TA/Recruiting Operations Maturity Curve

Last week, I was chatting with Leah Daniels about the world of RecOps, and we got on the topic of what people should call the space. I didn’t mind if it was RecOps or TA Ops until I read James Colino’s book, and since then, I’ve committed to calling it purely RecOps to keep things focused, only using TA Ops or Recruitment Ops for SEO purposes. Leah, on the other hand, likes to use TA Ops because it makes her think of Tao and the peacefulness that comes with it. This got me thinking… what-if this is part of the maturity model for the space and led to this chart, which plays with alliteration:

Stage 1: You’re in Wreck Ops. You are constructing or deconstructing the entire recruiting backend. You need to build systems, reports, processes, and so much more. Some people love this phase because it is fast, exciting, and gets the heart pumping.

Stage 2: You’re in Rec Cops. Woop-woop - That’s the sound of da police. Thanks KRS-One for the intro. Everything is built, but you need to lay down the law now in order to keep everything running in an orderly fashion. You do this by ensuring everyone is following the rules.

Stage 3: You're in Rahps (for those who call the space ROps). This stage is filled with more ah-ha moments as the function starts to shift from the go-go-go aspects to being more strategic and focused. The projects are bigger as is the seat at the table (even if you never sit at the corporate high table).

Stage 4: You’re in Tao Ops. You have achieved TA/Recruiting Operations Nirvana. The team is well-integrated into the broader corporate teams, properly sourced/focused, and nothing knocks you off your path.

But what are your thoughts?

This topic originally appeared in the Week of January 22nd RecOps Roundup.