Recruiting strategies – How do hiring managers and HR Business Partners work together? 5 tips

The HR Business Partner (HRBP) definition has dramatically changed over the years.  They wear two main hats – HR and business manager.  This includes the day to day HR issues of comp and benefits, guiding HR policies, etc.  But also includes understanding and contributing to the overall goals of the company. They need to be business minded, be employee focused, have the people skills and have a well-rounded knowledge of the operations.

The complexity and operational differences of departments (sales, finance, marketing, R&D, IT, operations, etc. etc.)  can be dramatic.  Keeping up for a hiring manager and HRBP can be daunting.  One important common ground and partnership for both HRBP and hiring manager’s – talent strategy/recruiting.

The main recruiting activities typically fall on the shoulder on the HR Business partner to find, hire and retain. The hiring manager typically look to them to develop the plan, tools, deliverables and then hire quickly with limited interaction or help. As a hiring manager – we have all been guilty of it at some point and need to invest time in the process and learn to work better and smarter together.

So, how can the hiring manager and HR business partner work better together and truly partner?

5 Tips for Success

1 – Planning – invest time and meet with your HRBP, strategy development.  Work with your HRBP on the developing a sound recruitment process.  Work together on your needs, culture and team dynamics.  Review job descriptions.  Make sure it covers the skills and requirements that work best for you.  What is the interview process?  How are you as the hiring manager going to make this easy for the candidate and the HR business partner?  Is this a new position or replacement?  Get buy-in from your HRBP

2 – The Recruitment Process – Work together on the process to attract a pool of job seekers.  Interview techniques, screening, assessment tools.  Who owns the different stages of the process?  Think about how you streamline and accelerate the process and attract and hire quality candidates.  Usually from department to department the process will differ some.  Build some common best practices.

3 – Re-occurring meetings – weekly or bimonthly meetings to review what is working, how to pivot or adjust the strategy until the hiring process is completed.  Review the process.  Is phone screening working?  What interview questions are important to you as the hiring manager.

4 – The offer letter – understand the offer, what is in it and what is going to be important to your future employee.  How do you handle the counter?  What is the process of approval and steps needed to keep it moving!  As the hiring manager you need to be involved and be a consultant.  Don’t take this for granted!

5 – The first day and onboarding – get involved.  Work with your HRBP to be an active and visible in the employee’s onboarding.  We’re talking about continuing to make the candidate/new employee feel wanted before they officially join the organization. Many a company has failed to do that, only to see their new employee never show up for their first day of work.

HRBP and the hiring manager should not be islands in recruiting which is often the case.  As the hiring manager you own the process.  The HRBP is there to help and do much of the heavy lifting.  Bridge the gap and develop that partnership.  The results will save you time, get you “A” talent and make your organization stronger.

There are more tips, details and ideas.  Please comment and share your experiences, tips and observations. Any comment is welcome!

Reach Me at doug@broadreachstaffing.com

Tough Time Finding Perfect Talent? Then Hire the “Best Available Athlete!”

In this historically tight labor market it can be extremely difficult for hiring organizations to find “the perfect fit” – a candidate that has all the required experience, skills and demeanor to jump into a role immediately and be insanely productive out of the gate.  Yet, many hiring managers are holding out for just that profile – the perfect applicant that’s available right now, flawlessly moves through the hiring process, takes the comp package as-is and jumps right in to the role as if they had been performing in it for 10 years.  Unfortunately this type of unrealistic hiring mentality is holding many organizations back in terms of growth, and highly qualified candidates that can help the organization are being overlooked in favor of almost mythical profiles that never step through the hiring door.  What’s our advice to companies that are stuck in the perfect fit syndrome?  Be flexible, be realistic and look to hire (with a nod to New England Patriots Head Coach Bill Belichick) the “best available athlete.”

For the NFL uninitiated (or Patriots haters) the phrase “best available athlete” refers to a player drafting technique (often used by Belichick) in which a team will select the best overall athlete left when it’s their turn to pick on the college draft board – even if that player does not currently fill a specific current positional need.  Teams will go with the best athlete that remains on the board instead of drafting a potentially lesser player that may fill a role on the depth chart.  Why do teams employ this draft approach?  Truly elite athletes tend to be highly flexible and can learn other roles.  They can adjust and, with the proper training and support, can learn a new position quickly and make a contribution to the organization relatively quickly.  Top athletes are usually resilient, determined and self-motivated.  They enjoy and respond well to challenges, like learning new positions and helping the team in any way they can.

As the founder and president of a recruitment firm that prides itself on finding hidden gems that others can’t, I will tell you that this approach can be adapted for businesses with tough-to-fill roles in tight talent markets. In particular, companies that have multiple roles to fill would benefit from this sort of flexibility.   Here’s an example of how this can work.  Not long ago I was meeting with one of our clients, a VP of Technology, that was seeking two experienced, talented software engineers with a very specific technology skill-set.  Our client knew the market is incredibly tight for folks like this and after some discussion we agreed to find the “best athlete” that already works in the same vertical business sector but perhaps the tech stack may not align perfectly. He acknowledged they could learn the technology while still being productive in the role and that it would not take them long to get up to speed given their other related skills.  By taking this approach, we were able to present him with multiple candidates for the two open positions and he was able to bring them aboard quickly  – within a month of working with us.  Now, he could have waited 75, 90 or even 120 days or more to hold out for the perfect fit, but he understood the value of getting talented people in seats that want to learn and grow, rather than waiting several months to find the needles in the haystack while watching his projects stall out, his current staff get frustrated by a lack of help, and his lost opportunity costs rising every day.  We believe the most forward-looking technology managers are seeking talent over exact matches, and that’s how they win.  Talented, committed employees are happy to learn new skills and managers are happy to keep projects on schedule.

If you or your organization is having trouble finding the right talent to hire, please feel free to contact us to discuss your needs.  We would be happy to have a consultative conversation to review the challenges you’re facing and how Broadreach Staffing can help.