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Separation Surgery for Recruiting Calls For Study before Scalpel

A few months ago I watched the story on NBC News of a brilliant team of surgeons in Peru separating conjoined twins. Operations of this type can result in losing the life of one or both of the twins when there are shared organs involved. This operation was successful because they were able to actually split their shared liver and both survived. If we consider a living business process like talent acquisition to be composed of many conjoined functions, it is surprisingly analogous that there may be some shared services that can place the separated parties at risk if the proper care is not taken. We live in an age of specialization, but stand alone specialization can be shortsighted and miss key aspects if they fall outside of the specialty. Visibility of all parts of the process is the only way to insure that it will survive intact.

  • Attraction Is Attached To Sourcing – Initially the external voice of recruiting is from those responsible for broadcasting the message designed to project the best image of the company and finding active and passive talent that meets the recruitment need. Not only are these functions conjoined, there is a special need for coordination with other aspects of the business to insure a consistent message is portrayed for candidates.
  • Sourcing Always Overlaps Recruiting – Expectations cannot be different if sourcers hand-off candidates to a recruiter that will move them forward through the process. Organizations large enough to have dedicated sourcers have an advantage in covering the marketplace, but the basic story about next steps must always be the same. Even operating separately, communication between these two functions must be constant and consistent.
  • Recruiting Leads to Hiring – Guiding candidates through the interview process without having them lose confidence in the process is tricky. Recruiters don’t hire people… managers hire people. Orchestrating an interview process that is comprehensive enough to make an intelligent decision must also have data points at which feedback is generated and communicated. My recommendation has always been that the recruiter “interviews” each candidate to sense when feedback is at risk of failing. Successful hiring means meeting both company and candidate needs.
  • Hiring Evolves Into Onboarding – The decision to make an offer of employment culminates in giving the prospective new employee detailed instructions for Day 1 and beyond. Those responsible for administration need to maintain an intimate connection with the new hire and be qualified to answer all questions. The classic failure is when that first paycheck is late or not accurate.

The most common model for small companies is with all of the recruitment siblings remaining joined in one person. In larger organizations the model is more like conjoined triplets: External Sourcing, Internal Recruiting Management, and Administrative Staff… all sharing organs of productivity and keeping no secrets from their brothers and sisters.

 
Image credit: lightwise / 123RF Stock Photo

 

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