What makes for a great internal recruitment function? (No, third-party recruiters, it’s not down to who pays your invoices fastest.) In my experience, a surprising number of businesses adopt a ’hit and hope’ approach when it comes to recruiting, with many internal recruiters focused on just putting bums on seats… a gap in the organisational structure presents itself due to under-performance or the resignation of an incumbent. The internal recruitment team take the brief from the hiring manager, and their success is then judged by how quickly and cost effectively they fill the role.

So, what is the role of an internal recruitment team? (No, third-party recruiters, it’s not simply to repeatedly say that “if your name’s not on the PSL, you’re not coming in” or to provide jobs for failed third-party recruiters.) I have actually asked a number of senior internal recruiters this question, and the most common responses can be summarised as either “to organise our supplier base, therefore minimising the cost of using third-party recruiters” or “to implement direct attraction methods to eliminate the need to use external recruiters”. Clearly these are logical, yet entirely tactical objectives.

The more strategically-focused internal recruiters are of the view that their raison d’etre is “to dramatically enhance the performance of their business by enabling their organisation to attract talent that makes a significant difference”.

Assuming that Recruiter readers, both internal and third-party recruiters alike, are in this profession because they get a buzz from delivering real business benefit - rather than because they got turned down for every estate agency job they applied for - our collective focus should be on the strategic rather than tactical objective, right?

Assuming that Recruiter readers, both internal and third-party recruiters alike, are in this profession because they get a buzz from delivering real business benefit - rather than because they got turned down for every estate agency job they applied for - our collective focus should be on the strategic rather than tactical objective, right?

So how do you stop just recruiting for the role and start recruiting for the business? Our most successful clients - businesses that recognise that high-performing people equate to a high-performing business - work with us to identify the core characteristics of their most successful people. This gives them a benchmark to recruit against. The next step is to design a methodology to assess whether potential employees have these desired characteristics. From there, these selection methods are implemented across the entire business, training hiring managers to ensure that everybody in the business knows what they should be looking for in order to maximise the success of new hires.

Of course when it comes to recruiting talent that really makes a difference, assessment is only half the battle. The best recruitment processes balance rigorous assessment with compelling attraction messages. Therefore, as well as providing the tools to identify people who will be great for their business, it is essential that all hiring managers are provided with clear, consistent messages designed to excite potential high performers.

Having had experience on both sides of the fence as an internal recruiter and as an advisor to internal recruiters, I have seen first-hand the huge impact that taking these steps can have on the performance of the business.

And the best bit? Making a hero of yourself by transforming from a recruitment delivery function to a strategic business partner is surprisingly simple and inexpensive (and yes, third-party recruiters, that means there will still be plenty of budget available to spend with you).

Joel Barnett, managing director, Fortune Hill Executive Search