Reboot Hiring

3Let Talent Acquisition Thrive

What's your recruitment horror story? What specifically made it so bad that you still remember it? Did you learn something from the incident? Whatever it was, it is crucial not to let it jade your current hiring activities. You must let it go if you hope to create respectful partnerships with talent acquisition and recruiters and if you want to save time, money, and hassle when hiring.

Many years ago, I was at a party with my now ex‐husband and innocently told someone I met that I was a technical recruitment consultant. It was like a red flag to a bull; he let rip with all his pent‐up frustration about how unprofessional and money‐hungry all IT recruitment consultants are. Strangely, I was pretty calm, but Richard changed colour with indignation on my behalf, like when a cartoon character goes red, filling up from foot to head with anger. Thankfully, the man moved on and has probably long forgotten the whole thing; I have not.

This poor perception of recruiters is something I work to change through my book, The Robot‐Proof Recruiter, and my work. As with all professions, great and not‐so‐good people work in agency recruitment and internal talent acquisition. In my experience, much of the poor behaviour – on both sides – is due to a lack of training and investment.

In my 21 years, I have met two people who chose a career in recruitment; the vast majority fall into it. Unlike the HR profession, talent acquisition doesn't have a body as strong as ...