If Hiring Managers Aren’t Prioritizing Their Open Role, Try This
We’ve all lived this scenario: You have an intake meeting with your hiring manager and the energy is good and you are feeling it.
You ask: “How much of a priority is this search?”
The hiring manager says: “Oh, this is my top priority or we can’t move the road map ahead.”
You reply: “Got it. We’ll get it done.”
Fast-forward 80 days and the search is unfilled. The hiring manager, who says everything is going fine, is not highly engaged and is cancelling meetings. You are sitting in your 1:1 with the head of TA and they say, “I heard at the exec staff meeting that our latest features need to be pushed out because TA can’t fill this key search and isn’t treating it with urgency.”
At this point, you feel like sliding your badge across the desk and sipping umbrella drinks on a beach.
We all know this frustration, fear for our rep, and lack of understanding of what the reality is in this search process. You’re pretty darn pissed. Now it’s a he said/she said/recruiting can’t deliver dumpster fire. It’s the untenable blame game.
Avoid the dumpster fire by building in accountability
Try this: At the kickoff, ask the same question of the hiring manager. “How much of a priority is this for you?”
You will get the same, “It’s top,” “It’s No. 1,” etc.
Then ask, “Well, is it on your OKRs (KPIs)?”
In my experience, the answer is usually, “Umm, well, no.”
Then respond: “If this is a top priority, then let’s both add it to our OKRs to memorialize what we want the outcome to be and how we will measure and by when. I want us to nail these next feature product releases and I want to help the biz win!” (By the way, we can debate whether OKRs are effective in a different post. But for purposes of this illustration, assume this scenario is taking place in a company that values the OKR process.)
The hiring manager will agree and the shared ownership dynamic will start to gel when both of you “sign” your urgent commitment. This turns things from TA is a service provider/order taker to TA is a partner in helping the hiring manager and their team be successful.
Bring in your managers to ice the cake
But take it one step further and say, “Let’s have you email this shared recruiting OKR to your manager, explaining our approach. Then cc me and my manager so everyone knows we own this together.
“We will join each other with our respective managers for both midquarter and end-of-quarter OKR check-ins to speak to our progress and state of things. We like to say ‘Everyone is a recruiter,’ and this will show a strong united front for all involved starting with our working relationship!”
Documented shared accountability.
It is not a panacea of TA perfection or a guarantee of the search being filled, but it is a guarantee that your hiring manager relationship will change for the better.
This post was originally published on LinkedIn.
Brendan Browne is an advisor and consultant in the talent and HR tech spaces. He has led talent acquisition and HR for numerous companies in tech over more than two decades and is a strong believer that TA is one of the most materially impactful functions (and careers) at any organization.
