Recruiters: Get Personal!

Get personal.

No, I am not talking about taking things personal, I am talking about making your communication with others more personal.

The days of mass email, mass text, and generic job postings are long gone.? If you want to compete in today’s battle for talent, you need to connect with those you are reaching out to on a more personal level.? They need to know and feel that when you communicate with them, you are communicating with…them.

How do you accomplish this?? It’s relatively easy, really.

When reaching out to a prospective candidate, try doing some of the following simple yet effective things:

?·?????? Address THEM by name

·?????? Highlight something specific to THEM that prompted you to reach out

·?????? Share insights about an opportunity that you feel would be of interest to THEM (and why you feel so)

?

Notice the common theme:? THEM

Also, try removing words like “fit” and “match” from your vocabulary.? These are mechanical and very impersonal words.? Is a candidate a good ‘fit’ for your position or is your position an excellent opportunity that could benefit their career?? Does a candidate’s skill set ‘match’ what you are looking for or does the opportunity you are representing fall in line with what is important to them??

How you phrase things can make all the difference and it can change the tone of your communication from an impersonal, self-serving one to one that is focused solely on the person you are addressing.

Everything we do as recruiters should be done for the benefit of others we are communicating with.? Thus, any communication we have should be received with the perception that it is about THEM (‘them’ being whomever we are communicating with).

Because, in recruiting, it is not about us.? It’s about THEM.

John Ruffini is the Vice President of Professional Development for HealthTrust Workforce Solutions in Sunrise, Florida.?He is a 30-year recruiting veteran, trainer, and motivator and is the author of the Amazon Best Sellers “Money Makers:?Proven Ways to Increase Sales and Productivity in the World of Professional Recruiting” ? and “A Quest for Alex.”