TA Is Not Strategic. It’s Just Not. Stop Pretending.
This week in the Holistic Recruiter Club #035
Hello to all 190 of you lovely people!
After a couple of weeks off (thanks to writer’s block and school holidays), I’m back.
I took my own advice and stepped away because, truthfully, I didn’t feel I had anything worth saying.
And if I’m not saying something that matters, I’d rather not say anything at all.
But this week? That changes. This one’s fiery.
I’m really hoping this resonates and stokes some fires to open the discussion, so let me know what you think of the article!
What if Talent Acquisition is Not Meant to Be Strategic?
If you are in talent acquisition and haven’t heard the narrative “ TA need a seat at the table.” Where have you been?
I’ll hold my hand up, I’ve pushed for that too. To be elevated and viewed as strategic partners, not just “order takers”.
But during my two weeks of not pubishing I wanted to explore “What if the frustration comes from a big misunderstanding?”
What if, just maybe, the role of TA is inherently operational, and that can be perfectly fine?
I think to start this, we should all agree on one thing,
Talent acquisition is fundamentally about finding the right people to fill roles in the most efficient way.
I’d go further than that and say it’s about understanding and executing on sourcing, screening, and selecting candidates.
If you can’t agree with that, you might want to stop reading here 😉
If I go even one step further, I’d say it requires deep expertise and operational excellence to do that well and deliver over the long term.
So where are we right now?
If I’m honest, I now see Talent Acquisition a bit like the “Logistics command” in the military.
This may offend some of you but I don’t see TA on the front line of strategic planning. But still absolutely vital.
They don’t set the mission. just like TA
They make the mission possible. Much like TA by finding the right people.
TA doesn’t decide which new markets to enter or when to restructure, but we do ensure the right people are in the right roles at the right time.
And that, in itself, requires its own kind of strategy, but at an operational level.
One that’s obsessed with “operational excellence” obsessed with pipeline readiness, obsessed with candidate quality, with speed, with hiring manager alignment, and all the messy moving parts that make hiring actually work. Unfortunately, its a hands-on dirty job that requires a lot of moving parts and diplomacy, negotiation, and rejection.
However, I think that’s where the magic is.
TA is the feeding the system so it functions.
As we said already, there is a desire to be seen as strategic, I would say this comes from a very human place, wanting influence and recognition. ( a little bit of ego if we’re being honest with ourselves and there is nothing wrong in that). We all want to feel like we’re shaping something meaningful, otherwise whats the point.
Again the reality is most TA’s are excluded from workforce planning and business strategy and in most cases even from the hiring plan itself.
Not because they aren’t smart or capable, but because that simply isn’t the lane they’re in.
Going back to my military analogy, it’s like asking logistics to help negotiate peace treaties, it’s not their battle to fight. Ok before you call me out, I agree, more needs to be done for the TA voice to be heard when it comes to hiring plans, but that’s not what we’re exploring right now.
I believe when we blur those lines too much, we create role confusion, frustration,burnout and finally in the worst cases, disillusionment.
My example of this is the people with 7 years of experience who are Global Head of TA, without any stratgic input at all, but you see on all the podcasts and articles in the market. (Yes I said it)
What’s an even more awkward truth to share is that many if not mots TA’s don’t have the toolkit for strategic leadership.
And that’s not an insult, it’s just reality, so take it how its intended.
Even the best recruiters might lack experience in managing up, understanding business data, or influencing exec-level roadmaps.
But again, THAT IS OK! But let’s be honest about it.
If we really want TA to play a strategic role, we need serious upskilling. How many people do you know who didn’t even spend their full L&D budget last year? Exactly.
Or a possible other option is hybrid roles that are built intentionally for that crossover, however, Im yet to see those in practice..
You don’t become strategic by reading some linkedin articles from an infleuncer, you need training, coaching, and context.
If a TA leader does want a seat at the table or at least to be heard, they can’t just ask for it. They need to earn it, with data, insight, and operational clarity and excellence, that there is my huge point for this article be operationally excellent.
I think of people like
Go and show the company how the engine runs through delivery. Not through your time to hire. (I wrote about why leaders don’t care about your metrics here)
You show the impact of the work you did on the hiring funnel, better sourcing, stronger recruiter, hiring manager sync etc etc
Operational excellence is your influence . Operational excellence is your influence. Operational excellence is your influence. Operational excellence is your influence.
Do that consistently, and eventually someone will say, “Hang on, they are really doing great stuff how do we scale this?”
And boom, you’re a trusted voice at the table. Not because you begged for it, but because your work couldn’t be ignored.
My challenge is to reset the narrative through a cultural shift
This isn’t some consultant bullshit its the honest truth how I see the state of TA right now. We’ve been trying to frame TA as strategic by positioning it next to strategy, rather than owning what it does best: execution. We need to stop pretending that TA is going to influence organisational structure or leadership planning in the way HR might It just isn’t so get over it.
We’re not the architects. We’re the builders. Own It
TA should absolutely have a voice in workforce decisions, headcount forecasting, and hiring feasibility. But our core value isn’t in the shaping company wide strategy. It’s in executing it.
In my experience, that’s where the respect comes from, I’ve tried shouting louder, it doesn’t work building better and showing is.
So let’s be honest with ourselves and each other:
TA doesn’t need a seat at the table if we’re running the “command centre” and supplying the business.
We’re not leading the charge on company vision or structural change and that’s fine.
What we should be doing is becoming the best bloody operators in the business. Pushing and challenging each other in our teams and peers to be better and better. Thinking shit did you see what they did I want to do that and better.
Because when hiring runs like a proper machine, predictable (yes we deal with people that’s hard), when it’s efficient, data informed, and candidate-friendly, people notice.
They don’t care if you’re in the boardroom.
They care if you can deliver.
Don’t wait to be invited in.
Make yourself indispensable.
Stop chasing influence.
Earn it through execution.
I will leave you with this: with the rise of AI, automation, and new hiring tech, this is the moment. If not, your jobs will become obsolete.