If you think your human resources team is there to help you when things get bumpy, well you might as well still believe in Santa Claus.
There are two really basic things your human resources team are measured on:
1) Helping to fill open positions
2) Preventing your company from getting sued
#1 is obvious, and #2 makes sense if you think about it. In the case of #2, unless there’s a lot of evidence about an HR violation, when there is an argument between two people that involves HR, they are always going to prioritize a positive outcome for the company ahead of a positive outcome for you and that often means the more senior person in the argument wins no matter what.
Feel free to argue with me on point #2, but that’s not actually the focus of this blog entry.
The big risk to companies today is being asleep at the wheel at #1 – hiring.
Let me start with some recent examples involving Amazon and Google, two companies that are doing well and growing a lot today, which is great for them in an economy that is down overall.
I have spoken with a number of immensely qualified and accomplished people who have looked for roles at those two companies, and the response has been the same. Even when they have a personal contact at these companies, the message that comes back from HR is that they need to find a specific open position before starting a conversation about where they fit.
If you are talking about a low skill position like flipping burgers I can see an attitude like that, but you have the chance to hire a really senior person with really great skills, that attitude is not only just plain lazy, it’s bad business.
A friend of mine who is a recruiter told me that part of this is because in a bad economy, people out of work are scampering for anything and everything they can get. I get that, but putting it all on the job seeking side of the equation is a huge mistake.
For one thing, when a truly great candidate comes along, when money isn’t an issue (as it’s not for Amazon and Google) you should consider a defensive hire – hire the person just so your competition can’t.
Second, and more importantly, while I appreciate that everyone is really busy in these companies, you still need to take the time to consider that this person could transform a department, a division, or the entire organization even when there isn’t an open position that fits their exact background. If you look at Microsoft in the 70s and 80s especially, one of the things they did with repeated success was to take a really smart person and drop them into a spot where they had zero prior experience. The belief that proved out was that really great people would figure out how to be successful in these new roles. That’s not to say it will be successful 100% of the time, but more of that kind of attitude is needed today when there is so much incredible talent out there today.
To be fair, this doesn’t solely fall on the shoulders of the HR team, a lot of this falls on the shoulder of the executives and the company culture. If they are executives, they ought to have enough pull to point out a truly great candidate and say “hey, we just need to figure out a place for this person to land and work with HR to make it happen.”
In an economy like this, this is the time to really have your sharp pencils out, looking for the next Susan Boyle, the person who isn’t an obvious fit immediately. There are so many incredibly talented people out there looking for new roles, and I know people who have good jobs who are looking for other jobs – this isn’t just the unemployed people I am talking about.
Now is the time for HR teams to really shine and help their company find those great candidates. Hiding behind the message of “find a position the fits your skills” for executive roles is lazy and dangerous for companies that really want to continue to do well in this economy. If your HR team is that lazy, maybe those are the folks you need to consider replacing.
-Ric
P.S. By the way – if you don’t usually read Seattle Business magazine, there’s a great article about HR by Scott Rabinowitz in a recent issue.
Does the final decision to hire someone for a job that doesn’t exist fall within the realm of HR? I think the reason you don’t see this happen very often is because most people will not put their reputation on the line for bringing someone in and either putting them in a position where they don’t have the experience or making a new position.
I like the idea of HR flagging great candidates that come their way and having discussions with management about them. I think this goes to your point. Don’t just brush them aside without identifying a specific position, rather give them a look and have a discussion.