Save yourself from committing recruiting crimes: A guide for TA professionals
Glamourous on the outside, but a lot of demanding work and execution on the inside, Talent Acquisition is, indeed, slippery turf. Invariably, this means that there are enough and more inward and outward transactions during the entire recruitment process which need exacting execution.
However, this is where the propensity of TA professionals (aka recruiters) to slip is high. These misses or what I call ‘recruitment crimes’ impact both the organization (in terms of loss of brand value) and applicant candidates (through poor candidate experience). By and large, these are not deliberate by nature. Often, they are inadvertent and the result of an overworked recruitment engine with multiple candidates at varied stages of the selection process. But, it is rightly said – Ignorantia juris non excusat (Latin for Ignorance of Law is not an excuse).
Hence, I would recommend that all TA professionals go through what constitutes some of these ‘crimes’ and actively focus on eliminating these from their hiring processes.
- Playing the Roulette – As oft observed, handed over a Job Description (JD) and a target delivery date, a recruiter will get into the motions of hiring without understanding the role requirement clearly. And herein, begins the game of chance – Candidates picked randomly basis ease of reach and inserted into the hiring engine with a hope of selection. A Job description can only provide a limited view. A conversation with the hiring manager regarding the role deliverables can work wonders towards better candidate profiling by the recruiter. This, in turn, will lead to a more efficient hiring process.
- CV Dumping – A recruiter’s job is not to throw CVs into the selection funnel with a pray that someone will stick! It’s to aid in the selection of the right candidate for the role. Unfortunately, many recruiters feel that no. of CVs = productivity. As you’ll agree, this equation is worthless. My experience says that (most) hiring managers would be thrilled to select the first candidate presented to them provided they are able to tick all the boxes in their requirement list.
- Doing the ‘Disappearing Act’ – A recruiter is no magician. In fact, when he or she is not able to fulfill a hiring requirement, he/she will tell the hiring manager exactly that! But, when it comes to candidates who have been rejected post a selection round, a recruiter will often play magician and disappear altogether. Neither is the news of rejection communicated nor is the feedback provided. This leaves a very poor impression of the organization in the mind of the candidate and damages the organization’s brand equity.
- Fudging Nos. – Ok! Fudging is too strong a word. I admit I’m using it for effect given the topic. What I want to bring attention to is the crime a recruiter commits by not tracking (and thereby, not investigating) the hiring waterfall accurately. A well-tracked waterfall through the multiple selection rounds can help fine-tune the hiring process going forward when the intelligence garnered feeds back into the process.
If you are a recruiter, I hope you will keep these in mind in your future hiring efforts. And if you are hiring manager, I would urge you to get a little more engaged with the recruiter handling your personnel requirements and watch out for signals alluding to these crimes. Maybe, you will save yourself some serious heartburn!