Stepping Up: Strategies to Get You a Seat at the Decision-Making Table

14 of March, 2023

Are you a talent acquisition professional looking to have a greater influence on your organization’s decision-making process? It can be difficult to make your voice heard in a corporate setting, but there are strategies you can use to get a seat at the decision-making table.

You need to be able to demonstrate the value you can bring to the table, as well as identify the right stakeholders and develop a plan for engagement. By understanding the needs of the organization and offering creative solutions, you can be an invaluable asset to the leadership team.

With the right approach, you can be the one driving the conversation and leading the charge to hire the best employees for the organization. See these tips to optimize your recruiting process and succeed within your company.

Understanding the needs of the organization

The first step in getting a seat at the decision-making table is understanding the needs of the organization. This is critical to your success as an HR leader, so you have to have a good grasp on where your organization is coming from when it comes to hiring.

You have to understand what skills are needed and what the existing or potential gaps are. This will help you identify the stakeholders who will be involved in the hiring process and tailor your approach to each of them.

You also need to understand the culture of your organization and how hiring fits into that. What hiring strategies have been successful in the past? What needs to be done to uphold that culture?

These are the types of questions you should be asking yourself in order to come up with the right solutions for your organization. This will bring one step closer to the decision-making table.

Identifying the right stakeholders

Once you understand the needs of the organization, the next step is identifying the right stakeholders. You might have a lot of people who have input during the hiring process, especially if you’re a manager who is hiring people directly. Or, you might only have direct stakeholders in the C-suite and HR.

Regardless, it’s important to identify who they are and how you can engage with them. First, you want to identify who your hiring managers are, the ones on the decision-making table. These are usually people who are hired for roles below executive level in the organization. 

You also want to identify the people who are involved in the hiring decision at the executive level. These stakeholders may include the head of your organization, the HR leadership team members, and others who have a say in the hiring process.

Developing a plan for engagement

Now that you’ve identified the right decision-making stakeholders, you can engage them and develop a plan for engagement. This means having regular meetings, keeping people informed, and actively listening to their needs and concerns.

If you can do this effectively, you’ll be able to build relationships with key stakeholders and they’ll feel like they have a voice in the hiring process. This will help you create buy in for your hiring strategies and get the support that you need to drive the conversation and lead the charge when it comes to hiring new employees.

Engagement involves more than just communicating with stakeholders and keeping them informed. It also involves actively listening to what they have to say.

You need to understand their needs and concerns and address them accordingly. This means having regular meetings, soliciting feedback, and actively listening to what stakeholders have to say.

Demonstrating your value to the organization

Now that you understand the needs of the organization and have developed a plan for engagement, it’s time to demonstrate your value. The best way to do this is by coming up with solutions to the challenges that the organization is facing.

This can be difficult because you may not know what challenges the organization is facing, but you can still find ways to solve those problems. If you find yourself in a situation where you don’t have all the answers, don’t panic. You can still come up with solutions by asking the right questions and creating a dialogue around those issues.

When you have solutions to the challenges that the organization is facing, you can demonstrate your value. This will help you build goodwill with other stakeholders and they’ll be more willing to engage with you and take your advice when it comes to hiring.

You want to find out what the needs and goals of the organization are and then provide solutions that help meet those needs.

Offering creative solutions

At this point, you’ve understood the needs of the organization, engaged with stakeholders, and demonstrated your value to the organization. Now, you want to offer creative solutions to the challenges that the organization is facing.

This is where you take the information you’ve learned and use it to come up with creative ways to solve problems or address needs that the organization has.

You want to brainstorm solutions to issues, look for ways to innovate, and come up with new strategies that haven’t been tried in the past. This will help you stand out as a leader and show that you’re an active participant in the hiring process.

One of the best ways to come up with creative solutions is to create a brainstorming session with other stakeholders. Gather a group of people who are involved in the hiring decision and brainstorm solutions to problems or ways to improve certain aspects of the hiring process.

Driving the conversation and leading the charge

Now that you’ve understood the needs of the organization, engaged with stakeholders, and offered creative solutions to existing challenges, you want to drive the conversation and lead the charge when it comes to hiring.

This means that you want to be the one driving the discussion and coming up with solutions to hiring challenges. You want to show that you’re actively engaged in the hiring process and that you’re leading the charge when it comes to finding new employees for the organization.

Driving the conversation means that you’re actively engaged in discussions about hiring challenges and solutions. This can be both informal and formal discussions.

You want to be a part of meetings and discussions when hiring challenges are brought up. You also want to bring up your own hiring challenges and come up with solutions to them.

Developing a deep understanding of the hiring process

Now that you’ve engaged with stakeholders, demonstrated your value, offered creative solutions, and driven the conversation and led the charge, you want to develop a deep understanding of the hiring process. This can include everything from the priorities of the hiring managers to the types of skills and qualifications they’re looking for in candidates.

It can also include information related to hiring technologies and other tools that are used in the hiring process. By developing a deep understanding of the hiring process, you can be an active participant in the hiring strategy and help choose the best candidates for the job.

You can recommend hiring managers and candidates for jobs, as well as help decide how to approach the hiring process. A great way to develop a deep understanding of the hiring process is to have regular conversations with hiring managers.

This can include meeting with hiring managers and actively listening to what their hiring priorities are and the types of skills they’re looking for. It can also involve monitoring communication channels like chat rooms and other places where hiring managers convene.

Utilizing data and analytics to support your strategies

Once you’ve developed a deep understanding of the hiring process, it’s time to use data and analytics to support your strategies. You want to look for data and trends that can help you support your hiring strategies.

For example, if you want to hire more people from a specific region, you can look at the data to see how many candidates apply for jobs from that region, how many are hired, and how many drop out of the hiring process. This will help you make the case for hiring more people from that region.

You can also use data and analytics to support your hiring strategies around diversity and inclusion efforts. For example, you can look at the data to determine what type of candidates are applying for certain roles and make sure that your hiring process is appealing to them.

You can also use data and analytics to support your strategies when it comes to onboarding new employees. For example, you can look at the data related to onboarding and make sure that your tools and processes are effective and efficient. This will help you feel confident that you’re meeting the needs of new employees and reducing their risk of attrition.

Staying informed on industry trends and developments

Finally, you want to stay informed on industry trends and developments. This can include following hiring and HR professionals on social media, reading industry publications, and attending conferences.

This will help you stay up to date with industry trends and developments, which can help you come up with innovative solutions. Another great source of information is always staying up to date with Sesame‘s blog. Over here you will find all the news about human resources. Stay with us!