5 Things Recruiters Struggle With: Objections, Cold Calling, Work Ethic, Impulse and Organization.

The recruiting industry has many faces; whether you are working on temporary contract hires, temp to hire orders, permanent placements, corporate recruiting or headhunting, there will be mountains to climb. Each network of professionals has its own rules and regulations. No matter the challenge, at the end of the day, I know this to be true: Recruiting is sales. Industry is product. Recruiters are the magic makers.

If I had to give one piece of advice to someone starting out in their recruiting career, it would be to listen. Listen to the advice of people who have a proven record of success, listen to your candidate when they raise a concern, and listen to your client when they tell you what they want. Ultimately, the most valuable piece of advice I could give a struggling recruiter would be to listen to your gut.

As a recruiter, it is your job to dig. Every day we dig through the irrelevant to find the relevant; we dig through a sea of candidates, through someone’s background, through the client’s background, through lightly veiled concerns and through objections. Once we have all the information we need, we then have to stop digging and start deciphering, formulating, and planning. 

While recruiting is a far cry away from match making, the formula is the same. Identify a client need, source a client solution (an employee), set up the interview, and hope they like each other. In the business of recruiting, we work with the most unreliable variable – people. While there is never a “sure thing” in recruiting, there are absolutely ways to increase your odds. I have found when training new recruiters or training an agency recruiter how to head hunt, there are 5 key areas that almost always need attention. In my experience, recruiters struggle with: 1.) Objections, 2.) Cold Calling, 3.) Work Ethic, 4.) Impulse and 5.) Organization.

Overcoming Objections (while cold calling)

Objection: “I’m not interested.” How many times have we in the recruiting community heard this before? A polished and confident recruiter should be able to overturn, at a minimum, 3 objections. A recruiter with decades of experience should be able to overturn 5+ objections. When coaching recruiters, the sales side of the recruitment is often overlooked. Basic sales principles such as “Fear of Loss” and “Sense of Urgency” are critical to the first 60 seconds of a candidate call. We all know how to build rapport, otherwise we are in the wrong industry, but a good recruiter goes beyond a pleasant conversation, and knows how to validate an objection, address the issue and move forward. For example, “I understand how you feel, I spoke with a candidate who initially felt the same way, yet after taking 5 minutes to learn about the job specs, they were open to being considered for the new role in question.” The reality is – how can someone be not interested in a role they know nothing about? Moreover, while someone may be comfortable where they are currently employed, being “happy” with your current employer is open to interpretation. The goal is to find the real objection, and in order to do this you must get through the “brush off”. Even the most naturally talented recruiters should spend time practicing to overcome objections.

While training your recruiters to overturn objections is a building block for success, temperament is also a contributing factor. The ability for a recruiter to have and maintain a positive attitude, in conjunction with an ability to work through a “no” is what will make the difference between a pushy, aggressive recruiter and a diplomatic, consultative recruiter. A harsh word or tone, or hints of condescension in a rebuttal will counteract any objections training.

The lines between overturning an objection and misrepresentation should not be blurred. There is constant pressure in recruiting to perform. Stress and frustration lend their hand in “fitting a square peg into a round hole.” In addition to being trained on how to overcome objections, we rely on recruiters to differentiate between what is and is not a “red flag” from a candidate. Here is an important area where listening takes place – once a recruiter has moved past the initial, irrelevant objections they should be able to switch gears and listen. It is best to have integrity, present the facts, and listen. If you have to endure an awkward pause, do so. Do not fill the silence and “oversell”, or take control in order to move past the issue. The goal is to talk through the concern and hopefully, resolve it with honesty. While temptation can rear its head in avoiding less than desirables in a job order, these things will always come out. By having integrity, you take a risk of the candidate rejecting the opportunity; however, you are saving yourself in the long run.

 As recruiters, our time is valuable. Taking the time to harness your craft by being confident in your ability to overturn objections, decipher between a true concern and a superficial concern, having and maintaining a positive attitude and being mindful of your moral compass are simple tools to help increase candidate penetration and placements. Recognize that objections are part of the process. Objections move a recruiter from the beginning to the end of the recruiting/ sales funnel.

While handling objections is key in the recruitment process, one of the first inputs in your funnel should be cold calling. Effective cold calling can be the difference between making 1 placement per month from a recruiter making 3+ placements per month. There is an art to lead generation, bypassing a gatekeeper, and protecting confidentiality. While recruitment has become a mediator between an employer and job boards, the most desired candidates are not posting their resumes and typically, are still employed. Identifying qualified candidates based on their current employer will not provide emails and/or phone numbers. In this instance, a simple google search of the main line for their company is all you need. When addressing the receptionist or “gate keeper”, rely on the adage “KISS IT”: Keep It Short & Simple. It is always best to be cordial, friendly and humble. Going back to the theory on objections, do not fill the dead silence. Acting “as if” will convey your confidence and the gatekeeper will do what they have been trained to do, and forward the call.

Once your call has been forwarded one of two things can happen: 1.) The candidate answers the phone and 2.) You get sent to the candidate’s voicemail. If the candidate picks up the phone, RESIST THE URGE TO BULLET PITCH. The candidate should view you as a parallel to a career coach. Recruiters should be consultants, not sheep herders. We as an industry need to move away from the mentality that the candidate is what the client wants and move toward a candidate-centered approach where opportunities are viewed as something the candidate wants.

