Could You Be A Great Recruiter?

Over the years I’ve met many people who think they have what it takes to work in recruitment. I often get asked what key skills I look for when I’m hiring and when it comes to consultants, there are a few necessary traits for laying a good foundation for a successful career in this ever changing and competitive industry.

The top 5 skills I watch out for are:

Confidence

An air of confidence is critical to excel in any sales role, but you have to find the right balance between demonstrating confidence in your service without coming across as arrogant. The key to gaining this confidence is knowledge. Do your research on your sector and stay on top of market trends and analysis. Establish yourself as a thought leader in your sector and you’ll also find that your clients and candidates will have more confidence in you and your ability to meet their expectations too. 

Listen

The consistent billers in my own recruitment firms all have one thing in common… they are really good listeners. We all have two ears and one mouth, and there is a message in that! Not only do you need to ask the right questions, but you need to listen carefully to both your client and candidate’s answers to have the best chance of fulfilling the brief. This is a critical stage in the recruitment process. Having a full picture of your client and candidate’s desires will enable you to meet their expectations more effectively.

Communication Skills

Recruitment is a people business. As a recruiter your interactions with candidates and clients must always be tactful and professional across all platforms; email, face to face and of course on social media too. One false move in this area could ruin your reputation. Most recruiters are sociable and can deal with a variety of different people on a daily basis. Therefore you have to be a good connector and use every opportunity to network and to turn it into business results. Having great relationship building skills with all people involved in the process is therefore crucial, helping to build rapport and trust with clients. Also, candidates are much more likely to refer you to friends and family if you have been professional, personable and reliable throughout the process.

Time Management and Multitasking

Recruiters in a buoyant market will typically be working on a high number of job briefs, with several clients and juggling the process with lots of candidates too. Time management skills and the ability to juggle multiple projects will help you to keep on top of your tasks and get more done. You’ll need to remember the details of various jobs, businesses and candidates you're working with and log your progress to ensure you are offering an effective and efficient service throughout. If you can’t keep up with small details and come across as unorganised, it’s unlikely any contact will trust your ability to handle bigger challenges in the future. 

Thrive under pressure

Recruitment is very competitive and target driven, therefore consultants need to have a strong backbone and be well adapted to handling pressure in order to meet their billings potential. Target orientated businesses, such as recruitment agencies need staff to be driven and hungry for results, but this needs to be balanced with patience and the ability to manage a crisis when things don’t always go to plan. With many agencies offering good basic salaries and performance related bonus structures on billings, the financial rewards for high achievers is often what motivates and drives people to success.

No one is born ready to be a recruiter. Even I wasn’t! Like all professions, if you want to excel; it has to be taught, practised and perfected. Each step in the recruitment process is as important as the next in providing a solid foundation to make it to top biller and beyond. A well trained professional recruiter who embodies these skills can achieve a respectable salary in excess of around ￡100K a year. The 25% of consultants who leave the industry every year, don’t make it because they have not been taught these skills and have not received the best tools and training to master the ‘art of recruitment.’

That’s why I launched Recruitment Guide, the world’s first destination hub for recruiters.

Now is the time to invest in your training and empower yourself with the expertise and shared knowledge from the best recruiters in the world.