Hey HR! HR is Really About Risk Management

A couple months ago, I wrote a post about how easy it is for compliance to skew HR’s perception of what their job truly entails, and an incredibly insightful follower posted a comment regarding how HR isn’t a compliance driven job, but rather a “risk management” position. This got me thinking about what a truly risk management centered approach to HR would involve.

I think the first item that pops onto the scene when HR professionals explore risk management is likely compliance, but is that really the whole story? Is risk management simply a matter of mitigating risks associated with affirmative action, OFCCP, and discrimination? Or is it more likely that risk management is in line with mitigating business risk like our poster suggests?

It’s obvious what I think. And realistically, you’re already in the business of risk management, even if you aren’t aware of it because you’re directly involved with (and responsible) for hiring the individuals that make the biggest impact at your company. This impact can be either positive or negative.

Additionally, employees are the biggest financial investment a company makes. Unfortunately, you may be guilty of harming your company and putting it at risk if you don’t understand how your contributions affect risk management. Let’s spend some time today exploring how your hiring duties as an HR professional put your organization’s bottom line at risk. We’ve got a lot to cover, so check back for part two of this post which is coming soon.

start composing ads that excite job seekers to apply for your position.

Stop writing job ads that scare quality applicants away.

Writing a job ad that speaks to and establishes rapport with job seekers is your first opportunity to increase your risk management credibility and yet, the opportunity is often completely overlooked. So, how do you stop “risking” losing these quality applicants? You simply stop writing job ads that only appeal to your company (read: boring) and start composing ads that excite job seekers to apply for your position. In other words, you spend less time on “what’s in it for HR” and more time on “what’s in it for the applicant.” This approach helps you deliberately influence risk management because you’re helping draw stellar applicants to help fulfill the goals of your business’s bottom line.

Ditch the long application.

When was the last time you reviewed the application for a job opening? Or better yet, when was the last time you applied for one of your own positions? If you’re committed to risk management, then you need to not only experience your application, but you need to understand why you’re asking each question as well because great applicants aren’t going to want to waste their time completing an hours long initial application requiring a seven-year long job history, references, and providing a social security number if it’s completely unnecessary for them to secure the job.

Instead, contribute to healthy risk management by respecting your applicant’s time and opt for a two-step application process. In all reality, the less information you’re given about applicants you know won’t be a good fit, the less “risk” you’re subjecting your company to because housing that much personal information means investing more in protection against identity theft.

spend less time on “what’s in it for HR” and more time on “what’s in it for the applicant.”

Communicate with your applicants.

The last pain point associated with upping your risk management potential is for HR to ensure that their lack of proper communication to job seekers (including sending every person who applies a rejection email/letter, even if they aren’t qualified) isn’t “risking” offending and driving away current/future customers of the business by leaving a bad taste in their mouth. This ties into what we’ve been discussing above: respect your applicants (whom may very well be customers) by sending them some sort of communication regarding the application they likely spent hours of their life completing. It’s common courtesy and it helps you out with risk management by ensuring that you’re not hurting your company’s reputation (and revenue) by upsetting people who purchase goods from your company. If you use hiring software, confirmation emails and rejection letters should be standard items and you should capitalize on the opportunity to deploy them.

This is merely the beginning of the quest to becoming a risk management centered HR professional, so please join me for the second part of this post for a couple more tips to becoming a strategic risk manager.

Are you guilty of accidental risk management? ApplicantPro can help! We have a team of hiring consultants trained to effectively mitigate hiring risk and ease your recruiting pain. Better yet, click here to get started with a free trial of our system to learn how it can help you hire more strategically.

Are you guilty of accidental risk management? ApplicantPro can help! We have a team of hiring consultants trained to effectively mitigate hiring risk and ease your recruiting pain. Better yet, click here to get started with a free trial of our system to learn how it can help you hire more strategically.