Want to know why your HR department can’t generate great candidates for you? Because HR people are not recruiters. (I’ll spare you the soap box treatment for today, but Jobster's Dave Lefkow does a good job of explaining the rift between HR and recruiting in yesterday’s ERE article, Why They Hate Recruiting: Is it time to secede from HR?)
Case in point: Human Resources magazine recently published a list of “HR’s biggest movers and shakers". Their words, not mine. I’m still cringing at the thought of a HR person movin’ and shakin’. Yikes. Anyway, the magazine lists HR’s Top 100 Most Influential People. 1-49 are here, and 50-100 are here.
Only three people on the list seem to have any current expertise or involvement in the recruiting function … and all three were in the bottom 50.
Now, I’m no HR expert, but I do consider myself fairly entreched in my professional field (which is considered by most to be a facet of HR), yet I didn’t recognize a single name on that top 100 list. Recruiting has a very strong community – both on and offline – from whom I’ve learned so much. These people – many who write blogs, publish newsletters, and speak at conferences – are my influentials. Agree with them or not, the Gerry Crispins, Mark Mehlers, John Sumsers, Kevin Wheelers, and – heaven forbid – even the Recruiting Edges ;-) of the world are the ones who teach me. I would have loved to have seen a community-involved leader – in corporate recruiting, consulting, training, acadamia, headhunting, technology … it doesn’t matter – highlighted. I don't know. Maybe I'm just part of the "new generation" … who knows. :)
I don’t expect a HR focused magazine to profile recruiting leaders, and I don’t really care. :) But I highlight this as an open question out to hiring managers of the world. Who’s recruiting for you: a recruiter or a HR person? If you need to hire top talent, the distinction is important. Make sure the person doing your recruiting is a true recruiter.
gretchen
(Human Resources magazine knowledge via Jason and Gautam. Otherwise, I don’t typically follow “HR” trends ;-)
today's emotion: zesty