Head office vs. subsidiary, kitchen vs. service staff, marketing vs. sales department: Many workplaces are familiar with these ongoing feuds between individuals or departments, that always follow the same patterns. Both parties desperately need each other to deliver an exceptional product or remarkable customer experience yet the cooperation comes with frustration, complaining and ongoing wrangling.A similar situation is also common among recruitment departments and hiring managers. They really cannot get their job done without each other. Without the expertise and effort of the recruiter the hiring manager can go a long time without finding a much-needed replacement or addition to the team. Without the input and commitment of the hiring manager it becomes almost impossible for the recruiter to source, select and convince the best matching candidates. If we take a quick glimpse at a small selection of recruitment memes below, we can surely conclude that frustration and complaining does also occur between hiring managers and recruiters.
Recruiters complain about the hiring managers’ unrealistic expectations of the amount or quality of candidates the recruiter will be able to deliver. Sometimes hiring managers just haven’t thought out the role that well or change their mind about the included responsibilities throughout the process. This makes the work of the recruiter a lot harder. Hiring managers are adding their hiring responsibilities on top of their regular workload and therefore often get called out by recruiters for slowing the process down and being inexperienced. Industry site Werf& reports, that 41% recruiters state that they are experiencing slow responses from hiring managers to emails, calls or other forms of communication.
Hiring managers on the other hand regularly get annoyed with their recruitment departments because of a lack of knowledge and understanding about the role(s) they are hiring for. Quite often hiring managers would like to see more candidates or feel pushed to take a decision when they are not ready to commit (yet).
So, know that we know what both sides are holding against each other, let’s look into a few tips to end this feud once and for all.
If both sides keep their eyes on the price (a positive outcome of the hiring process) you can take your relationship to the next level. Stop seeing your hiring manager as an internal client or your recruiter as a ‘vendor’ of qualified candidates and engage in a true partnership with each other.
Expectations are a lot easier to manage, if you know what they are in the first place. Take the time to inform the hiring manager about the current market and a realistic expected time-to-hire for his or her role. What are the nice-to-haves and what are the must-haves? 46% of recruiters state that they struggle to separate them. And if you are recruiting for several roles: What are the priorities?
When you order something, you really like online, you receive a tracking information to help you understand what is going on, right? Why don’t you do the exact same thing for your hiring managers? Lay out a path of clearly defined steps and let them know exactly where, when, and how they can contribute. Use success stories to show hiring managers how big their (and their teams) impact can be on the candidate journey and hiring success. Communication is key to make this work. With regular status updates and success celebrations you will be the most fun colleague your hiring mangers meets all day. 😉
According to Werf& more than 6 out of 10 organisations train their hiring managers to conduct job interviews. Why not make that a two-way street where you both train and get to know each other. As a recruiter you could for example consider claiming a desk at the hiring managers department for a day, so you can really experience the vibe and find out more about their daily work.
So instead of forwarding that one relatable meme to your recruitment buddy’s, next time think of reaching out and bonding with your hiring manager instead!
HAPPY (collaborative) HIRING!
In this interactive webinar, Marie van Kerckhoven, Head of Talent Acquisition at Galapagos, explained how she and her team successfully include the hiring managers into talent acquisition processes on a daily basis.
A candidate led market requires a new hiring mindset.
How to strategically engage hiring managers early-on?
What superpowers do your hiring managers bring to the table?
