Dr John Sullivan Talent Management Thought Leadership
I’ve advised recruiters during 8 different hiring downturns on how to avoid being laid off. Unfortunately, today, I am once again alerting all corporate recruiters to prepare for another round of recruiter layoffs. This time, the cuts are driven by a combination of emerging business and recruiting factors, including reduced large-scale hiring due to the uncertainty created by the trade war, a new top-down push for more efficiency in administrative functions, and AI’s new capabilities in recruiting.
And because the factors driving this round are new, that means that even though you survived the last round of layoffs.
This time, in order to become vital and indispensable, individual recruiters will have to demonstrate several new “essential capabilities” that go far beyond simply having a track record of producing strong recruiting results. So, if you want to be considered “indispensable” and be labeled “essential” by your senior recruiting leaders, here are the essential capabilities that you will need to excel in.
The “Essential Capabilities” That Can Make An Individual Recruiter Indispensable
Of course, every corporate recruiting function will determine its own set of essential capabilities. However, through my research and corporate advisory work, I’ve found that in addition to producing exceptional recruiting results, today, there are a handful of “essential capabilities” that can make an individual recruiter indispensable. The essential recruiter capabilities that are likely to have the highest impact on strengthening your job security include:
Becoming the go-to person in AI and recruiting technology – smart recruiting leaders already know that AI and other emerging technologies are rapidly becoming the defining characteristics of modern strategic recruiting. So, if you are going to make yourself indispensable, you must demonstrate that you can make a powerful contribution in selecting, implementing, and making AI and other new software technologies effective within your recruiting function. It’s now becoming clear that the recruiters who don’t clearly embrace and show enthusiasm for these new technologies will be the first ones placed on the obsolete employee list.
Be seen as the leading practitioner of data-driven recruiting – the second essential capability for the next-generation recruiting function is being data-driven. First off, access to performance data is an absolute requirement for all AI-driven recruiting tools. Also, collecting performance data is a critical element for any continuous improvement/efficiency process. So, if you want to be viewed as indispensable, you must become the leading advocate and practitioner in using data-driven decision-making in every aspect of your recruiting. You can learn more details about how to become a data-driven recruiter here.
Proving that you are agile and resilient in today’s increasingly volatile business world – The next group of obvious layoff targets are recruiters who first freeze and then deny or procrastinate when they realize that they are facing a major roadblock in recruiting. In direct contrast to those who will be labeled indispensable in our VUCA world because they have already demonstrated their resilience and agility by recovering from initial setbacks quickly, then adapting and finally rapidly pivoting to a new direction after every major setback they encounter. These resilient individuals will likely be labeled by their team leader as a “find a way” person who easily handles the unexpected.
Becoming the primary driver of efficiency within the function – Yes, Elon Musk made the recent push to become highly efficient famous. However, this focused push for greater efficiency has also recently been adopted by six of the CEOs who lead the “Magnificent Seven” corporations. As an individual recruiter, you can make yourself indispensable by taking the lead in identifying each of the major inefficiencies within the recruiting function. Then, by collaborating with others to develop and implement practical solutions that improve efficiency without sacrificing work quality.
Showing how being a continuous learner will help prepare you for the future – because the business world and the recruiting function will both continue to change at an ever-increasing rate. Every informal leader within the recruiting function will need to become self-directed continuous learners. So that they can learn about all major upcoming TA-related problems and opportunities while there is still time to act. Incidentally, these rapid learners will become indispensable after busy TA leaders (who don’t have enough time to learn by themselves) grow to depend on them as an essential source of information. I have found that your leaders will be especially interested in what you learn. If you focus your learning and then share the current and the “next recruiting practices” used at the top-performing corporations that also excel at recruiting (i.e., Google and Amazon).
Make it clear that you can also serve as an effective “fill-in” – recruiting executives are much more likely to label you as “a keeper.” If, in addition to your duties as a recruiter. You can also contribute in other critical areas as a “fill-in.” Start by volunteering to take a role in internal strategic recruiting projects. So that you become “the go-to person” when recruiting leaders who need help on their special projects. Next, make it clear to your recruiting leaders that you’re willing and capable of serving as fill-in or overflow help. First, in the administrative areas of recruiting but also in other areas within HR (like retention). Next, you should then show that you can contribute to other business units in jobs like sales, sales training, and customer service. Having already completed a successful trial assignment will further strengthen the case for your retention.
Obviously, Your Job Performance Must Also Stand Out
In addition to your valuable contributions in each of the above essential capability areas, those who want to be considered indispensable need to outperform other recruiters in each of the high-priority recruiter KPI areas. So, build your personal internal brand with the following actions.
