What We're Digging Into: The heart of elite recruiting team remains the same—great relationships with the recruiter and hiring manager.

Why it Matters: All the tech in the world can’t save you from unwilling partners and poor collaboration.

Few things are as fundamental to recruiting success as a hiring manager who doesn’t just “work” with their recruiter but is willingly accountable for successful hiring.

Average recruiters with a great hiring manager relationship will outperform a stellar recruiting with an absentee hiring manager.

See if this sounds familiar:

A new opening considered “mission critical” is approved by the executive team. The assigned recruiter, excited to make a name for themselves quickly attempts to book the intake and get all the details.

• Instead of an in-depth discussion of the role, the intake is a 15 minute cursory review, leaving the recruiter with little more than a generic job description.

Your recruiter has spent weeks digging deep with clever outreach campaigns and has landed 3 incredibly talented candidates.

• Over the next 3 weeks the hiring manager can’t seem to find time on their calendar to book the interviews. 2 of the candidates bail out, and one remaining is now so frustrated with the process, that landing them is pretty much out of the question.

If you’re a hiring manager that can’t prioritize your own open position, then hiring the wrong person is the inevitable outcome.

If you’re a recruiting leader, but can’t figure out how to engage your hiring managers, you’re likely facing a frustrated team, and a growing list of poor hires.

It’s time for a change.....

Here’s where to begin:

Project Mindset: Navigate the Search Together

Treat each search as a unique project, bringing both hiring managers and recruiters together with a shared goal.

• Define a great candidate
• Clarify requirements
• Establish timelines
• Determine full interview team

This mindset keeps everyone on the same page, focused, and accountable throughout the journey.

Clearly Define the Candidate Profile

Without a shopping list, you come home with the wrong ingredients and a lousy meal.

The foundation of a successful search is a crystal-clear understanding of the ideal candidate profile. Aligning expectations ensures a targeted and efficient recruitment process. The hiring manager and recruiter should be on the same page right from the start.

Equal Partnership:

It's not a one-sided affair. The hiring manager is the subject matter expert on the role responsibilities. The recruiter is the subject matter expert on finding and curating the candidates. One cannot be successful without the other.

A balanced partnership fosters an environment where everyone feels valued and motivated.

Shared Accountability

Bad hires usually boil down to searching for the wrong person in the wrong places, then settling on the average candidate because you can’t tolerate the opening any more.

Who’s to blame?

• Both search leaders—hiring manager and recruiter.

When both hiring managers and recruiters take ownership of the outcome, your odds of a great hire are 100x more likely.

Choose your Interview Team Wisely

While it seems like including every leader who interacts with the role in the interview process, there are huge tradeoffs.

For every new person you add, the logistics get more difficult. More calendars to coordinate, more ratings to gather, more politics to navigate.

Your best bet is to keep the interviewer list no bigger than necessary. 8-10 is the right range for most leadership roles.

Better hiring practices aren’t always complicated. They don’t always need new tech, or even a new set of recruiters.

What you need….is more collaboration.

To your success,

Alden

Founder, Talenta HR Group

P.S. Whenever you're ready, there are 3 ways I can help you:

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