There’s a rumor that’s been gaining steam for the past years that HR is facing a crisis and one suggestion to deal with that crisis has been the elimination of internal recruiters.  But recruiters aren’t the problem; it’s the process of sourcing talent that needs a makeover, according to Dr. Wendell Williams.

We all know it’s easy to fake interviews, and results are mostly personal opinion. Furthermore, you don’t need research to know about half of new hires fail to meet expectations. Just look around. Is it any wonder HR outsourcing is a growing industry?... I did not invent best-practice hiring tools. They evolved from many years of research that, in my experience at least, most recruiters blow off as being too much work. Best practice starts with knowing critical skills associated with each job, then measuring them with hard-to-fake behavioral interviews, tests, simulations, and exercises. Does this process ensure 100% perfect hires? That would be nice, but no. There are simply too many factors that affect the future. Best practices significantly reduce the number of hiring mistakes. However, one fewer hiring mistake means one additional highly productive employee.

Wendell has a good point, properly qualifying candidates before sending them to clients is critical.  But core competency evaluation tools to the level suggested by Williams for attorneys could scare off some of the best candidates, especially if these tools aren’t used industry wide. If one recruiter or employer demands that a job candidate take a battery of evaluations, the best candidates may simply move on to the next opportunity which doesn’t require it. The next dilemma faced is the accuracy of these evaluation tools and how much recruiters should depend on them when sourcing for employers?  Recruiting isn’t just about identifying skill sets; but also evaluating people, in many ways recruiters play psychologist trying to make the best fit for each job opportunity. If recruiters depend too heavily on evaluation tools, job candidates who don’t ace the test may find themselves prematurely cut out of opportunities.