Recruiter Capabilities: Why Now?

As many of you know, we are neck-deep in researching solutions to a primary challenge for many Recruiting organizations this year: improving recruiter capabilities. What’s driving this challenge? Here’s what we’ve heard from Recruiting executives at various organizations, many of which are from Forbes’ Global 2000 list:

• Major changes to Recruiting structures and processes are leaving organizations in need of different recruiting team capabilities than those in place


• With many Recruiting teams smaller now, the expectations of each team member have increased or changed


• Business changes require a Recruiting organization that is consultative, rather than one that takes (potentially wrong) orders from individual hiring managers


• Innovations in social media have presented an opportunity to dramatically improve sourcing capabilities

Talking to almost any Recruiting organization makes it clear that recruiting systems and structures are intertwined with recruiter capabilities (which include their skills and behaviors). Recruiters can’t perform at their best without supportive structures, processes, and technology. Can the two issues—support and recruiter capabilities—be parsed out? We have done so through extensive surveying of Recruiting organizations. As you can see in the graph, systems and structures impact quality of hire by only 22%, but recruiter capabilities and management account for 78% of the impact on quality of hire.

What does this mean? Recruiters still need support to use their capabilities to their fullest, but if you can increase your recruiters’ raw ability to demonstrate key skills needed in your function in 2010, the returns on quality will be realized.