All of us are in a hurry – organizations and individuals. We want things done instantly. Our environment rewards us for quick results and push us into a state of despair when results do not meet expectations. So we need to find ways of making our work life relatively stress-free.
Our economy is growing and most companies are creating new jobs which need to be filled with not only fresh talent but also experienced talent. Thus, there are millions of positions to fill every year. All leaders want the roles to be filled as of yesterday! To make matters more complex, we do not get enough interested candidates who have the necessary skills. As a result, Talent Acquisition (TA) teams are pressed with steep targets and aggressive timelines. Naturally, there is a huge stress on the system and the players. How do you soak the stress out?
Build the big picture!
Every organization has its own characteristics and unique situation. Leaders who sit at the top can see these most clearly and hence, they need to articulate these for the remaining others to appreciate, reflect and comment upon. In the current times, management style is increasingly participative and democratic. So, one expects that the leaders involve the rest of the organization in crafting this big picture.
TA Leader of the organisation needs to now build the TA strategy based on the organization’s overall strategy, culture and specific needs. This strategy defines the hiring architecture such as the personality traits to look for, the assessment methods to be used, benchmarks to apply, hiring practices and policies.
Execution Rigour needed!
Many organizations start on a weak ground and hence, the execution remains unpredictable. We have seen misalignment between line managers and recruiters about the kind of talent required, criticality, salary budget and so on. Sometimes, the skills and knowledge required for the role remain unclear. These situations risk our ability to on-board quality talent on a consistent basis.
We have to start with a hiring plan which defines the number of roles to fill, the timelines and the budgets for each. This plan needs to be executed keeping the TA Big Picture in mind. The execution has to be rigorous and disciplined so that quality is ensured.
Sometimes organizations with large hiring needs install an in-house TA team to fulfil their hiring needs. Since the organization’s core business is not hiring, top leaders are naturally not focused on this activity. They discuss TA only when the noise levels go up and treat the team as a punching bag. TA team becomes a hygiene factor on the side-lines and does not receive the attention that the topics of mainstream business do.
In order to make hiring engine efficient, the organization has to measure all costs and TAT. Organizations with inhouse teams find it hard to measure these meaningfully. Efficiency improves when the number of interviews per successful hire drop and budgets are maintained. The process becomes sustainable when the pipeline of talent is strong and average tenure of the hires increases. All of these can be achieved when the recruitment processes are run rigorously with a machine-like repeatability.
How many of us trust the doctor in the infirmary?
We all have the experience of visiting the doctor in the infirmary. Unless the ailment is minor, we run for a second opinion, don’t we?
Potential candidates similarly do not trust the words of the in-house recruiter. Change in job is one of the most important decisions in one’s life and hence, it is natural for a candidate to think about the opportunity and the offer over a period of time. Since the in-house recruiter gets identified with the organization, more often than not, the candidate is likely to discount the opinions and advice of such a recruiter.
We tend to trust the professional advice of a nonpartisan specialist and hence, are more likely to have an open conversation. This helps an independent recruiter to understand the anxieties and concerns of a candidate better; can address them meaningfully. This can reduce one of most common stress points in recruitment : last-minute dropouts or offer declines.
In summary, we have to stamp authenticity on our talent strategy, outsource the execution to specialists and monitor the processes with the right metrics all the time. Life of the TA Team becomes stress-free!
