Conventional Sales Vs Recruitment?

Being in recruitment for 5+ years now, when I first started the role at IAC, I often heard from people “recruitment is easy…recruiters just sell…” having no experience of a recruitment background and being in my role for only a few weeks, I didn’t want to get defensive about my future career. After all, I had no idea what recruitment consisted of day to day, let alone learning about audit and the wider corporate governance market.

Hearing these comments “recruitment is just a sales job” as a buzz-phrase is particularly annoying because it suggests that a salesperson can easily replace a recruiter as if a candidate is just another interchangeable thing to sell. This idea is wrong, and it insults clients, candidates, and recruiters. (Especially, recruiters that are exceptional and very good at what they do!).

Yes, I agree that both sales and recruiting rely on pipelines and funnels and I also agree that both sales and recruiting involve a lot of chasing, calls and pitching. But no, recruiters don’t “sell candidates to companies.” And recruiters don’t just “sell jobs to candidates.” Because neither candidates, nor jobs, are saleable in the same way cars or other objects can be.

Whilst there are no formal qualifications required for the role of a recruitment consultant it is important to have good numeracy and literacy skills. However, in addition to that, I believe there are many traits that are required for someone to be an excellent recruiter.

 Alongside pace and efficiency, a recruitment consultant needs to have outstanding interpersonal skills and high levels of emotional intelligence.

·      How quickly are you able to assess a situation?

·      How quickly are you able to read someone?

·      How good are you at having honest, direct, and professional conversations even though you might not agree with what the other person is saying?

This is something you can’t force someone to have, however in my opinion this is a trait that is one is born with.

As someone who has been in the recruitment industry for the last few years, it is imperative to have a strong work ethic, a desire and a willingness to do well in your role despite constant knockbacks. Yet, also have a growth mindset and enthusiasm to learn new things.

Recruiters must also be able to work in an integral way not just for the clients but the candidates too. The point that I’m trying to make here is that I strongly believe that a successful recruitment career comes from building years’ worth of genuine relationships consistently.

Recruitment isn’t just ‘potluck’ or a ‘walk in the park’. I strive to become an industry specialist; I gather market knowledge, and I exist to solve human capital problems. I also aim to create long-lasting relationships with my clients and candidates, and this can only be achieved by introducing the best matches for vacancies and making placements and maintaining these relationships thereafter.

I always tell the people whom I work with whether they are active or passive on the market that the advice and guidance that I offer today isn’t just for the next 6 months or 2 years of your future career. This is tailored and consultative advice based on how it will help your career for the next 10-15 years.

As a recruiter, we market a unique product where there are no duplicates - an emotional product. A product that can change their mind last minute or simply disappear with no further communication. It is far from the “easy sales job” that I was told it was at the beginning of my recruitment journey.

From a personal perspective, my five years in recruitment have been an absolute whirlwind. The learning curve has been steep, and there has been a fair share of ups, and downs. All in all, it has made me incredibly excited to see what the next five years hold in recruitment for me.

If the thought ‘career change’ is on your mind, and you happen to be in a sales or business development role then hopefully this gives you an insight into my life as a recruiter, and who knows, recruitment might just be your next move.