The world of talent acquisition has changed. The old “order taker” model is obsolete. Today, businesses need strategic partners who leverage data, influence stakeholders, and impact the bottom line.
But here’s the challenge for managers: How do you actively build the strategic partner you need?
Many organizations use an outdated playbook, leaving their recruiters stuck and their talent function struggling. If your business relies on top-tier talent, you can no longer afford to underinvest in the people who find them. It’s time to build a new development model.
Why Typical Recruiter Development Fails
For many recruiters, the career path stalls after they’ve mastered the process. The transition from a mid-level “process optimizer” to a senior-level “strategic partner” is the single biggest failure point.
Why? Because the skills are completely different. Mastering the ATS (Act 1) or even influencing a hiring manager (Act 2) does not prepare a recruiter to build a workforce plan or present data to a VP (Act 3).
As a manager, your job is to build a bridge across this gap. To do that, you must intentionally train for the skills of the next level, not just the current one.
How to Create an Actionable Development Plan
Forget “one-size-fits-all” training. A truly effective plan is a personalized, blended, and continuous approach.
1. Start with the Right Mindset (Yours and Theirs)
Before you write a single goal, you must foster a growth mindset.
- A Fixed Mindset Recruiter avoids challenges and says, “There are no good candidates for this role.”
- A Growth Mindset Recruiter embraces challenges and asks, “My current sourcing strategy is missing the mark; what new one can I learn?”
Your primary job as a leader is to cultivate this. Create a culture of psychological safety by making development conversations low-stress, future-focused, and—most importantly—completely separate from performance and pay reviews. When your team isn’t afraid of being graded, they’ll be open to growing.
2. Use the 70-20-10 Model (The ‘How’)
The most effective development comes from doing, not just observing. The 70-20-10 model is the gold standard for building plans that stick:
- 70% (Experience): On-the-job, experiential learning. This is the most critical part.
- Instead of: “Go watch a webinar on stakeholder management.”
- Do this: “I want you to lead the new, high-visibility ‘Director of Product’ search. You’ll be responsible for presenting the metrics deck to the VP at the end of Q3.”
- 20% (Exposure): Social learning through mentorship, peer coaching, and shadowing.
- Instead of: “Find a mentor.”
- Do this: “I want you to shadow me in the annual workforce planning meeting with Finance. I want you to see how we get our budget and headcount approved.”
- 10% (Education): Formal, structured learning (courses, certifications).
- Instead of: “Get a certification.”
- Do this: “After you’ve shadowed the finance meeting, let’s get you certified in strategic workforce planning so you can apply what you saw.”
3. Make the Plan Concrete
Don’t just talk about goals; map them to actions. Here’s how you can translate the 70-20-10 model into a tangible plan for two common development goals:
Goal: Improve Business Acumen
- 70% (Experience): Assign them to co-present the Q3 TA metrics deck to the Engineering VP.
- 20% (Exposure): Have them shadow you in the annual workforce planning meeting with Finance.
- 10% (Education): Task them with reading the company’s 10-K report and summarizing its impact on hiring.
Goal: Improve Stakeholder Influence
- 70% (Experience): Give them the stretch assignment of leading the full-cycle search for a complex, senior-level role.
- 20% (Exposure): Ask them to mentor a new junior recruiter on running effective intake meetings.
- 10% (Education): Enroll them in a workshop on “Negotiation and Influencing Skills.”
How to Get the Most Out of Your Recruiters
A plan is just one part. To get the most out of your team every day, apply these principles:
- Diagnose Gaps with Data, Not Guesswork: Don’t just rely on “feel.” Look at your funnel conversion metrics.
- Low Screen-to-Interview Ratio? Your recruiter might need coaching on resume screening or role calibration.
- Low Interview-to-Offer Ratio? The problem might be stakeholder management or a disorganized panel.
- Low Offer Acceptance Rate? This points to a gap in closing skills or comp analysis.
- Focus on Strengths, Not Just Gaps: The “strengths-based” approach argues you get more value from making a “B” skill an “A+” than from making an “F” a “D.” If you have a recruiter who is a brilliant relationship-builder but average at data, don’t just force them to live in spreadsheets. Have them lead your employer branding initiatives or mentor others on candidate experience, while you pair them with a data-savvy junior recruiter.
Your Call to Action: Stop Fulfilling, Start Building
The future of your company is directly linked to the quality of its talent. And the quality of your talent is directly linked to the capabilities of your talent acquisition team.
Stop treating TA as a service center and start treating it as a strategic talent pipeline. The first person you should be developing? Your recruiter.
What’s your take? What is the #1 priority for developing your recruiters this quarter? Share your action plan in the comments.
For a deeper dive listen to this blog and others at: https://rss.com/podcasts/renownedhiring
Leave a Reply