HR is your Secret Weapon

While most marketing blogs and articles today talk about the importance of the CMO/CFO relationship (and rightly so), there's another team that often times gets a bit overlooked which can also play a huge role in your success--the HR organization, and in particular, your recruiting leader.

With the market for talent being so competitive, recruiters these days often have a thankless job, needing to get so many candidates qualified and in the funnel just to get to the interview stage for you and your team (insert pithy email marketing example here).

OK marriage might be a bit strong--union? partnership?

You can obviously help them out by getting in front of the process and bringing them over the wall to help understand your team, your staffing plan, and the type of person you're looking for in a given role. But more importantly these days, don't just treat them as the "HR team," treat them as a part of YOUR team. Make sure you invest in them as much as they are investing in you. Invite them to your LT meetings; set up a regular sync with them; make sure they get the praise and credit for sourcing or screening a great candidate (even if it was a referral from your best friend and you did a bunch of the work!). After all, they're often the first interaction with you, your company, and your brand that candidates will encounter. You need that to go great and have candidates WANT to take the next step, not just take it to keep a bunch of job opportunities going at once.

The point here is not to be disingenuous or fake--the point is to change your thinking and extend out the reach of your team to include this person. Make your success theirs, and vice versa. Let them know the parameters you are looking for outside the basic qualifications--let them know when you'll bend on salary or only take A players. Give rapid feedback and let them know if they're on the right track or wrong track.

At the end of the day, it's on you to build the best team. But you can't do it alone--even with a team of your own. You need expertise and help. But instead of treating HR like another vendor, bring them in close and embrace their role--you'll find that you get a motivated team working on your behalf, and in the end, a much better group of candidates to hire from.