Recruitment vs Hiring: Choosing the Right Approach for Your Talent Needs

Understanding Hiring and Recruitment 

When we talk about acquiring talent for the organization, it isn’t a mere function of recruiting people in the team or filling up for a particular post, it is much more than this! Talent acquisition typically means building a collaborative workplace where professionals work passionately towards a single goal- company's growth. Here's what each term means-  

Hiring 

Developing hiring strategies means creating a blueprint of establishing a future-ready workforce. This includes strategic workforce planning, developing a talent pipeline, making use of the high-end tools especially the AI-powered tools and elevating candidate’s experience.  

Recruitment 

Recruitment can be defined as a well-structured process that is designed to get the right candidate on board. There are defined steps involved in the process, this includes- job analysis, posting, ATS based screening, conducting holistic evaluation and interviews, and finally the selection and job offer.  

Defining the Relationship Between Recruitment and Hiring Strategies

As mentioned earlier, recruitment and hiring serves similar purposes in terms of the end goals in the first glance, recruitment can still be categorized as a component of the hiring strategy.  Understand it as recruitment is majorly about handling the “How’s”, while the hiring strategy takes care of the “Why’s” and “When’s”.  

However, the ultimate goal of getting the right candidate onboard remains same. If calculated and analysed on a broader level, there are many differences between both the terms, let’s study how are they different?  

Key Differences Between Hiring Strategies and Recruitment

Consider recruitment and hiring, functions dedicated to similar goals but operating differently. Here's how we can differentiate them both-

On a deeper level, here's how we can differentiate-  

1. Objective  

Objective for both the processes are different. As recruitment is majorly for filling the roles while, hiring is for constructing a smart workforce. Recruitment can be considered a process to fill up vacancies urgently basis current openings. It is more inclined towards getting the right candidate onboarded for a specific designation/ role. On the other hand, hiring focuses on a larger scale or for a long-term workforce management strategy. Here everything like work culture, future goals, employee expectations etc., are taken in account.  

2. Tenure  

When talking about the tenure, recruitment is always a short-term process while, hiring can be classified as a long-term aspect. Recruitment focuses on fulfilling organization’s immediate requirements for instance, if a member of a team leaves abruptly and there’s a vacant position which requires to be filled up immediately, recruitment is the process which is followed. On the other hand, hiring is long-term wherein a position is deliberately planned for the organization’s structure requirement. It can be considered convenient and future-ready method of getting candidates onboarded.  

3. Approach  

Another aspect is approach, recruitment relies on tactical methodology, however, hiring focuses on structural approach. For instance, when an organization is looking to hire applicants on an urgent basis, they make use of certain tools including ATS, AI based methodology etc. On the contrary, hiring involved tools only to build certain strategies that are dedicated to a bigger picture. However, there is only a strategic angle followed when it comes to developing a hiring strategy.  

Read Here: Benefits of Modern Recruitment Software for Workforce

Why Should We Differentiate between Hiring Strategies and Recruitment Process?

No matter how clear you are about your organization's requirements, it is always better to draw clear grounds between both- hiring strategy and recruitment process. Here’s what you need to know-  

If we combine the power of both recruitment and hiring strategies, there can be a smart resource allocation with relatively lesser budget spent. How? For instance, organizations looking to fill some vacancies urgently usually spend higher amounts on ads or employing recruitment agencies to speed up the process, however, organizations which plan their requirements in advance generally are wiser and save a lot on their budget allocation. Combining the power of hiring strategies and the speed of recruitment process can together bring in great advantages. 

There's always a scope for advancement and transformations within the organization especially in the era of technology. Differentiating between hiring and recruitment helps the organizations to anticipate and prepare for the evolving upgrades. Organizations with a smart long-term strategy can be considered an excellent source for planning and identifying the future requirements and collaborating the same with recruitment options which help the organization plan and execute better.  

Challenges in Implementing the Concept of Recruitment and Hiring Strategy

Nothing comes to action without possible challenges or hold backs in the process. Listed below are some common challenges in the process that could possibly become a hurdle if stay unidentified or unaddressed.  

• No Collaboration Between Recruitment and Hiring

One of the major challenges can be lack of collaboration between recruitment and hiring. For instance, if there is a miscommunication between the HR, hiring managers or the leadership, there will be a considerable misalignment in the hiring process. Although, the recruitment team can initiate hiring for current open positions, but the leadership can have a difference of opinion on the long-term strategy. Here the collaboration between multiple departments is extremely imperative as it can help all the teams to come on a conclusion and align constructively with the future-goals.  

• Considering Only One Aspect

There will always be a problem if only a single aspect is considered or emphasized on. For instance, if the organization is completely basing their strategy on recruitment, they might lack the holistic strategy planned for long-term requirements. There should always be a pipeline wherein the positions and strategies are being planned rather than emphasising on either of the options for onboarding the right resources.  

• Utilizing HR Tools

Not all organizations are utilizing the latest tech stack for regular upgrades. It is imperative that the legacy methods should not be used anymore or made obsolete. For instance, organizations which are still using the similar HR tech stack they were using years before might be refrained from the strategies they could implement to elevate the HR operations. However, organizations which are well-versed with the future goals and the current technology stack will always be at a better space.  

Creating an Efficient Hiring Strategy Blended with Recruitment

If hiring strategies and process of recruitment works hand in hand, there’s always a better space to be in. Here's how you can construct a smart hiring strategy which complements your immediate and short-term recruitment process.  

• Workforce Planning 

Planning things ahead of time fosters better results. Make use of a data-driven approach to plan your workforce. To start with, you can analyse historical hiring trends, data from the hiring industry, company’s internal data and utilize predictive analytics to predict future roles.  

• Establish Brand Image  

Nobody wants to join a company which isn’t employee centric or support employee’s wellbeing and growth. Even if your organization does everything, it will be of no use if not marketed well. Ensure to create a positive brand image before you run ads on your hiring. For instance, utilize your social media channel to foster a smart work culture where employees are valued, or a fun workday etc., can also be the right marketing strategy to promote.  

• Employee Training and Development 

An organization which invests on employee training, development, educational advantages etc., are more likely to be amongst the top companies which employees wish to be a part of. Provide employee trainings and development programs which focus on technology-based mentorship, e-learning programs and certifications which are authentic and validated across industries. Employees associated with such organizations feel valued and are more likely to be associated for a long time.   

Final Thoughts  

A smart and strategic collaboration between recruitment and hiring can prove a wise decision not just for the organization but for the employees being hired as well. An organization who pre-plans their initiatives increase their likelihood of better employee engagement, retention rates, client success and ultimately foster a healthy and smarter organization.  

Are you juggling multiple HR operations manually and are unsure which strategy would be the right pick? Leverage HONO’s AI-powered methodologies to complement your HCM and provide a seamless operation all across the channels.  

Explore with us.  

<<Request A Demo>>