In our high-volume home services business, we are constantly recruiting field technicians, but our Operations Director and our HR Manager are constantly arguing over who is accountable for the hiring pipeline. How do we cleanly structure the recruiting and onboarding roles on our Accountability Chart to end this finger-pointing?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

Finger-pointing between departments is a clear sign of overlapping or poorly defined roles on your Accountability Chart. In a high-volume hiring environment, you cannot afford any ambiguity about who owns the talent acquisition pipeline. To resolve this tension, you must separate the process of attracting talent from the decision of hiring talent.

Start by looking at the core roles. The HR or People seat should be accountable for the top of the recruiting funnel. Their roles should include sourcing candidates, conducting initial screenings, managing the applicant tracking system, and administering behavioral assessments like the Predictive Index. They own the metric of qualified candidates delivered to the departments.

However, the Operations Director must own the final hiring decision and the ultimate performance of the team. Therefore, the role of conducting technical interviews, making the final job offer, and running field onboarding belongs in the Operations seat.

By structuring it this way, HR acts as an internal service provider to Operations. If the pipeline is empty, it is an HR issue. If the newly hired technicians are failing to perform in the field, it is an Operations issue because they made the final selection and own the training.

Lay out these boundaries clearly in the roles listed under each seat on your Accountability Chart. Discuss this structure openly in your next Level 10 Meeting to ensure both leaders understand and accept their mutual responsibilities. This clarity will end the arguments and create a seamless recruiting engine.