Keeping in line with a candidate-centric methodology, you must respect the candidate’s privacy. Establish the expectation that there is in NO WAY that speaking with you will put their livelihood at risk. For this reason, DO NOT send emails to a work email. DO NOT leave detailed voice messages at someone’s place of work. DO NOT tell the gatekeeper you are a recruiter or calling from a company name that IMPLIES that you are a recruiter. Always, confirm preferred methods of communication and ASK PERMISSION. If you build your candidate up and give them “power” in the process then they will meet you with the same consideration and professionalism that you provide them.

 It is common knowledge that, despite our best sourcing efforts, recruiting is a numbers game. The skill set of a recruiter determines their personal law of averages. When the skillset is well harnessed, the amount of input at the top of the recruiting funnel needed to reach a placement is smaller. When the skillset needs improvement, that means the quantity of candidates (sourced, contacted, re-contacted, connected with, vetted, submitted, interviewed, second interviewed, offer made, offer accepted) needed to yield the same placement is larger. The most talented recruiters know that the more people you speak with, the more likely you are to find a fit. Mastering the art of cold calling will expand your candidate pool, penetration, and reduce your law of average.

Work Ethic

I frequently refer to the saying, “Work ethic beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard.” When working on a search, sending one simple email or leaving one voicemail will not get the job done. It is critical that the recruiter reach out, then reach out, and reach out again. The chance that you are the only recruiter working to find a specific candidate is extremely low. Your best advantage comes from believing that the other recruiters will give up before you do. This is foundational to the work ethic of a good recruiter. Resiliency in the recruiting industry will set you apart. In the same breath, creativity falls under work ethic. It is time consuming to reach out to multiple phone numbers and multiple emails but a good recruiter will google and search and dig until they find a way to get connected with a candidate.

Work ethic is an intangible quality that is an absolute must for anyone who is attempting to work from home. If you are a recruiter working from home in your pajamas, on your couch, with the TV on, you are at the very least distracted (which is reducing your production) and at the very most, at about 50% effort across the board. As someone who has worked from home for years, take heed: If you have an office, work in your office! If you have a desk, work from your desk! If not, pick a room in the center of the house with natural light and a table and work from there. Atmosphere will influence performance. On the same note, structure is important as well. Just like working from an office, you get 60 minutes per day for other tasks. If you change the laundry over, subtract 5 minutes from your allotment, and so on. Work ethic is something that cannot be taught but will make a large impact on recruitment success.

Attraction and Impulse

Impulse is how we as recruiters attract clients and talent. You want to build impulse over the phone, over an email, over a message. There is an impulse curve when it comes to sales and recruitment. The “close” should be dropped at the height of impulse. This curve comes back to some of the best practices previously mentioned: do not bullet pitch, have a consultant mentality and keep your conversation candidate-centric. The curve is also influenced by sales systems such as “sense of urgency”. You not only have to build the impulse from the second your conversation starts but you have to command attention to get you through the curve. Repeating simple phrases like “real quick” throughout your conversation will help you get through the end of your call.

Building impulse is also comprised of building credibility in yourself. The best way to build credibility is to make sure you are contacting potential candidates who might actually be interested in the role; cattle calls to anyone who has a “key search term” in their resume are not going to work. The best way to avoid reaching out to the wrong person, to increase your chances of successfully building impulse is: to fully understand the role that you are trying to fill, to effectively communicate the client needs, and understand the industry enough to screen resumes effectively. Being able to understand where you are in the impulse curve and what adjustments you can make to influence the curve will help increase placements.

Staying Organized

Finally, recruiters struggle with organization when they are first starting out. In this day and age, almost everyone has an ATS system. As a manager, we have all had the struggle of urging recruiters to take the time to fully utilize the tools they have, whether it be imputing call notes or updating activity in general. In order to be successful, you must be able to switch gears quickly during a call and recall details about your candidates on the drop of a dime. Organization will help you have flawless transitions without risking your impulse dying.

On a broader scale, organization can help with your time management. Every day you should be able to prioritize by three categories: 1.) Things that have to get done today, 2.) Things I would like to get done today, and 3.) Things that can wait until tomorrow. Once you have identified your daily goals, you can then plan the day. Source when appropriate, call out when appropriate, and format resumes when appropriate – find a rhythm that allows you to take advantage of every minute in your day. If you have leisure time to surf the net, you have prioritized incorrectly.

The make-up of a great recruiter is comprised of sales systems, organization and the intangibles. I believe that anyone can be taught the basic recruitment methods, but the best recruiters are independent, self- motivated, positive people. Anyone can recite a pitch, anyone can learn to use an ATS, anyone can make a phone call-- the best recruiters are charming and intelligent. Taking natural talents and harnessing them into bullet-proof skill sets will increase revenue. A smart and upbeat individual who practices healthy habits when handling objections, cold calling, putting forth solid work ethic, building impulse and staying organized will be an asset to any team.

Written By: Colleen Kuh