The changing roles of HR: recruit, acquire, and retain good people.

AuthorDee, Kevin M.
PositionHR Matters

It's not too surprising that the workplace keeps changing. In business, those that do not evolve and get with the change are left behind. Change flows like a wave on the ocean. Business owners can either be pounded by it or learn how to surf. Human Resources (HR) can lead the way, making sure businesses create surfers versus drowning victims, but HR's strategic roles have to evolve too. Historically, HR evolved from "personnel" and became "human resources" to meet the ever more complex rules, laws, and regulations that are required in healthy organizations.

HR was traditionally viewed as clerical and was usually attached to accounting; it often still is. Today businesses face a whole set of challenges and change that can crush even the most competitive organization--unless HR can step up and help meet these challenges. This war has three fronts that HR must address head on: talent acquisition, culture keeping, and monitoring productivity.

Every business in the United States is battling a war. The fight to attract and retain talent that will help accomplish an organization's mission is harder and harder with a shrinking pool of qualified candidates and turnover from dysfunctional teams and individuals draining the ranks. Even in Alaska, where at one time we had the youngest workforce, we are seeing more and more gray-haired workers with a distant look in their eyes towards Hawaii. So, from a shrinking pool of candidates how does a company recruit, acquire, and retain good people?

Hire for Fit

The old methods of using bloated resumes and outdated interview questions are a sure way to allow saboteurs and people who do not fit into a company's team. HR must change hiring practices and hire for fit as much, or more so, than for talent. Employees can be trained for skill, but good luck trying to change attitudes and bad people habits in a prospective employee. This means that HR must know how to assess what a team needs and be able to assess personality for fit. There are several validated business personality assessments that are reliable in predicting workplace fit. HR must seek out and acquire "good fit" people and then onboard and monitor so that they have opportunities to succeed and thrive. In order to do that they also need to have good people and teams to connect them to.

Culture Keeping

Culture keeping is the role for which HR needs to sit at the company leadership table. This means that HR must strategically lead in creating and...

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