creative with how you fill the position. And remember: Regardless of how either of you define efficient, candidates also have their own timelines. They do not want to be kept waiting.

7 5 Ways Recruiters & Hiring Managers Can Make Nice Page 7 Agree to collaborate Few successes are achieved in this world without a sincere desire to succeed behind the effort. The same holds true for collaboration between recruiters and hiring managers: You both have to want for it to work. If recruiters and hiring managers find themselves at odds when it s time to get work done, try these tips: Come to the table as partners. Remember, by definition, partners work together to achieve a common goal, and they do so on equal footing. Neither one of you is automatically right or in charge. You both have important input, and no two hires will be the same. Bring your list of expectations and objectives, and be prepared to receive a list as well. Strive to be empathetic, and empathy will be returned. Even though you re not dealing with a boss/employee dynamic, where one of you is positioned to educate the other, it s likely that you each have learned a thing or two in your experience that is valuable to the future success of your relationship. Allow space for this information to be shared in fact, ask for it. This is how collaborative empathy thrives. If you re working with someone on a long-term basis, you can institute an informal retrospective session, where you share what was learned, what worked, and what didn t. If you re receptive to hearing constructive criticism, you ll find your own comments more likely to fall on eager ears. Collaboration is a two-way street. When you reach consensus on what needs to be done, remember that both recruiters and hiring managers must follow through. Don t expect the burden to fall entirely on hiring managers when it comes to clarifying job requirements or reviewing candidate resumes. If they have clearly expressed what they need in order to find their ideal employee, recruiters should do the legwork they re requesting. Do they want the recruiter to pare down a prospect pool? Do they want to up the technical requirements? Recruiters need to do what they ve asked. However, by the same token, hiring managers must make sure they re listening to what recruiters have said. If they ve been told their aspirations are unrealistic, then come back down from the clouds. Your goal is to work together: Recruiters bring managers the right candidates, and managers choose the best option.

8 5 Ways Recruiters & Hiring Managers Can Make Nice Page 8 Earn the right to be respected and offer advice No one likes receiving unsolicited advice even if it s good advice. That s why recruiters need to be sure that their hiring managers trust and respect them enough to purposefully seek their counsel when it comes to identifying qualified talent. How does one earn that respect? By proving that you care about the outcome of the hiring process, that you understand the pressure managers are under, and that you are there to assist them in their success. And you must do this not only through your words but through your actions. Recruiters shouldn t assume hiring managers automatically know what you know. You re neck deep in resumes on a daily basis. You know the reality of what s out there in the talent pool. You know the compensation packages and perks your company offers backwards and forwards. But odds are, your hiring managers are not as well versed in these things so don t assume they re in the know. When you tell them they aren t being realistic about skill sets or salaries, you re not being helpful unless you give them the facts they need to understand what you re saying. Show your counterpart what you need don t just tell them. Real-world examples can be extremely valuable to busy hiring managers and recruiters. For example, instead of simply telling a manager what a strong resume should say, recruiters can show them several they can read for themselves. Better yet, point to the resumes of past candidates who proved to be stellar employees (or those who did not), so they can see how skills on paper translate to on-the-job productivity. Hiring managers, likewise, can point out key employees whose productivity they re looking to replicate. If recruiters need more concrete job requirement lists, show managers what that list should look like. Both sides should provide templates and samples wherever possible. There s no harm in demonstrating what you want from each other. Show interest in each other as professionals and as people. Don t forget that you re all hard-working employees. You all have lives, hobbies, and personal commitments. Earning respect is much easier if you re considered to be approachable and genuinely interested in who your collaborators are. So be outgoing, sincere, and authentic in your communications.

9 5 Ways Recruiters & Hiring Managers Can Make Nice Page 9 Go above and beyond You get what you give, right? The surest way, then, to get bare minimum cooperation and effort from each other is to only do the least amount of work possible on your end. Why not try the opposite approach and see where that gets you? Surprise each other by giving extra effort and attention. Give updates before anyone has to ask. One of the most frequent complaints by hiring managers and recruiters alike is that neither side responds quickly enough. Get on top of this situation by providing frequent and regular updates on your open requisitions or where candidates are in the pipeline. Don t wait for someone to hound you; be proactive. Provide extra training or offer to schedule it if you need help. Another common issue between recruiters and hiring managers is an inability and, often, an unwillingness to engage with HR systems and processes. Bite the bullet and set up regular training calls to keep everyone feeling confident in how to provide feedback, check candidate status, or scan resumes.

10 5 Ways Recruiters & Hiring Managers Can Make Nice Page 10 Let s talk technology But wait, you say. What if we don t have technology that makes it possible for hiring managers to easily access candidate profiles or provide feedback? Good question. You re not alone. As stated earlier, many of the problems hindering the working relationship between hiring managers and recruiters is a direct result of poor communication that could be corrected by combining the above best practices with the right tools. For example: A comprehensive Applicant Tracking System (ATS) with the two-way communication and approval tools that you need to work efficiently can dramatically ease the realtime collaboration between recruiters and hiring managers. A smart scheduling system can make coordinating interviews automatic and painless. Video interviewing can reduce the time required to evaluate candidates and allow everyone to provide feedback more conveniently to a centralized system. Easy-to-use, web-based recruiting technology can facilitate the learning curve for busy hiring managers and increase overall system adoption. Mobile accessibility for every aspect of the hiring process can streamline communications and accelerate response times between all parties. Jobvite focuses exclusively on recruiting technology and on improving the critical relationships between recruiters, hiring managers, and candidates. Our applications are designed to be intuitive to use and easy to access, while providing the innovative features you need to beat competitors in the war for talent. If you ve struggled to connect effectively with your recruiters or hiring managers, you can mend those relationships with some extra effort and the right tools in place. Take a look at what Jobvite can do for your organization at