How do I get our small HR team to serve our department needs when they're always so preoccupied with other matters?
I have a critical need to fill a sales post (industrial, B2B) and have done the needful internal procedures. However I am getting little support from HR (recruitment). I understand that our company is going through "hell week" (entering ISO certification, where our small HR unit is doing major preparations for), but my sympathy for HR isn't helping me. I have done my own efforts (all the leads so far have been my own sourcing). How do I handle this?
The role is for an accounts executive for aggressive outbound sales; the lead time given me is 60 days (which I found out is the average hiring cycle here in the Philippines in 2015). I believe that we're close to 20 days in and I have only conducted 1 interview and read 7 CVs (all of which I sourced through my own networks).
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Aug 1, 2015
I would go hire them yourself...With sales people anyway, I always figured if a hired 3 and got 1 good one I was ahead of the game, and if per chance a "big game hunter " then so much the better...Plus the fact if you do the hire and they are good TRUST will be built and they will look to you as their leader and mentor not HR>>>> HR should help you facilitate here, not lead in my opinion...
Jul 31, 2015
Thank you everyone for your answers. Many however seem to fail to read that I have done my own efforts and in fact all results so far have been through my own efforts.
I didn't mention that I have over 10 years in HR so I do have some moves but I have been making all the moves and all my deliverables are pending so I can't be making more time for this than I already have been.
Jul 31, 2015
Hi there,
Everyone here has given great information and direction. I sense your urgency in filling your sales position and definitely understand your frustration. While the HR Dept. is focusing on ISO certifications, it might be helpful to search some job boards to help build a resume stack for when they have completed ISO certifications. I assume you have specific people that handle certain aspects of the hiring process: resume searching, clear and concise job description, job searching job boards, interview team, etc. If it is of a very urgent nature, you can make sure candidates are ready for scheduling for interviews. You may be able to get someone other than the HR dept (while the ISO certification is going on) to search resumes/job boards with you.
This will help again, to have candidates ready to be scheduled for interviews. Majdi had a great suggestion searching through friends and other HR professionals to let them know you have an immediate need to fill a position.
Employ the help of any other individual outside of the HR dept. that has had hiring success within the organization.
I would do some searching on job boards in addition to putting the word out among friends and other HR professionals and see if there are other employees outside of the HR Dept.(until the week is completed for ISO certifications) that are able to assist you with the process. Hit the ground running once the certifications are complete. Be sure to let the HR Dept. know you are 20+ days into the lead time and remind them of the urgency.
Hopes this helps and good luck.
April,
Jul 31, 2015
You need to hire a HR manager first.
Try get an outsourced resource ( eg former emploeyee, a stager, ) and use this resource to do the first phases of the talent search. Then sort out 3 options and only then go and ask the help of the HR team. They will not refuse to help.
Jul 31, 2015
Hello there,
You may already know that the people agenda in most organizations contains some truly business-critical issues and the need for HR to rise to these challenges has never been more acute:
the recruitment and retention of “top talent”, particularly retention, in an environment where employee engagement has been and will be challenging;
matching the supply of talent to the geographies where the opportunities for growth are greatest;
the training & development of career paths;
the need to create more innovative, agile and globally responsive organizations; and ensuring the people profile matches the value drivers of the business.
Anyhow; I believe that a number of areas such as workforce analytics, talent management and technology will reinforce the need for HR to make the people agenda as important to business leaders as the balance sheet and P&L statement. At the same time it is important to do some segmentation like separating the effective from the worthless, just to stand right and fair – this is the fact; it is practically a business truism that the HR function is not well-respected at many organizations. Whether deserved or not this stigma is clearly evident for years; having said that we do also know there is clearly a vast gulf between the perceived importance and the perceived effectiveness of HR which you should investigate, consider, and analyze, before you jumped into a conclusion.
In the other hand; you have got to see social media as an opportunity to your issue. Social media is changing HR across a range of areas, from recruitment to performance and career management. The implications can be both positive and negative. We can see nowadays that social networking sites have provided access to new sources of talent. Almost 65+% organizations are using social networking sites to recruit employees. Yet some companies believe that these sites have made it easier for competitors to poach their best people. A similar number claimed that social media makes it harder to control the company’s message and image and some admit that sensitive information has been leaked to the public through such sites.
The question is; Do you agree / disagree about the use of technology?
