HRD Role and Its Related Competencies

Human Resource Development is essential for an organization striving to be dynamic and growth-oriented. Competencies of the organization’s human resources determine the dynamism and growth of the organization. Human Resource Development ensures that employees grow their personal and organizational skills, knowledge, and abilities. The main aim of Human Resource Development is to create a superior workforce ensuring that the business entity and individual employees achieve their work objectives. Human Resource Management is a related concept to Human Resource Development. The role of the HRM is to plan, create, and administer policies and programs intended to make prompt use of the business entity’s human resources. In Human Resource Management, several work roles exist such as a hiring manager, a human resource coordinator, and a human resources recruitment analyst among other job cadres. This essay will explore the position of Hiring Manager also referred to as Recruitment Manager as a career opportunity to be pursued. However, for this discussion, it will be essential to acknowledge the difference between positions of general recruiters and Hiring Manager.

Functions and Outputs of Hiring Manager

A Hiring Manager is an employee attached to the Human Resources Department in the organization and his or her role involves requesting a new position to be filled. New employees report to the hiring manager in respective organizations when hired. Hiring Manager is a pivotal member of the organization’s employee recruitment team. A recruitment manager is the head of the employee selection team and he or she initiates the need to hire a new employee. Recruitment manager is responsible for ensuring that the hiring process offers equal opportunity and non-discrimination policy as set out in the law.

The hiring manager liaises with the human resources and adheres to all steps of the recruitment process. The hiring manager begins with a recruiting planning meeting and participates in all aspects of employee recruitment. The recruitment manager evaluates incoming resumes and applications. Since the recruitment manager works from within the organization, he or she understands the organization’s human resource needs and advises the management accordingly. The hiring manager conducts an initial interview to ascertain whether candidate applicants merit for an interview. He or she is also involved in the first and second interviews. Another role of the hiring manager is working with Human Resources to determine compensation for the position. The recruitment manager makes the job offer and discusses details of the new employee’s acceptance and beginning of the job. The recruitment manager is charged with the responsibility of planning for the new employee’s orientation and integration in the organization’s culture. Furthermore, the recruitment manager makes the ultimate decision concerning the new employee’s mentor and job description. Although intricate details differ from one organization to another, recruitment managers’ decision influences the entire hiring process. The above role highlights the weighty role and responsibilities that hiring managers play in an organization.

Competencies and Skills Required

Effective hiring managers must be able to perform candidate screening. The recruitment manager must demonstrate wide knowledge and talent to pre-select suitable candidates for the first and subsequent interviews within the organization. In terms of candidate screening competency, the recruitment manager must additionally be able to coach others on techniques and methods of candidate screening. He or she must be able to assess the best practices of candidate screening applied within the industry and rationalize them.

Hiring managers like other managerial personnel must have planning skills. The urgency to recruit must not overstep the need to create proper planning because such hiring will result in weak outcomes of the recruitment process. Planning demands intense consideration of respective organizational design, competencies, and leadership team alignment. Furthermore, planning helps determine if there is a need to search externally for talents in the recruitment process.

The hiring manager must adhere to or insist on a three-way meeting approach, otherwise, it will be impossible to achieve the ideal job description. Therefore, the hiring manager must have good facilitation skills for meeting with Human Resource partners and Recruiter in a bid to discuss a suitable profile, existing labor market, and selling points of the position among other critical factors. A three-way meeting helps identify potential obstacles, experience needed, and history of the hiring manager.

The hiring manager must be able to communicate effectively with the recruiter in terms of a needed candidate for the job advertised. The hiring manager must be able to identify and avoid common pitfalls in the hiring process. Such common pitfalls include adjusting originally specified demands for the job advertised. Changes executed after the three-way meeting waste effort invested in the recruitment process. During the recruitment process, intense work is done during the first four weeks of the recruiting cycle. Recruiters spend a lot of time sourcing and screening talents during the first two to four weeks. Aside from the above pitfall, focusing on industry experience solely leads to the foregoing fresh talent that might have re-energized the organization’s workforce. Another common pitfall is attempting to fill the advertised position with any talent because the allocated time to fill is approaching. Rushed recruiting process compromises the highest standards for quality and diversity. The hiring manager must recognize the importance of communication and sustain continued communication with the human resource manager and the recruiter. Weekly or couple-of-days updates are salient in the first three weeks of the recruitment process.

Interests in the Role of Hiring Manager

Hiring Managers ignite the passion in my determination to shape the landscape of human resources in organizations. Hiring managers operate within the subject organization and have a thorough knowledge of how the organization operates and about the practical needs of the job advertised. I have always been captivated by how recruitment managers select the right candidates from thousands of potential applicants. Recruiting is a daunting task. The hiring manager may fail to choose an applicant, thinking the applicant fails to meet competitiveness that exists. In some cases, dropped candidates end up in the hands of rivals and propel the rival firm. Some applicants view the hiring process as being offered or denied the opportunity. Some applicants are known to have unethically attempted to influence the outcome of the process, forgetting it is done professionally done and it is not a one-man show.

