Becoming the best recruiter you can be: 7+1 highly effective traits of the modern hiring professional
Recruitment is both a career and a life-changing process for many people. To succeed in this industry, you must be able to balance two unique sets of tasks - both commercial and emotional.
This series of blogs will discuss what it takes to be an effective recruiter. What makes a great recruiter? While success means different things for everyone, here are some qualities shared by the most successful recruiters:
Your ultimate goal as a recruiter is always to offer candidates with the power and influence necessary so that your customer can excel within their organization - ultimately paving the way for them to achieve their desired outcome or sense of success. By utilizing these seven qualities, you'll pave your way toward becoming one (or remaining) an effective recruiter today.
#1 Keep the end goal in mind, always
Whether you are serving a corporate client whose recruiting needs or managing a commercial counterpart, every step along the way should align with your desired outcome: meeting the business objectives of your prospect. From there, even if you need just one post-it note to remind yourself about the objective (as long as it's still on hand), every decision you make going forward must reflect this idea—and when exploring candidates' credentials, ask yourself two things before anything else: Will they offer our customer something unique? And will they fit in with our company culture? If either yes is an easy answer—although it doesn't always seem that way at first!—then all we need to do is move on.
#2 Dig deeper
Even skilled professionals who could really enhance an organizational skill set may turn out not be able to contribute as well because they lack desirable personality traits and qualities - or vice versa.
#3 Get out of the box
Take every opportunity available to leverage creativity and provide flexibility with your applicant pool. A candidate who has previously fulfilled a role in a different company might already possess the skills necessary for filling such position at your establishment, but if some essential qualities seem lacking then take it upon yourself to clarify what those are. Allowing job seekers more opportunities for self-expression can increase the chance of finding exactly the right person for you company and is sure to increase diversity in what's currently deemed an untapped market. Be sure to reach out to candidates who consider themselves passive or unenthusiastic about looking for work by asking them why they're still around and listening attentively when they offer honest answers without judging or accusing - because there could be something holding these workers back from switching careers after all; motivations you didn't know existed before taking time to investigate things further.
Creativity is what makes a job worth applying for. With the demands being too difficult, job seekers often feel discouraged when it comes to looking for other options. The best way to encourage those who are hesitant about change is by enticing them with something new - a new kind of problem solving or skill set that can give their careers the boost they need. Seek out passive candidates because they don't usually respond well to cold calls but tend to answer well if you engage them respectfully and show how your company could offer something better than what's currently available elsewhere in their network. They're also generally harder to talk too because many see themselves in high demand—don't take this personally. Create an authentic personality on social media platforms like Facebook or LinkedIn and try bridging the gap between these two worlds to find your next A-list hire!
#5 Invent the best version of yourself
Improve yourself by researching how to best utilize your existing channels. Start there first before searching for new ones. Do you know what the most effective way is to find recruits? How can you stand out from other recruiters who are also trying to find people? Keep track of the latest trends and changes when it comes to talent acquisition so that you're always up-to-date on what's going on in your industry. Is this the right time to take advantage of those platforms where people post their resumes without realizing they're doing so publicly?
#6 Don't forget the people around you
Maintain regular contact with the community of talent you've built and make sure they don't forget about you - both are crucial to success. Show interest by asking them if they have done anything recently, learned anything new, or found anyone who might be suitable to work at your company in their network? Depending on how much time it takes (10 minutes could lead to lackluster results; an hour means a vast amount more contacts) you decide what works best for you, but there is one thing everyone needs to remember: talk often and build up social credit with your employees/candidates. Not only does it broaden the potential pool for possible hires, but helps ensure that when someone goes looking for something else without telling their current employer, you will be one of their top choices!
#7 Track your results
A daily overview of your results helps to improve your processes. Use analytical tools to help you gain insights into your own recruitment activities and decide what works best for you, from a big-picture perspective and from an individual perspective as well. By managing quality in this way, you subsequently increase your ROI rates.
#8 Be proactive
Set your own goals and daily goals! Make sure not to get stuck in today's problems by taking time for tomorrow's plans too; i.e., anticipate potential concerns before they happen so that you're prepared when they do come about—whether it be during or after business hours or even weeks down the line if necessary.
Becoming a fantastic recruiter takes many qualities including perseverance, strategy and self-motivation to find the perfect candidate for each organization. Tools can make your life much easier too! If you work hard every day at developing these skills, nothing can stop you from achieving success.