Picking the Right People

Think of HR personnel as people-pickers. They are, indeed, the ones who select, source, and manage the teams you need to get your work done. Unemployment is low, talent is hard to come by (and even harder to keep), and open positions cost your company tons in terms of lost productivity. What should you do? What is the best way to grow your HR operation, which is after all, the picking of the people who choose the future?

According to Entrepreneur.com, the people who you choose to attract your future team members and the people who define, implement and manage the processes by which your organization runs, may not be best served as the same people. Why is that? The answer is simple. The skills required for success in these tasks are nowhere near the same.  As HR News points out, using the right process is essential. But so is defining the job before your advertisement goes live.

Your recruitment team for HR needs to be able to sell your company, its benefits, and its culture. You want people who are strong with people skills and can really provide a meaningful connection to potential new hires. You also want them to be your welcoming committee. And, if you hire properly, these people will be the ones who find and deliver the best talent. Consider this end of HR the Talent Acquisition end.

On the other hand, you also need proven experience in process management on the other end of the HR spectrum. You want your policies to be fool-proof, livable, fair, and, of course, compliant with all required legal and regulatory missives. Consider this end of HR your Employee Relations end.

Between these two vastly different spaces are all the REST of the HR duties including benefits management and oversight, payroll, leave and absence management, future planning, and of course, performance management.

So how can you possibly hire ONE person to do three separate jobs? And yet, for years this has been the status quo. What can be done when you are hiring?

• Streamline wherever you can. Use digital interviewing technologies such as InterviewStream to reduce the amount of time wasted on unqualified candidates, both in looking for the right HR candidate AND once you have brought them onboard.
• Craft your job descriptions as carefully as you would a product ad during the Superbowl. What you put into your job description is a very clear image of what you will get. If there are non-negotiable skills your person has to have be certain they are spelled out.
• Make your decisions for hiring people on your team, and then treat them as teammates. Value them as an essential part of your organization and they will be more inclined to behave that way.
• Consider hiring more than one person for the HR role(s) in your company if your budget allows. Having a salesperson on the recruitment end and a legal eagle on the process end may pay off untold dividends in the long run.

In the end, as Ms. Streisand put it, we are all just “people who need people.” Finding the right people to be your people-pickers and giving them the tools to succeed are the best ways to ensure a successful, happy and productive HR operation.