The above are some of the intrigues that fuel my interest in pursuing a career of a recruitment manager. The realization that I will be determining the talents of the company with stakeholders watching means that the recruitment manager has to possess an all-angle view of the hiring process and prospective candidates. A hiring manager interests me as he or she has to sift through bias and diversity issues and deliver the right candidates in terms of skills and behavioral aspects. Lastly, the promising job outlook for recruitment managers sustains my passion for becoming a recruitment manager in the nearest future.

Why This Role May Be More Important in Some Organizations than in Others

Placement services firms, public administration, professional and technical services, and education have the highest number of hiring managers. In addition to the above sectors, health and social services absorb a significant percentage of recruitment managers. One reason for having recruitment managers in the above sectors in high numbers is because these organizations rely heavily on the character and skills of employees in delivering services and competing favorably. Organizations rendering services or those handling children and students have strict ethical codes and moral fibers that are protected at all costs. In such organizations, employers look beyond just skills in hiring an individual. The hiring manager is thus seen as a crucial member to help the organization realize effective recruiting. Retaining workers is often pegged on base pay and quality of the manager. From the above observation, the hiring manager is critical in determining the nature of managers and workers an organization will have.

The above-highlighted sectors of the economy strive to have effective staffing models. Desirable staffing models create a workable, adjustable, and repeatable process. Repetition of the process enables an organization to metricize results, reliably deliver based on those results, and continually improve the quality of hires. Hiring managers, therefore, become pivotal in addressing the above hiring process tenets. Without the hiring manager, companies and institutions in the economic sectors mentioned above would suffer from the lack of clarity relating to work positions, unrealistic expectations, and disconnection between procedures and roles required of each employee. Hiring managers, in this case, help customer-sensitive organizations develop quality service starting right from employee recruitment by creating benchmarks to guide the hiring process.

Job Outlook for Hiring Manager

Job prospects of hiring managers or recruitment personnel are promising. Demand for personnel and recruitment officers has increased steadily in recent years as a result of the development of hewn HRM concepts, increasing the importance of manpower training and changes in working organization methods. Since the above trends are expected to hold, the increase in demand for hiring officers is anticipated to continue.

Several factors have pushed organizations to prioritize planning and creating strategies for hiring and sustaining employment levels, including work organization and training. Some of the factors for the renewed interest in hiring officers include the emergence of the knowledge economy, increasing global competition among firms, and employee productivity requirements. Other factors fueling interest in absorbing recruitment personnel include the execution of compensation methods associated with the attainment of corporate goals. Integration of statutes and regulations governing the work world such as employment equity is another factor necessitating engagement of hiring officers in the firm. Another factor for a promising outlook for recruitment personnel is the development of training programs that allow workers to enhance productivity and implement provisions of the vocational training act.

Predictably, the above factors will increase in importance in the next few years. Processes and plans needed to meet corporate staffing needs are likely to become more complex. For a start, employer requirements in terms of education, technical knowledge, and various aptitudes will continue to increase. Examples of aptitudes demanded include communication skills, versatility, teamwork, and learning capacity among others. In order to get the right candidate with such qualities, recruitment officers or personnel are needed by organizations.

In addition to the above explanation, the aging labor force will result in more qualified, experienced employees that need to be replaced. The subsequent effect of replacing aging employees is the reduction of the labor pool. Eventually, employers will compete intensively to attract and retain competent employees. Consequently, there is a need to design strategies to ensure that skills and knowledge are passed on to younger employees. Hiring personnel will become pivotal in recruiting suitable candidates for such purposes. Demand for strategies on how to pass on knowledge and skills is expected to grow in the next few years. Consequently, from the above factors, it is evident that the demand for recruitment officers is expected to increase sharply in the next few years.

My Opinions Regarding the Information I Have Obtained

I have assessed distinct roles of hiring managers, Human Resource, and recruiters play in the recruitment process. Additionally, I have learned a pivotal role in the three-way meeting of the above players serves in shaping the recruitment process and ultimately the outcome. Furthermore, I have come to appreciate challenges and pitfalls that hiring managers, Human Resource, and recruiters often face. Human Resource should meet with the recruitment manager and negotiate on the hiring process. Human Resource needs to highlight critical areas of the recruitment process that are salient to the Human Resource’s existence in the organization. For example, assessment and personality tests are pivotal in the recruitment process as they help identify and eliminate bias. Failure to adhere to specified benchmarks may result in the organization’s hiring process being flagged as unfair hiring that may be damaging to the company’s image and legal standing.

The recruitment manager needs written feedback on the applicant from all relevant stakeholders in the hiring decision. In the case of applying hiring software, the feedback obtained from candidates must be incorporated into the software, including talent management processes. There is a need to foster a partnership between the Human Resource and the hiring manager because the hiring manager will work closely with a new candidate. Human Resource should help the recruitment manager identify and assess applicants that meet all job requirements. Job requirements should be developed through collaboration. Top candidates should be evaluated to determine the most suitable for the team and organization. Common mistakes hiring managers make include an inadequate briefing of their recruiting partner and delegating all sourcing of applicants to recruiters. Another mistake that hiring managers make is delegating reference calls to recruiters. Lastly, hiring managers must always remember that job candidates also judge them to gauge the attitude and corporate culture of the organization.