Although I must have spent most of my time early on in recruitment trying to avoid HR managers, there is no question or getting away from the fact they are very important gate keepers and by understanding their problems and issues, will in some way help you succeed.
Probably the most important point to remember and it is certainly something I have pointed out to many a new recruit, is that HR is not just about recruiting people. Although to a recruitment consultant we can end up believing that is all they do! This isn’t surprising as it is all we speak to them about, when in reality they need to be abreast of many issues within Human Resources not just recruitment.
As a result most recruiters are not experts on recruitment law and most HR Managers do not know too much about the skills in finding the perfect candidate. I am though a great believer that the more we know about the issues of HR, the easier it is for us to communicate with key personnel about HR issues. This in turn makes us as a consultant stand out from the crowd.
Obviously there is a lot of information available to us in the way of HR magazines and I suspect most of us do not find the time to sit down and read them, which brings me to the reason of this post.
Fortunately I managed to spot one of my LinkedIn messages, which I felt deserved a second look and referred to a HR Magazines webcast. Having now checked out the material and given the quality of the video and the topics discussed, I was under the opinion that it was a good alternative for a recruiter to understand a little more of the on goings within HR in a more digestible format.
Obviously not all is related to recruitment of staff, but as I said before understanding their issues will help you have a better relationship with your client, particularly if you ever do site visits to HR departments.
So when you get a chance I suggest you take time out to watch one of their videos at the HR Magazines webcast site
It is now a required business discipline for recruiters to understand legislation and be able to discuss changes with HR. Being able to demonstrate legal knowledge and how legislative changes will affect client operations increases credibility and reduces the risk of liability.
We are frequently asked by end user clients to advise and comment on whether recruiters are compliant and are “up to speed” with new legislation. The feedback in the last twelve months has been that clients are now simply not prepared to work with agencies who are unprepared for the changes that new legislation brings and are actively looking for their recruiters to guide them and prepare them for those changes.
Therefore, it is vital to be able to communicate with HR in “their” language which also includes internal recruitment departments which often sit within the HR discipline. Understanding how HR talk and what they talk about is essential.
We have been working closely with recruiters to show them how to talk to and with HR and also how to use changes in legislation to turn changes in regulation into new revenue steams, adding significant value to the HR and recruiter partnership.