Between managing employee benefits, office meetings, and payroll, your HR staff is continually kept busy. Most of your HR staff is specialized in these areas, so why are they struggling to find good resumes for a particular role? And beyond buzzwords, what can they do to find the best possible talent? Here are some reasons why HR sometimes struggles with talent searches, and some tips to help you support your HR staff:

Why Does it Happen?

HR departments are great and filling certain roles and finding active applicants. 95% of HR recruiting activity is posting a job advertisement somewhere. These ads will be seen by active candidates; people looking for a job in the immediate future. These candidates move quickly, some are good candidates, many are bad. Oftentimes, the best candidates are passive: people who are not looking for a job, but open to something better. Unfortunately, passive candidates aren’t looking at job ads, so HR will never uncover them.

Conversely, external recruiters, search firms, and headhunters spend the majority of their time and effort uncovering, identifying, and calling passive candidates directly.

This is why external recruiters outperform HR on tough to find and fill roles. Of course, specialization is also a factor: recruiters know the business, the jargon, and the players of the industry. HR can only skim the surface of these, so they’re at a disadvantage when trying to fill a niche role.

Put the Human Back in Human Resources

Today, the average Human Resource professional is responsible for up to 100 employees while managing developmental changes, employee relationships, benefits, and conflict resolution – just to list a few of their job duties. The role of HR touches almost every area of an organization so success for HR usually means success for the company: you can’t spell ‘Hero’ without ‘HR’!

Plenty of organizations add recruiting to the laundry list of job duties they demand from their HR team. However, this isn’t the best way to approach hiring because while your HR staff is specialized in their internal duties like payroll, when it comes to hiring they don’t know what you’re looking for exactly. HR can be compared to a general practitioner, they can help with many different things, but when you need brain surgery you go to a specialist. You wouldn’t expect your general practitioner to perform brain surgery. In this way, it is unfair to expect that HR should find specialized talent. Your HR department knows your company’s culture inside and out, but sorting through applications for an IT position can be both overwhelming and time-consuming.

HR should be a part of the recruiting process, but this responsibility shouldn’t be left to them alone. With so much competition in the market, choosing the right candidate is vital for a company’s success. Poor recruitment strategies can lead to low productivity, high turnover, and an overall toxic work environment. Help your HR department avoid any Toby Flenderson comparisons by setting them up for success during the hiring process.

As many HR teams struggle to find the right candidate to fill a position, HR and recruiting have the opportunity to work together to find quality candidates. With extensive experience in job placement within a specific niche, recruiters, like those at Talance Group, can take the stress of job searching off your HR department and help them vet candidates thoroughly and efficiently.

Forming Your Dream Team

While HR professionals are focused on training and retaining talent in order to increase ROI, recruiters are focused on finding quality candidates to fill positions. Together, the two departments can help companies attract and retain quality candidates by shortening the hiring process, creating an onboarding strategy, and building a solid employer reputation. This places the company in a great position to attract top talent. The HR department can make sure the recruiter has the resources they need to succeed, such as access to the applicant tracking system or a clear understanding of the company’s culture.

Instead of conducting an excessive amount of interviews, the recruiter can do the homework for your HR department. A recruiter can provide support for HR by sorting through applications to find candidates with the right technical background for the company. If you are working with a quality recruiter, they will always meet candidates in-person to vet them before they cross your HR department’s desk. Working with a professional recruiter can make your HR department’s life easier.

Building a Better Business

It’s important to remember that HR professionals and recruiters share the same goal in the hiring process. Because of this, it’s vital that they work together to make sure the organization’s candidates are inspired, engaged, and satisfied. Together, recruiters and HR can serve a company’s internal talent like directors and supervisors, and external candidates successfully. 

Talance Group is fully equipped to help you with any hiring needs. We work with your company’s internal team, like your HR department, to streamline your hiring process, ensuring employee satisfaction and company growth. If you have any questions about anything in this article or would like to talk to a professional, local recruiter about support for your HR department, contact the Talance Group at (713)-357-9565 or visit our website: talancegroup.com.