Show your track record for successfully filling game-changer jobs – during periods when most large-scale hiring is limited. Your executives will have a heightened interest in filling critical jobs that produce the highest business impacts. I call these jobs “game-changer jobs.” Because they directly impact revenue, innovation, product development, and company growth, or they contribute to building a competitive advantage. The game-changer focus areas at most large corporations usually include hiring AI experts, innovators, revenue generators, cybersecurity, product development, and Quantum Computing professionals. And for recruiters that haven’t yet been allowed to recruit for these game-changing jobs. At a minimum, you need to be able to show your recruiting leaders that you have at least volunteered for or assisted another recruiter in one of these assignments. So that those in charge conclude that you are clearly capable of successfully filling these impossible-to-fill game-changer jobs.
Provide proof that you have produced the highest performing hires – your job security will likely be enhanced and only because of your ability to fill critical jobs. Also, on your ability to fill these jobs with new hires who perform at an above-average level. In order to make providing your initial proof of on-the-job performance much easier, I recommend that you start showing the performance improvement percentage of your new hires in the jobs where on-the-job performance is already quantified in either numbers or dollars. Those already quantified jobs can usually be found in sales, customer service, business development, investments, and collections. For example, if you report that your new hires in sales positions routinely sell 10% or $100,000 more than the average new hire. After only 10 hires, you will be able to show executives that your work generated over $1 million in extra corporate sales revenue.
Show that you are highly requested by influential hiring managers – the individual recruiters that are in great demand by influential hiring managers are almost always among the last to be released. Because your recruiter leaders will be reluctant to potentially anger their top hiring managers by limiting their choice of recruiters. In addition, showing your leadership that you have the highest hiring manager and candidate satisfaction ratings will further build the case that you are indispensable. Obviously, if job security is critical for you, now is the time to begin strengthening your relationships with the most influential hiring managers.
Remind recruiting leaders that you can carry exceptional requisition loads – when times are tough, recruiting leaders seek out opportunities to “do more with less.” And one of the best ways to do that is to retain recruiters who consistently perform while carrying above-average requisition loads. You can demonstrate your willingness and ability to carry a bigger recruiting load by immediately volunteering to add more requisitions to your plate.
Make TA leaders and hiring managers aware that you have successfully filled every job – if you need to keep your managers happy during the times when only a few critical jobs are open. The recruiting leaders need to make sure that no critical job goes unfilled. So, make yourself essential by showing your recruiting leadership that you have consistently filled every critical job that you have been assigned.
Remind TA decision-makers that you have been the leader in adopting new recruiting practices – in times of constant change. Smart recruiting leaders need to ensure that new advanced recruiting practices are quickly adopted. So, they need someone who is willing and capable of taking the lead in implementing new recruiting practices. So remind your recruiting leaders of the cases when you have been the first to successfully spearhead the adoption of a new recruiting practice. And if you haven’t done that yet, volunteer to take the lead in implementing the next new practice that is favored by your TA leaders.
Some additional capabilities that will make you more valuable – Over the years, I have identified some additional factors that don’t necessarily make an individual recruiter indispensable. However, they clearly make that individual recruiter more valuable. Those value-added characteristics of the recruiter include being a strong team player, a collaborator, one who innovates, is self-motivated, and has high agency (influence skills). Others who clearly add value include those willing to shift to a contract recruiting role, those who are currently upskilled, and those who have a track record of helping build a compelling business case for more funding. Finally, obviously, in today’s political climate, you need to be extra careful whenever you highlight your DEI successes because those accomplishments may help or hurt you.
Recommended Actions
After literally decades of identifying the factors that cause some recruiters to be retained while others are quickly laid off, I now estimate that as many as 40% of those who were let go were released for unannounced personal and political reasons. However, that does leave a relatively long list of objective factors that individual recruiters can use to prove that they are indispensable. So, as a first step in identifying the factors that will likely be used in the next round of recruiter layoffs, I recommend using the above lists of essential capabilities and traditional performance metrics as a starting point. I then suggest that you identify and then informally work with any of your corporation’s recruiters who have survived your corporation’s previous layoffs. If possible, any of your TA leaders are willing to talk informally about the layoff criteria they have used in the past. Finally, develop your own customized list of the factors that you will use to show your leaders that you are, in fact, indispensable!
Note for the reader
This is the latest article from Dr. Sullivan, who was labeled “the Michael Jordan of Hiring” by Fast Company.
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