Finding, attracting, and hiring the right people is still one of the best ways for firms to forge a competitive advantage, but a new work environment requires a new type of recruiter.
While finding and putting the right employees in the right positions is one of the most crucial parts of a company’s success, only 40% of applicants to a job actually fit the profile that managers are looking for. The suitability of candidates has declined in recent years, and it is now twice as hard to fill vacant positions as compared to five years ago, according to CEB data.
What’s more, every unfilled position costs a company $365 per day, so companies’ recruitment teams need to find quicker ways of identifying and recruiting the people their colleagues are looking for.
But to do this corporate recruiters must also acquire some new skills and experience. Successful recruiters now actively influence staffing decisions with their in-depth knowledge of talent requirements and expertise in labor markets. The most effective – recruiters CEB dubs as “talent advisors” – create 2.5 times more impact than the traditional recruiter versed in company processes, and with a flair for simply hitting prescribed deadlines.
Most companies agree that the recruiting function must evolve from providing operational hiring support to strategic recruiting guidance. Though finding and hiring candidates is a crucial task of recruiters, just 1/3 of applicants are a good match to the job vacancy thereby increasing the operational costs. It’s getting difficult to fill in positions, and recruiters are constantly looking for ways to fill in the positions at the earliest.
Transforming recruiters from being order-takers to becoming far more useful business partners would needs certain skill enhancement for recruiters; successful recruiters are recognised as talent advisors and influence the company processes. Running recruitment functions can to the following things to evolve as Talent Advisors:
- Organizational context: the long-term perspective of the recruitment and impact on business and see how getting the right talent is tied to business outcomes
- Determine environmental impact: the market forces affecting the hiring process
- Stakeholder feedback: regular feedback and support helps keeping recruiters motivated
- Exposure to talent assessment tools: utilising the recruiting tools in the modern era can help them arrive at decisions
Once empowered, these recruiters can help in not just filling the vacancies but offering a direction and strategy to the company.










