Building Your HR Team in 2023

Building Your HR Team in 2023

Having an exceptional HR team can make all the difference when it comes to transforming your organization and making it a place where people love to work. As the new year begins, consider upgrading your HR recruitment strategy to build out a team that can make a major impact and improve results across the board.

 

Who Belongs on Your HR Team?

The first consideration in HR recruitment is figuring out exactly which roles on your team need to be filled. Consider whether you’re starting mostly from scratch, replacing departed team members, or filling brand-new roles for the first time – each of these situations will require HR recruiters to craft a different approach.

Whether you’re dealing with a full-scale HR executive search firm or you’re handling HR recruitment in-house, it’s important to have a clear understanding of goals, both for the HR department and for the company overall. Once you have that roadmap of where your organization is going – and what role HR is intended to play – your HR recruiters can home in on the specific roles needed to achieve those goals, as well as the experience and traits necessary to be an outstanding performer in those roles.

First, consider what leadership roles, if any, need to be filled. HR executive jobs include leadership positions all the way up to the C-suite (for instance, a Chief HR Officer), as well as other high-level positions with titles at the VP or Executive Director level. Executive HR search for these roles can be complex, especially since excellent leadership is so critical for the success of overall strategy; engaging an HR executive search firm with experienced HR executive recruiters can help to streamline the process, reach top-tier candidates, and increase the odds of a long-term successful placement.

Top-level leaders aren’t the only professionals being added to today’s HR teams, though. More and more companies are recognizing the importance of developing an internal pipeline for leadership roles, allowing the process of human resources executive recruitment to be tied more closely with overall employee satisfaction. Succession planning isn’t just about being prepared for the future – it’s about taking care of current employees, here and now.

According to Lattice’s annual State of People Strategy report, employee engagement is the biggest priority right now: 41% of surveyed companies label it as their top priority, followed by manager training (35%) and learning and development (34%). Talent acquisition, meanwhile, is now the top priority for just 17% of companies. This doesn’t mean that HR recruitment should stop, or that human resource recruitment agencies should be scrambling – it means that HR recruiters (and HR teams in general) should be taking the time to develop current employees and build pathways for advancement.

Your human resources executive recruitment strategy should also be taking the increased role of DEI into account. The HR team should be leading the way when it comes to an organization’s DEI initiatives, both in terms of crafting and implementing them and in terms of modeling them for the rest of the company. An expert HR recruitment company can help to locate transformative candidates for HR executive jobs, finding leaders who will be strong voices for ESG and DEI initiatives, advise other leaders on related issues, and ensure that employees’ voices are being heard. Companies are looking for a more diverse pool of candidates and new hires to support their DEI commitments, and partnering with a human resources executive recruiter that emphasizes diversity can be a step towards finding the ideal candidates for key roles.

 

HR Executive Jobs and Beyond

 In any executive HR search, HR recruiters work to find the right match of candidate skills and experience to role requirements. Today’s HR executive recruiters, as we’ve discussed, are particularly focused on building a culture of engagement and belonging. Filling DEI-related roles is a top priority among those working on human resources executive recruitment today, but it’s not as simple as just hiring someone from a diverse background and expecting them to take care of it all.

When it comes to those all-important DEI roles, research shows that today’s HR recruitment tactics are only half the story. An HR recruitment company may be able to help fill roles like Chief Diversity Officer, but that doesn’t mean successful candidates will stay. One study found that approximately 60% of Chief Diversity Officers at S&P 500 companies actually left their positions between 2018 and 2021, despite the apparent “boom” in DEI-related roles and initiatives during that same time period. The same research found that the average tenure of these DEI leaders has shrunk to less than two years. Hiring an HR executive search firm may help companies locate great candidates for roles like these, but organizations must stay the course, providing tangible, meaningful, and active support for these leaders and their work – otherwise, they’ll never get a chance to see real change.

Human resources recruitment agencies, as well as other HR-focused professionals, are looking at several trends for 2023 and beyond. In Gartner’s latest survey, 60% of HR leaders said that they see leader effectiveness as a top priority, but only 24% believe that their company’s current approach actually prepares leaders effectively. In the same survey, 44% of current HR leaders admitted that they don’t think their organization has compelling career paths for employees. This presents a challenge for HR recruiters at every level: it’s more challenging for employees to see a long-term future at a company when the career development opportunities aren’t there.

That’s where executive HR search comes in: seeking out HR leaders with the experience and skills to address these needs, all while staying in sync with overall business goals. Building an HR team takes time, patience, and skill, but the payoff is absolutely worth it.

 

Executive HR Search: Challenges and Resources

 When it’s time to dive into you HR recruitment strategy, look for a human resources executive recruiter that can be the partner you need through the whole process. Finding the right people can be challenging, and traditional job board postings don’t always yield the results you’d like. HR executive recruiters, in contrast, already have specialized experience with recruiting. That means existing relationships with companies and individuals alike, allowing them to find the best matches for each role. Partnering with an HR recruitment company, like Kaizen HR, can save time and allow your existing team to focus on other priorities.

Why are the right people sometimes so hard to find? Many would-be candidates for HR executive jobs aren’t actively looking. In fact, sometimes, the best candidate is a passive one: someone who would take the right opportunity if it was presented to them, but isn’t actively searching. People are also looking for more than just a paycheck. While compensation is still a critical component – especially in today’s competitive labor market – candidates are also looking for things like work-life balance, flexibility, great culture, and upskilling and career development.

An experienced HR executive search firm has the relationships to draw on that “passive pipeline.” They’re also experienced in how to present opportunities in the most appealing light, not just how to contact people. HR recruiters are part of the long game, developing relationships now that can benefit clients both today and in the future.

At Kaizen HR, we provide extensive communication between our team and our clients’ teams at every step of the process. We prioritize establishing a partnership from day one, resulting in long-term relationships with both clients and candidates. Our placements have not only been successful for the specific roles we’ve been engaged to fill, but have also resulted in introductions and referrals to other companies, broadening our network and allowing us to keep delivering great results.

By Rose Dorta

Are you a high-performing leader or believe you have the potential to tackle a more challenging role? Would you be interested in career opportunities that are seeking these attributes?

I’d love to chat with you and answer any questions that you have. Email me, Rose Dorta, Managing Director of Kaizen HR Solutions, here.

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