Will the CIO of your company ever pop the question? The Chief Information Officer's (CIO) role is changing, with strategic planning becoming ever more central to the CIO role. (CIO Magazine March 2002) The role of the recruitment manager has changed slowly, lagging behind in the Olympic race for the gold. The CIO resembles a new fangled surrogate head of household. While the Chief Recruiting Officer (CRO) or Chief Talent Officer (CTO), if the position exists at all, lags far behind bearing the weight of the household on his/her shoulders under the HR umbrella.

Problem
Over the years recruiters and talent engineers have worked to build strategic relationships with their business partners. The problem is not many internal units are courting the recruiting heads in the executive meetings. Information technologies related to recruiting are providing needed tools to qualify, measure and report their efforts. However, CIO's have not been known to pop the question, "Let's get hitched?" Today most CIO's are focusing on operations, vendor management, technology selection and procurement. However, most recruitment technology pre-assessment, system selection, vendor management and purchasing decisions are made by recruiting managers without the CIO's involvement. And yet, CIO's are attending executive meetings and building relationships with board members to help shape the company's. CTOs or CROs are brought into such discussions to present figures and reports on past experiences and future talent acquisition goals but do not have a fair say in how the company should plan to run its operations, incorporate technologies or manage human capital.
Facts
Over 30% of major Fortune 500 companies do not have a CRO or CTO serving on the chief executive team for the company. Over 70% of small to mid-sized concerns do not have a CRO or CTO on the executive management team. More than one-third of start-ups or new economy businesses employ a talent agent or human capital management executive. However, more than half of these companies combined employ a CIO or CTO (Chief Technology Officer).
Solutions
In recent years, CIO's recognized a need to take on more responsibilities and take ownership of major projects that affect the business and operations. Business applications, system management, network and bandwidth supply became projects that become priorities to the intelligently shy techie folks in the backroom. "At some large corporations, every division (every department) has a CIO," according to Dell Computer's prior CIO Jerry Gregoire. Recruiting directors and managers are working their way up the food chain but have not surpassed their techie counterparts. Recruiting senior managers can stand to focus on key technologies that will help free their time to take on more operational responsibilities, build executive relationships, align recruiting budgets with IT spending and design a career path that could lead to executive and board level chairs.
Pros
Chief Recruiting Officers (CROs) may be few and far between but some business consultants tend to believe they are not far behind. In July 2001, a speaker at Kennedy Information's e-Recruiting Conference in London stated, "One day we will have a Chief Human Capital Management Officer sitting at the marble table with the CEO, CFO and COO discussing strategic business plans, vision, goals and expectations," said Reg Athwal Senior Partner HCMWorld.com. Yet, recruiting managers are taking advantage of the autonomy today. Most call upon the technology department on an 'as needed' basis.
Cons
In some cultures, marrying well is a family tradition. In business, it is a necessity. Aligning recruiting technology strategies with the CIO's operational strategy can be a challenge. There are pros and there are cons:
Differing Strategies
One size does not fit all. Trying to get two eager change agents to see it one way is a stand alone milestone.
Political Whirlpools
Hidden agendas are hard to find, hence the term "hidden". Some CIO's who want to be CEOs are using the CIO position as a tour or duty inside the business. A majority of CIOs now answer to the CEO, but some of their best relationships are with other executives (CIO Magazine March 2002) Some recruiting executives are not certain of their next steps up or down the ladder in today's economic uncertainty. Most recruiting directors, managers and quasi executives report to the VP of HR, CFO or COO.
Decreasing Budgets
All groups, divisions or departments are feeling the crunch of business's financial strains. Some budgets for 2002-2003 have been sliced, some diced and others minced and minimal resources and capital exist to extend beyond past operational goals. CIOs have to find new ways to recycle bandwidth and recruiters are having to find new ways to recycle their own talents within the company.
Miscommunication
CIOs who are unfamiliar with recruitment processes and technologies may find it cumbersome to involve themselves in application assessment, vendor management and procurement in these areas. Recruiters may find it difficult to communicate their infrastructures' technical requirements, thus causing a communication fizzle that is less than pleasant and/or "helpful".

According to a recent CIO Research (graph) (CIO Magazine March 2002)
Skills most pivotal for a CIO's success
· 70% Communication
· 58% Understanding the Business
· 46% Strategic Planning
· 31% Knowledge of Technology Options
· 19% Negotiation Skills
· 17% Salesmanship
· 10% Technical Proficiency

To most trained corporate recruiters salesmanship and negotiations skills would rank higher on the scale for management success. Could it be that CTO's are from Venus and CIO's are from Mars?

In a recent study in CIO Magazine by Research Editor, Lorraine Cosgrove Ware (March 2002) a CIO's top spending priorities included:
· 36% Integrating Systems and Processes
· 26% Implementing New Technologies
· 25% Staff Retention/Hiring/Training (internal IT departmental spending)

Implementing Security and Privacy Measures, User Training/Education, Knowledge Management and Automating Supply Chain Management were all listed on the list if IT spending priorities but Implementing Recruiting Technologies was not listed at all.

Change is inevitable, businesses change, reorganization happens, customers' needs change, roles change. CIO's roles are changing and corporate recruiting roles will demand more meaningful executive representation in the near future. Let the dating begin!

Related Resources
www.hcmworld.com
www.cio.com/state for the results of "Top IT Decisions for 2001"
www.recruitingroundtable.com