The risk of social networking sites may arise from the newness of the medium. Companies are still figuring out what to do with social media and its implications. Social media makes business more transparent than ever before, with missteps more easily highlighted. You or many people may be apprehensive about social media because you may not really understand it. Social media can be as damaging as it can be productive, and we’re all constantly being surprised by the power of it. Invariably, there are some unintended consequences. I believe the benefits of social media far outweigh the risks. However, I know that flexibility is essential. You may already have pursued this approach, but you and your company leaders need to know eventually, social media is the way to go and needs to be managed because it is not going away. You all have got to see it as an opportunity: the idea that you can keep it somewhere outside the door is not going to be an effective strategy. Think about it, better training has moved away from classroom training toward a more interactive demonstrative approach. Why? It is because enables employees to learn in more bite-sized chunks and in a much more visual manner. The idea moving away from the classroom training took almost 8 years to fall in place for some organizations.
Hope this helps!
Aug 5, 2015
OK! Got the picture. In this case; I believe you have come to the end of your rope, so tie a knot and hang on. Just a suggestion. Thanks
Jul 31, 2015
I've been on both sides of this one; I've been the sympathetic leader who is still frustrated they aren't getting the help they need, and I've been the HR Director trying to deliver a priority initiative and manage day to day with limited resources..
I'd suggest some/all of the following:
1. Get specific about your ask
Do you need HR's help with the whole process? Some of the process? None of the process? Rather than saying you need help with hiring, what do you specifically want them to do ? If you can make your ask more concrete, e.g. I need 20 minutes for someone to go through where i have posted the roles to make sure we are getting maximum exposure" then that is easier to plan out, even in a very busy week. Look at the hiring process, figure out exactly what you want HR to do, then go ask for that. If you get a no, explore what could be done and by when.
2. Be clear on the criticality
For you the need is critical, for them, they might be thinking it can wait two weeks. Do they know you are 20 days in with little progress? You might think they know, but do they really and / or does the right person know? And as JC suggests, put some more colour to the implications...on the face of it, hiring one role doesn't sound like a big deal compared to ISO certification, but if it has major implications for you, make those clear (and be specific about your ask as in point 1).
3. Try other help
Do you need help from HR or just help? If you want help with recruitment, who else in your company has recruited successfully who can help you through the process? Where else could you pull resources from if you need them? I love that you want to go to HR (so many people circumvent them!) but if you don't need their authority, just their help, now might be a time to tap up someone else. If HR then don't like it, I think you can legitimately (and constructively!) say, well I was in a bind and you weren't able to help, so how do we address this in the future?
4. Suck it up/ Help them/Get proactive for next time.
I believe ISO recertification is an annual process. And, even if it's not ISO, it may well be another large initiative that will periodically and potentially dramatically increase the workload and stress level for HR and make it hard for them to juggle all the balls. It's not that they don't WANT to help, its that its just pretty damn hard for them to help right now. I would let the dust settle a bit on this particular situation, then go find the right HR Person (who can make decisions) and talk about the situation. How can you both handle this next time around? How can you help HR in this trying and busy time and what can they put in place to help you continue to do your thing while they are so swamped? It's not an either/ or scenario, you both have needs, so talk to each other and come up with a joint solution.
Hope that helps!
Jess
Jul 31, 2015
As I understand your situation time is short , your HR is busy & the department is small to do what you need , in such situation you have to take direct & personnel action to fill the post you need , you don"t have much time to waist or wait for others to do for you , you can search for the needed applicant with strong sales record ,through your friends or ask HRs in big companies they know experts with the required skills ,work hard for it you can get the one you need . all the best
Jul 31, 2015
If your need is that critical, and you can't really wait till your certifications are over, then lend your support to the overwhmed HR team. Search out and make a list of prospective candidates and share that with your HR to schedule an interview. Short list your candidate post interviews and communicate your preference to the team. Trust me, they will be more than halpy to get a bit of assistance from you during their crunch time.
Jul 31, 2015
Who tells HR what to focus on? Who allocates personnel for compliance needs?
Try Craigs list or the local variation there are many free job listing websites.
Jul 31, 2015
There is something about team cohesion...and agenda's interest & priority...After the ISO might be good reflecting on how-to re-building the bring with HR...
Jul 31, 2015
If you feel it is critical and if it is not an option to wait until after the ISO certifications on a financial base I would opt to arrange it yourself.
Jul 30, 2015
Very simple to solve.
"Loss due to delay in filling up sales position versus loss due to delay in ISO certification exercise"
covert the above into financial numbers and compare.
You should able to make sound decision.
In the Philippines the more active niche job boards are on Facebook. I sourced my applicants there. I need more and better, and this is a problem my HR Manager should be the one solving.
After posting this I reached out to as many people as I could that can direct weak ties to apply. I'm fairly certain I've no more moves left as a line manager.