Key Differences Between HR and Recruiter
People tend to use the terms human resources (HR) and recruiter interchangeably, but they have several differences. These are visible from their functions and roles in a company. To clarify, however, we have listed some of the key differences between the two.
HR Creates the Job Role
Whenever there’s a position in the organization, management notifies human resources and receives the job role description from the team leader. In this regard, the recruiter does have a role in creating the job. When there’s a vacancy, HR contacts the recruiter to help fill the position.
The Recruiter Test a Potential Candidate’s Qualifications and HR Allocates Them a Role
The HR department sends the job vacancy information to the recruiter. From they are tasked with creating the potential candidate’s recruitment and interview process. They then test the applicants, their qualifications plus potential and narrow down to people who will make it to the next recruitment stage. At this stage, the only role of the HR department is to hire a recruiter or notify them about the available position.
Recruiters are Usually External or Part-time Employees Only Required When There’s an Available Position
Since organizations are not always hiring, recruiters are not usually required to be working full-time. In most cases, they work part-time or get contracted when there is an opening or vacancy in the organization. This varies from the HR services which are a crucial part of the company’s operations. They are also tasked with hiring the recruiter and providing information about available posts.
Employee Interaction Occurs at Varying Stages
How recruiters and HR interact with employees, and at which stage are primary distinguishing elements. The interaction between an employee and a recruiter starts when they identify an applicant as a potential candidate, until the point they are hired. This means they interact during the interview stage and the hiring process.
On the contrary, the human resources interact with the candidate begins after they are hired by the organization. Although they might be responsible for the final stage of the interview, their main interaction starts during the onboarding process, which then follows throughout their stay in the organization.
The Recruiter Handles the Applicants’ Database and Only Sends the Shortlisted People to HR
More often than not, recruiters have numerous candidates’ applications that they have to sort through even before the recruitment process begins. This can be done manually or automatically, but they have to handle the applicants’ entire database. Depending on the database created by the HR department, the recruiters only have one task to accomplish. That is to pick the best candidate in the industry and from the pool of applications they get. The interviewing process alone is a hectic task and one that the HR department usually leaves to the recruiters.
Human Resources Deals With Appraisals, Promotions, and Employee Growth Within the Company
The role of a recruiter is completed once a candidate has been interviewed and picked to fill the job opening or vacancy in the organization. From here, the Human Resources department takes over. HR is tasked with handling the employees’ training and development, department allocation, team allocation, and appraisals. They are also tasked with conducting induction. Simply put, the human resources department is responsible for the overall wellness of the employee, starting from the moment they are hired to when they quit or are let go by management.
As you can see, there is an array of key differences between the human resources department and recruiters. While some companies use HR services to conduct the interview and hiring process, this is not usually the case, especially for large organizations.