Although anyone professionally involved in recruitment is familiar with the role of the Hiring Manager and the responsibilities associated with it, it is very often the case that the recruiter-HM collaboration does not work as well as it could. This is a major mistake, especially when the emerging team has been operating for months or years, but the cooperation is worth improving even when we are considering short-term projects for specific orders or departments. This is why we have decided to create an article that brings together our most important thoughts on the subject. In it, we show that improving the collaboration between the Hiring Manager and the recruiter benefits both all the people involved and the organization as a whole.
But actually, why is it so important?
Due to the fact that the Hiring Manager is usually the head of the department or team that is looking for new employees, the person holding this position knows very well what his or her employer requires and what the new professional will do. On the other hand, the recruiter's industry knowledge and search skills allow him or her to reach out to candidates more efficiently. A well-structured recruitment process should utilize the skills of both specialists.
What does collaboration bring?
- The employment offer is tailored better to market standards and employer requirements
- Branding activities are carried out more effectively
- Candidates are more likely to respond to offers if they are contacted by their future manager. According to our statistics, the difference is up to 25% in favor of a message from the HM
- The recruiter has the chance to improve their technical knowledge and better understand the role to which the recruitment is related. On the other hand, the HM gets to know the market better, learn more about the candidates' requirements, and becomes more visible online
- Cooperation-based recruitment processes are more likely to achieve their objectives
Initial kicks off
The beginning of the collaboration between HM and the recruiter is essential. The role of the Hiring Manager is never the same and depends on the specifics of each process, so it is quite difficult to create universal schemes of action. However, it is worth mentioning some basic elements which, if implemented, will always be justified:
- Clearly defining the means of communication, including the communication channels used, the formalization of messages, and the times at which a response can be expected
- Introduce principles that will guide members of the recruitment team, for example, honesty, partnership, and trust
- Ways to solve problems - large recruitment teams may need a brainstorming session, for example
- Determine the way of working - in some cases, recruiters or managers like to meet to discuss details or select candidates, while others prefer to work remotely as much as possible
Based on experience, we can say that the more you manage to establish at the very beginning of cooperation, the smoother the implementation of subsequent tasks will be. However, it is worth noting that not everything can be planned, and it is necessary to keep this in mind from the beginning of joint activities.
Where are we heading?
Recruitment processes very rarely result in achieving the original goals. We have already written about this in an article summarizing the IT labor market in 2022. The partnership between the Hiring Manager and the recruiter will be important as it will be much easier to determine the model profile of the candidate for the position and decide whether the requirements can be compatible with the planned budget. Cooperation is also particularly important when the company is looking for candidates with strictly defined characteristics. These may include narrow specializations, experience in certain types of projects or working with specific companies.
Sharing experiences is also important when working together - sometimes the requirements are too high and need to be adjusted to the market situation. Or maybe the organization where the HM works have an uncommon feature that can be made into a selling point? The smoother the contact between the recruiter and the manager, the greater the chance of success.
Searches
The search stage is the first test for the quality of the cooperation that the Hiring Manager and the recruiter have established with each other. Indeed, the better the team works, the more effective it is to create an initial list of candidates and reach out to them. From our observations, it is very effective to select a group of specialists that most closely match the client's requirements, who are then contacted by the HM. A message from a manager has a much better reception than one that would be sent by a recruiter, as then the character of the communication is more personal. This is not always the case - a DM from the Hiring Manager will work well when looking for people for managerial or niche positions, but for engineering roles, the effects can be the opposite.
It's also a good idea to work together to create messages that the team will send to candidates. This will give the HM an opportunity to place emphasis on the competencies sought, and with the help of the recruiter, the communication will be carried out in such a way as to increase the chance of maintaining interest.
In some cases, it is also useful to analyze specific candidates together. Often it happens that the specialist found is very promising, but at this point in time differs little from the company's criteria. In such a situation, the recruiter and HM must decide together whether sending an offer to the candidate is a good idea; after all, it may turn out that people with more experience won't express interest or won't fit into the budget.
It's time to talk!
When the recruiter provides the Hiring Manager with a group of suitable candidates for the position, this is the time to build relationships with the selected professionals. While the recruiter's participation in sales calls and video interviews on Zoom is negligible, we believe it is undeniably a good idea to predetermine the list of details to be presented. At this stage, the recruiter should use his or her sales skills to create an attractive and concise offer for the manager to present during the call. Candidates will then gain a great deal of mental comfort, and a positive image of the company will remain in their minds for longer. Even if the specialist doesn't start cooperation now, he may decide to recommend the company to his friends.
We got it!
Closing the recruitment process is basically the culmination of the main task of both the recruiter and the HM. Conducting the closing call with the candidate is solely the responsibility of the Hiring Manager, and this is the time when he or she should answer all the questions and concerns that arise in connection with the potential job posting. By force of fact, they are answered by someone who has daily contact with the employer in question.
However, this doesn't mean that the recruiter isn't very relevant at this stage - his previous conversations with the candidate allow him to assume what questions the Hiring Manager will hear and what the conversation should focus on. Once again, we see that soft skills and recruiting experience are really important for HMs, even from very technical departments.
Even after the candidate accepts the offer and the manager sends an official email to congratulate the hiring, the recruiter continues to be relevant to the entire process - he or she can answer questions and help the HM analyze the quality of the recruitment. And what's left at the end?
Are we visible?
Branding, both the HM and his employer, is a somewhat separate topic. Although recruiters are usually not specialists in employer branding, it is very common for them to participate in it.
The first channel of communication, which is worth taking care of even before the search for candidates begins, is the Hiring Manager's social media. It is advisable for the recruiter to regularly help the HM create posts on Linkedin, giving them more promotional features. Guidance on the time of publication of posts, the graphics used in them or the topics to be covered proves particularly useful. High-quality content published on Linkedin is the first step to the successful recruitment of professionals, especially younger ones.
And what to do when casual content is not enough or the Hiring Manager does not want to publish it? The solution may be to focus on more professional discussions on Linkedin, Facebook, or industry forums. In such situations, the recruiter's participation is negligible, but you can also consider organizing mentoring and participating in events. Knowing the trends and viewpoints of potential candidates is then extremely important.
The last, undeniably the most engaging, type of branding activity is self-organized events by the team. Meet-ups, networking, and conferences are definitely good ways to raise the profile of an HM employer, although no doubt attending similar events consumes a lot of resources. Increasingly, we see that managers are eager to visit universities to create their image among interns and juniors.
Summary
As you can easily see, a good partnership with a Hiring Manager is an excellent investment for a recruiter. Although it can be time-consuming to set the rules, combining skills will allow you to achieve much better results and increase your comfort level. We hope you enjoyed this article. If so, be sure to take a peek at our blog, which already has several posts related to the topic of recruitment. Also be sure to share our posts on Facebook, Linkedin, and Twitter!