There are a number of common misunderstandings about recruiting today that you and your peers have been sharing with us—misconceptions that many individuals in your organizations have about talent acquisition right now. And I’m not just talking about line managers holding these views either– some of these perspectives are held among HR peers as well.
I was in NY last week visiting a number of members and, among other things, heard a distinct majority of folks citing some of the most popular misconceptions about recruiting right now:
- Misconception #1: “Recruiters have capacity”While this may be somewhat true in a relative sense compared to prior years, the reality today is that any jobs we are left to fill are often some of the most critical roles with the same level of complexity as before; also many organizations are wading through higher application volumes and screening can take time to find good quality. Further, why is it always the case that pipeline building is somehow ignored as a critical task that might actually require time allocation?
- Misconception #2: “Talent is readily accessible”Oftentimes quality talent may NOT necessarily be active talent right now as companies struggle to hold onto their high-potential employees. Further, not everyone is in the mood to move.
- Misconception #3: “Fill time should decrease”Hiring managers are the particular culprits frequently harboring this misconception. For some positions, it may be true that talent is easier to find more quickly. However, the reality for some roles is that it can actually take longer than most hiring managers expect since application volume is quite high these days and legal screening procedures still need to be enforced (therefore, there is ultimately only a finite amount of time that can be shaved from the process).
- Misconception #4: “No one is recruiting these days”Au contraire…we may not be hiring at the same volumes as before (and yes, a handful of organizations have stopped external hiring completely) but the reality that many recruiting executives have told us is that “we may not be hiring, but we are always recruiting.” Thus, while basic recruiting is still ongoing (e.g., internal transfers, backfilling critical positions), everyone you come in contact with should be considered someone to build a relationship with for the future. This is how pipelining gets done on an ongoing basis.
- Misconception #5: “Things will bounce back to the way they were eventually”To be honest, we’re not so sure that even when hiring volumes do come back that recruiting organizations should be operating the way they were before. In the “new reality” of recruitment, there may very well be different business needs and recruiter skill sets required—we’ll address this in a future post.
Please add to our running list here by sharing your thoughts…what other misconceptions have you heard or experienced?
Written by: Donna L. Weiss
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