More often than not, when surveying HR departments across the nation, we find that recruitment comprises only 2% of their operations. As for day-to-day functions? A staggering 45% of staff are devoted to operational duties and an additional 50% dedicate themselves to solving employee relations issues. The remaining 3%, meanwhile, concentrate on strategic implementation and management plans.

Regrettably, many companies are impressed with this spread and believe they are efficient. On the contrary, I think it’s backward! Although HR is intended to reduce risk, that should not be its only purpose. Companies exhaust a lot of energy by attempting to weed out under-qualified or mismatched employees – but if more attention was placed on how those same employees were brought into the organization in the first place; numerous advantages would quickly become apparent.

I have been employed with and collaborated alongside many companies that claim to prioritize recruitment, yet fail to uphold their promise. Recruiters are often overlooked and underpaid while they remain the face of a company’s brand and opportunities. Although HR teams deserve enormous praise for keeping the organization sailing smoothly away from legal issues; recruiters frequently go unrecognized despite assuming critical responsibilities within an organization.

During difficult times, recruiting is suddenly held accountable: Why did we hire that person? How can’t you fill roles quickly enough – even though we’re paying below market value and hiring managers are slow to respond? The spotlight is on recruiters, as if they should be able to work miracles with their 25+ job load. Recruiters must also somehow find the time to fix our poor onboarding process while still marketing our brand and filling positions. It’s a tall order!

It might sound negative, but it is a reality for many. Perhaps your organization doesn’t have this same outlook on recruiting – however, most recruiters I talk with feel the same distress. The level of support they receive is inadequate in comparison to what’s expected from them.

To complicate matters, recruiting departments are usually the first to be cut when the economy shrinks. Think back to 2020 in the micro-recession: recruiters were cut by the masses. In 2021, recruiting jobs skyrocketed to meet the demand of the rehiring needs of businesses. Now, we have face a pending recession and we’ve already begun to see recruiters being laid off in masses.

What’s the solution? Beef up your Recruiting Team and lessen the HR Police.

The reality is obvious yet organizations are sluggish to realign resources to confront it: If recruitment teams sufficiently staff members who can be brand engineers, talent agents and company guards, fewer HR partners would require dedicating their attention exclusively on employee relations issues as well as risk mitigation. The most effective means of preventing the need for dismissal is redirecting efforts into procuring suitable personnel. To guarantee attainment will necessitate companies to convince leadership and management in optimizing the hiring process.

Step 1: Change the mindset within HR

Human Resources leaders must take the initiative and shift resources to recruitment rather than job termination. This includes recruiting staff who are skilled at finding and engaging with potential candidates, as well as creating a powerful branding campaign, sourcing competent applicants, and developing an efficient interviewing process that will ensure only qualified individuals are hired.

Despite the monetary expense of this endeavor, remain focused on hiring worthy people who benefit your organization. Don’t let initial outlays throw you off course.

Step 2: Give Recruiters the Key to the Gates

When you have the perfect recruitment team ready to go, allow them to be in charge of who enters your business. Encourage them to pick and choose carefully who will join your organization. Empowering recruiting staff with this power is much like Gandalf from Lord of the Rings standing up against a threatening adversary and saying “You shall not pass!” You’ll be impressed by how protective they become when given such responsibility – plus their enthusiasm for work rises significantly!

Step 3: Educate your Internal Clients

It is essential to recognize the financial repercussions of both voluntary and involuntary turnover in any business, however it often goes unnoticed. If you meticulously monitor all expenses related to hiring throughout the employee lifecycle, your HR strategy will illustrate clear success for internal stakeholders. By bringing this new way of working into effect within Human Resources, everyone involved in the process can see tangible results that demonstrate its effectiveness.

After just one year, you should be able to demonstrate a decline in the turnover rate of recently hired employees. To further illustrate how successful retention is impacting your business, consider measuring revenue per FTE (full-time equivalent).

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Unfortunately, HR departments in large companies tend to be slow at adapting to the evolving landscape. However, if you take a moment to think about it – why not shift focus on how we can bring talented people into our organization instead of stressing out about getting rid of bad ones? It may well result in more efficient processes and higher company performance metrics such as engagement or bottom line.

I believe this is something every employee would benefit from – after all who wouldn’t want to work for an awesome organization?