Human resources recruiter Karen Curia says HR professionals taking on more consultative, strategic roles is turning the industry into a whole new ball game. Hiring managers and candidates are now much more receptive to my phone calls. Hiring managers are so used to getting calls from IT recruiters that they hardly make a distinction between one recruiting company and another. But when you call them about HR, that's their expertise and it gets their attention.
Candidates also respond differently.
IT candidates get several calls weekly, if not daily, and have gotten to the point where they're blase about calls from recruiters. But this is a new phenomenon for HR people, and they're not used to having a recruiter call them to talk about their knowledge. From my perspective, it's a nice change, and HR people are starting to see their roles as more valued. More and more I'm getting clients who say they want to see candidates who are strategists more than administrators. Of course, there is always the need for those who administer HR policies and procedures, but the business partner who can strategize is harder to find.