I grew up in a household of music educators. My father was a professor of music and my mother taught middle and high school orchestra. As educators, my parents were proponents of accountability. Nothing frustrated them more than a student whining about their grades when they never did their homework, rarely practiced their instrument or regularly skipped lessons.
The idea that “what you put into something, is what you get out of something” was really a cornerstone of my childhood. And it was entirely appropriate, considering, unless you are a music virtuoso, your ability to play a musical instrument tells loud and clear the effort you have put into playing the instrument, or in my case, the lack of effort. This philosophy transcends into almost all aspects of life, including my profession – recruiting.
Most recruiters –both internal and external- can relate. A hiring manager or client expects and wants only the top talent, yet they do not have a real talent management strategy or they are not investing in their recruitment efforts.
When beginning a search for talent or developing your corporate talent management program, employers should consider the following:
Recruiting is important. Talent is your most important asset and differentiates you from your competitors. If this is really the case, then why would you try to skimp on the process or cut corners on getting this talent?
Recruiting is time consuming. I go about recruiting a bit differently than others. Having worked in agencies and in house as a recruiter, I have experienced pressure to find talent quickly to appease the hiring manager or client. Too many agencies want to submit candidates quickly to beat out their competition. When the emphasis is placed on quick submissions, the quality control of the process suffers and this leads to submitting candidates who are not fully qualified or who may not really be all that interested in the position. And this ultimately wastes time, hurts your relationships with the client or hiring manager and draws out the recruiting process. How does that saying go? “Slow and steady wins the race.”
Recruiting requires resources. Employers must devote the manpower, time and money into finding the right talent in order to have successful hires. Even when working with external recruiters, employers must be willing to spend the appropriate amount of time speaking with candidates, learning about their background, asking the right questions and developing an attractive compensation package.
With all that in mind, consider how costly it is to not put the right amount of effort, time and resources into recruiting your talent. Whether you outsource your recruiting or build an internal recruiting team, employers must realize that when it comes to talent, you will get the quality of talent reciprocal with what you put into your recruiting efforts.
Comments