This Is How You Make Working With Recruiters Easier What to do when a recruiter may see a job candidate as a perfect fit but the hiring manager views them as a bad choice?
By Josh Tolan •
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Hiring managers and recruiters share a similar goal -- to fill positions with qualified candidates. However, there is a huge disparity between how hiring managers and recruiters are viewing the success of their recruiting process.
An April 2016 survey from ERE found that while 72 percent of recruiters felt they did a good job acting as a talent advisor, only 42 percent of hiring managers felt encouraged by the recruiter's abilities in that role.
Despite sharing a main goal, they also have dramatic differences. While the recruiter's main focus is getting people hired, the hiring manager's focus is building a team and ensuring new hires fit in the company and will help contribute to the organization's mission.
Related: Hiring Managers: Recruiters Aren't Working
The question then becomes, where and why do problems arise. and how does one fix the situation so both parties can be on the same page? Hiring managers need to be proactive in finding solutions.
Here's how to make working with recruiters easier:
Identify where disagreements occur.
It's difficult to solve a problem when nobody is aware of what the specific issue is. The first step in finding a solution is identifying where processes differ and where things fall apart. Where are hiring managers and recruiters disagreeing? Comb through the entire process, and find the pain points.
A common issue occurs during the interview stage. Perhaps the recruiter sees a qualified candidate, while a hiring manager sees low talent and a bad cultural fit.
Interviewing is a great place to collaborate in many ways. A panel interview, for instance, is perfect for gathering multiple perspectives on a potential new hire. And when using video interviews, both the hiring manager and the recruiter can view the footage at their own convenience and provide notes for one another, sharing opinions and further analyzing the candidate's responses. Welcome all the input that can be gathered to ensure the whole team is on the same page.
Bottom line -- Solutions can be found only after a company knows where the process fails to allow both parties to collaborate. Most of the time, a lack of communication causes major discrepancies.
Establish clear rubrics for qualifications.
When working with recruiters, hiring managers need to express what the company is looking for in a clear way so recruiters can attract the right candidates.
Related: This is How Quality of Hire Should Inform Your Recruiting Process
Job descriptions are vital to a strong hiring process. They need to accurately represent the position and clearly communicate what the company stands for so job seekers can see if their values align.
Recruiters and hiring managers need to work together to write job postings. When the rubrics are clear, only qualified candidates will apply. If they are vague, companies must spend extra time screening an excessive amount of applications.
Hone in on terms like "team player," and discuss what these qualifiers mean to each party. What does a team player look like to recruiters? This is a good opportunity to see how each person evaluates candidates differently, which should be taken into consideration when it's time to make a decision.
Share relevant data.
Data is a great tool because it's straightforward evidence for both parties to come together on. However, if both sides aren't looking at the same data, how can they make appropriate decisions together?
Recruiters look at aspects like the time it takes to hire and how many people are hired. However, they could benefit from seeing the quality of hire, metrics that indicate how successful each new employee is with the company.
In LinkedIn's 2016 Global Recruiting Trends Report, 39 percent of talent leaders agree that quality of hire is the most valuable metric for performance, but only 33 percent of companies say their quality of hire measurement is strong. In other words, there's room for improvement.
Related: Tips for Interviewing Every Hiring Manager Should Know
Once the talent acquisition team can form a strong method of determining the quality of hire, hiring managers can share this important data when they are working with recruiters. This aligns both parties to look at how effective retention is. If there are plenty of new hires that result in high turnover, recruiters need to change their process. But if positions are being filled and talent is being retained, the collaborative approach to the hiring process is proven effective.
Strong communication and teamwork results in an improved recruiting process, giving the company a competitive advantage in the war for talent.
How are you working with recruiters, and what are some improvements you want to make?
