This week in the Holistic Recruiter Club #015

Being a weather man, Why TA teams are the least important, more two tired dads!

Oct 20, 2024

Wow, what a week from 24 degrees sun to 10 degrees rain! But that’s not quite how my week went. thank you for taking a read again! If you like any of the posts don’t forget to share with your TA mates and get them to subscribe too.

Me and

Jean-Marie Caillaud

have been working hard to get the first online event ready to share some of the results from the survey. He is a picture of me during the event fulfilling a life long dream of being a weather man, although Jean-Marie insisted I should stick to predicting rain in the UK haha

I’m also on a LinkedIn shadow ban at the moment, I have one of my posts flagged as spam and they told me for months they have been limiting my reach which answered my question of what happened to my reach. So if anyone knows how to get out of this please help!

TA Teams are the Least Important Teams in the Business and Here’s Why…

How many of you in Talent Acquisition have sat in meetings thinking, "Why don’t they listen?" Or did have you felt the pinch of layoffs and restructuring that seem to hit our teams first? It's not uncommon to hear the insecurities coming through, “What if I fill all my roles and there’s no need to hire anyone else? Will I be the next to go?"

Sound familiar? It’s sad that TA teams are pretty often seen as the most expendable. Why? Because in the grand scheme of things, we’re often not aligned with business-centric outcomes ,and or at least that’s how the rest of the company sees us.

But my though its that TA teams are viewed as the least important because we fail to link our work to business value directly. I will explain

You know I like to dig a little deeper so here we go.

We hire. We onboard. We move on to the next role. It’s a continuous loop. But here’s while hiring talent is important, many in TA get stuck in operational metrics like time-to-fill or cost-per-hire, which don’t paint the full picture of how our efforts affect the business's bottom line. They constantly try and find a way to justify their role and demonstrate their value and a lot of the time, I will go as far as to say most of the time its energy is spent in the wrong direction.

The real value, and I mean “business-centric outcomes”, come from asking: What happens after the hire? Are we hiring people who drive revenue? Are we filling roles that actually solve the company's strategic pain points, or are we just filling headcount? Too often, we’re disconnected from the impact that our hires have on business performance.

Let’s be honest really honest , The TA team is so often seen as a “reactive” function. The business grows, so we hire. The business slows down, so we stop hiring (and maybe lose our jobs in the process). This creates the perception that we’re a “cost center” rather than a strategic driver of value. When layoffs happen, TA is seen as dispensable because we’re not embedded in the core strategy of the company.

Think about it: If we’re not directly influencing revenue, growth, or operational efficiency in tangible ways, it’s easy to be the first on the chopping block when the business tightens its belt. The CEO CFO etc they look down that cost sheet and say hmmm ok would I rather keep the sales people that make me money or the recruitment team when I’m not hiring.

This is where the real challenge exists, To stay relevant, TA has to shift from filling roles and being a order taker to driving business-centric outcomes. But what does that mean you ask me: -

Tye our hires to business goals focusing on roles that directly contribute to growth, customer success, or innovation.
Using data to predict business impact moving beyond operational metrics to understand the long-term effects of our hiring decisions.
Aligning with the C-Suite communicating in the language of business Think revenue, profitability, and market share. If the CEO can’t connect your hires to tangible business results, you’re already a step away from irrelevance.

There is some silver lining

In my opinion TA teams are not doomed to be the least important. But we need to shift how we see our role in the company and how we communicate our value. Instead of being the team that just puts bums on seats, we need to be the team that fills gaps in business performance. Because in the end, if you’re not contributing to the company’s success, the hard truth is that someone else will.

And this means working in a cross-functional way which I will go into next week.

Tip of the week
Critical Thinking for TA Professionals

We’ve all seen it, quick-hit videos from influencers claiming to have the “perfect hiring solution”. Don’t get me wrong, I share short videos too! They’re just a starting point. You can’t build a solid strategy on sound bites alone.

So how do you cut through the noise and how can you be careful before feeling like you are failing or that you should try these influencer tips.

Check the Context: Is the advice really relevant to your business and hiring needs?
Beware Big Promises: What works for them might not work for you so always test before fully committing.
Follow the Data: Ignore the “BS” and look for real, data-backed insights that can be applied to your specific challenges. That means taking time and digging deeper.

So, influencers can inspire, but critical thinking turns is king here!

Two Tired Dads Talk Talent and Tech Show

Two tired dads talk talent and tech And this week we will be with Pierre-Arnaud! Global Head of TA at BackMarket!

We will be digging deep with him on how you make sure your recruitment team stays relevant! With the average life span of skills reducing year on year what better topic to discuss?

Join us by registering here …..