Importance of Relationships in Talent Acquisition

 

Developing and maintaining a relationship

A successful recruiter must develop excellent relationship with the two primary stakeholders, the representatives of the hiring organization (whom we shall refer as Hiring Organization) and Applicant(s) (whom we shall refer as Applicant). The relationship will help the recruiter to transact with the hiring organization and the Applicant effectively and will give her the necessary credibility to influence the hiring organization in the recruitment process, if required.

It is very important to establish a relationship with the Hiring Organization. Relationships are the Building Blocks of business.

Relationship: The Hiring Organization perspective

How can relationship be developed with the Hiring organization?

The best way to strike a relationship with the Hiring organization is to be able to fulfill their requirements in a super quick way.

However it may not always be possible to provide resumes all the time at the pace required by the Hiring Organization.

The recruiter may be able to strike an instant relationship in case the recruiter shares a past background , experience and /or have some friends which the recruiter can leverage.

This may also not be possible.

It is here that some very important qualities would be needed to build and nurture a relationship with the Hiring Organization:

1. Remember that the Hiring Organization is talking to the recruiter because she is an expert at recruiting. Hence it is imperative that recruiter behaves as an expert. This will give a definite psychological advantage.
2. The recruiter may do well to listen to the requirement and reconfirm with the Hiring Organization if she has understood the requirement correctly.
3. The recruiter must seek all possible clarifications upfront.
4. The recruiter must also decide if she would like to take the assignment or not. If the recruiter does not like to take up the assignment, the recruiter may communicate politely stating the reason why she is not in a position to take up the assignment.
5. Once the recruiter decided to take up the assignment, communicate and commit the timelines by which the recruiter would be able to deliver the necessary goods.
6. Once the recruiter commits, the commitment must be fulfilled.
7. The recruiter shall do well to Communicate, Communicate and keep on communicating with the Hiring Organization at all pertinent points of time.
8. Once the recruiter has succeeded in her efforts in recruiting a suitable Applicant, the recruiter may want to follow up with the hiring organization to check how the Applicant is doing.
9. The recruiter must take pains to interact with the hiring organization regularly.
10. The recruiter must, at all points of time, remember that Hiring Organization is the customer and She is the king and always right.

Influencing: The Hiring organization perspective

The recruiter’s job involves a lot of selling. Recruiters are constantly involved in selling opportunities to both the hiring organization as well as the Applicants.

A recruiter has to understand that she is in a position to influence the Hiring Organization in her decision making.

To be able to influence the Hiring Organization, the relationship with the Hiring Organization should be mature.

The recruiter must have established past credibility on quality of the resources she has provided.

The recruiter must behave like an expert.

The recruiter must be able to communicate and interact with the Hiring Organization like an equal.

The recruiter must be in a position to qualitatively evaluate the Applicant.

In real time situation while dealing with the hiring organizations, they may not always shortlists the right profiles. Hence it is very important to be able to convincingly push across a good resumes which may be otherwise lost. To be able to convincingly push across a resume, the recruiter needs to

1. Be able to read the resumes and arrive at an understanding.
2. Be able to interact and interview the Applicant to understand her aspirations and motives.
3. Have a good understanding of the expectations of the hiring organization on the HR angle
4. Be able ability to understand a Job Description
5. Have a grasp of market intelligence, realities and constraints.

If the recruiter has good grasp of the above she may be in a position to discuss the case with great conviction and also be successful in handling the hiring organization.

There could be many variations of road block which the recruiter may hit with the hiring organization. If a recruiter is an expert at her job, she would be in a position to engage and influence the hiring organization effectively.

Relationship and Influencing: The Applicant perspective

An Applicant has multiple options. An Applicant is looking out for the job that provides her with the maximum salary along with super brand equity. She is under tremendous peer pressure. Also may look out for any overseas opportunity and may want to achieve it all, yesterday. A few of them look out for the role and long term growth and some of them make choices to move due the personal pressures.

We need to appreciate that many of the aspects pertaining to dealing with the hiring organization applies to the applicant also. It is important to develop a personal rapport, maintain and build a relationship with the Applicant and also be able to influence the Applicant very much on the lines of the hiring organization as we discussed earlier on.

It is very important to reinforce again that to be able to execute the above responsibilities the recruiter needs to position herself as an expert and be able to take a role in an advisory capacity in the proceedings. Yes, the recruiter is under a pressure to recruit and achieve her targets. It is however very important to observe that we are dealing with human beings and their career. It is very important to take adequate care and ensure that the Applicant gets the right job. This will enhance the credibility of the recruiter. Please remember that at no point of time the recruiter will forward a resume to the Hiring Organization if it endangers the career of an individual or can spoil the fortunes of the Hiring Organization.

The recruiter has to act in an advisory capacity. While interacting with the Applicant she must take a personal interest in her case and dispassionately advice her of opportunities, which means that the recruiter can advice her of options that will benefit the Applicant and not necessarily the recruiter. The recruiter must be knowledgeable about the industry practices, the best jobs available in the market, must be able to act like career counselor, must take interest in rewriting her resume if necessary, advice her of the precautions she has to take while attending the interview, understanding the offer and any other tips that will be helpful in the Applicant, advancing her career.