New research shows where this duo agrees -and disagrees -when it comes to performance.
By Larry Basinait
In a time when worldwide unemployment rates are reaching historic lows, recruiters are under increasing pressure to fill positions quickly. Hiring managers are faced with their own challenges during the hiring process. But how do the two parties really feel about the state of recruiting and internal hiring processes at their companies? What do they think about each other and the support of their mutual goals?
In order to determine the opinions of both hiring managers and HR recruiters, HRO Today conducted a research study sponsored by Orion Novotus. Good news: Overall satisfaction scores from both hiring managers and recruiters are high, with an average score of 4.23 out of 5.00 (see Figure 1). Recruiters underestimate hiring manager satisfaction, indicating they’d expect a rating of 3.71 for the talent acquisition support they receive. But hiring managers are more satisfied with each of the TA processes than recruiters feel they will be. Both parties agree there’s still considerable room for greater satisfaction and improved deliverables; less than 40 percent of hiring managers reported they were “very satisfied” with TA support. So while few are dissatisfied, the TA function as a whole has the opportunity to deliver exceptional results.
Optimal communication between hiring managers and recruiters is essential. However, 31.1 percent of hiring managers and only 13.3 percent of recruiters “agreed completely” that there is an appropriate level of communication between the two groups, which is mediocre for such an important area.
Hiring managers are only modestly pleased with applicant quality, with an average agreement score of 3.94 across the five areas examined (see Figure 2). Recruiters were even less likely to agree with the statements evaluated, assigning an average agreement score of 3.56, with no area higher than 4.0.
Attitudes about employee retention were also examined. Recruiters are far less satisfied than hiring managers with the retention rates of hires from the last six to 12 months. Only 6.7 percent of recruiters indicated they were “very satisfied” compared to 24.8 percent of hiring managers, a difference of more than 18 percentage points.
There is also disagreement about the responsibility for new candidate onboarding. When asked to identify the aspect of the recruiting process that needs the most improvement, recruiters’ main area of concern was the onboarding process. However, there seems to be a disconnect between the two groups. Nearly one- half (46.2 percent) of hiring managers feel that onboarding is mostly up to HR, while less than one-quarter (24.1 percent) of recruiters think it’s HR’s responsibility (see Figure 3). But 57.4 percent feel both parties are mutually accountable. Not surprisingly, recruiters are reluctant to agree that new employees have everything they need to succeed.
Recruiters were asked to rate five aspects of the tools and technology they use in talent acquisition. Satisfaction with all five elements was low, with all of them below 4.0 on a 5 point scale (see Figure 4). The area most highly rated was “offer delivery and new hire processing technology,” with an average satisfaction score of 3.58, while “pre-employment behavioral assessment” was the lowest with an average satisfaction score 3.25. Of course, in a tight labor market, tools that limit the number of candidates coming through the pipeline will be examined more closely.
