November 10th, 2009 — 10:26am
Corporate Recruiting is Broken
I’ve worked hard to develop a professional network of people connections. Cultivating such a network is a relationship-based effort akin to business development. Many of the most valued relationships in such a network are not visible from the start. The high value relationships grow from the edges and are organic. They are not transactional. There is no “right time” to cultivate these relationships, they happen in the normal course of life IF you are open to them and on the lookout for them.
I find personal and business value in finding ways to help out others and to connect people in this type of network. It’s the tag line on my website, on my Facebook profile, and my LinkedIn page. I practice what I preach and make sure I always try to help others in their journey.
That’s why I think corporate recruiting models are doomed to fail. Corporate recruiters are tasked with finding people and bringing them into organizations. Not just any people though, they need the right people. They need the people who match the corporate culture and have the apptitude to do the job at hand. The problem is, corporate recruiters operate in a transactional model. They have openings to fill and they are looking for the people to fill those openings. They really aren’t interested in people who might be the perfect fit for an opening that will happen 6 months from now.
There are a lot of reasons for why this is true, but the end result is a recruiting system that will not result in the best outcomes for the corporation or the people looking for those openings. It is extremely unlikely that the perfect candidate for the position is available at the same time that the position is on the desk of that recruiter. The window of opportunity is simply too small. The result is that adequate candidates are chosen. Not the best candidate. Not almost the best candidate. The best candidate available to the recruiter at a specific time is chosen.
I’m interested in how we might fix this model. How can businesses change the way they acquire new people so that it more closely resembles relationship-based networking? How can a company cultivate a network of likeminded people who are ready to help out when the opening happens?
What are your thoughts?
I’ve worked hard to develop a professional network of people connections. Cultivating such a network is a relationship-based effort akin to business development. Many of the most valued relationships in such a network are not visible from the start. The high value relationships grow from the edges and are organic. They are not transactional. There is no “right time” to cultivate these relationships, they happen in the normal course of life IF you are open to them and IF you are on the lookout for them.
I find personal and business value in finding ways to help out others and to connect to people in this type of network. It’s the tag line on my website, on my Facebook profile, and my LinkedIn page. I practice what I preach and make sure I always try to help others in their journey.
That’s why I think corporate recruiting models are doomed to fail. Continue reading »
3 comments » | Business Acumen, Employment Branding, Recruitment Process
Flickr Photo by MyDigitalSLR