I’m often asked what makes a successful recruiter.
This differs a lot depending on the sector but there are several key traits and characteristics that I feel make a successful modern day recruiter. Let’s take a look at some of them.
Strategic thinking
Gone are the days of recruitment just being a ‘numbers’ game’. It’s no longer about how many calls you can make in a day to get closer to a client saying ‘yes’. Instead you need to be able to research and map out your market and create a list of target clients based on company size, previous use of agencies, hires per year, company reputation and more.
Consultative and committed
In my opinion, these two qualities are essential for your long-term success as a recruiter and work hand in hand yet ‘consulting’ in the purest sense of the term is not always included in a recruiter’s day-to-day work. Understanding the needs of your candidates and clients is imperative to building long and beneficial relationships. If you show a genuine interest in their needs throughout the entire process, and if you’re committed to working with the best companies and clients, you’ll find it much easier to recruit for them and will be the very best at what you do.
Time Management
For want of a better phrase it’s important to realise that ‘time is money’. I don’t like to live by clichés but this one rings true in recruitment. You see it so often when new consultants are working 12 hour days and barely hitting their KPIs. This is usually down to lack of structure in your day or poor organisation. Rather than working longer, you need to find a way of working smarter. By trying different day plans you’ll soon find an efficient way of approaching your tasks and as a result you’ll free up a lot of time that you can spend to increase your business outcome.
You can learn a lot from consultants in your office or sector, but be aware that everyone works differently, so make sure you assess whether their approach will be effective for your needs.
Self-Analysis
You can’t always rely on your managers or colleagues to highlight areas of improvement for you. It’s important that you look back at your own work and analyse your strengths, weaknesses and successes. By doing this you will always look to better yourself.
It’s possible to improve from even your biggest achievements.
Candidate Acquisition Trends
Sourcing candidates is becoming more diverse by the day. You need to be able to stay on top of these trends to maximise your business and ensure you don’t falter if your failsafe way of sourcing candidates suddenly dries up. With Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn social media is quickly increasing its share of the acquisition market and it doesn’t look like slowing down. Make sure you keep up to date with the market as this time next year there may well be another new trend making waves. You also need to be using multiple avenues for your acquisition so that you’re never relying on a single source for your success.
Consistency
This is a characteristic that almost all top recruitment consultants possess and it’s very simple to achieve. Basically, if you call a client or candidate and arrange to call them back in a week, then call them back in a week. If you tell someone that you will go back to them with more information tomorrow, then go back to them with more information tomorrow. Clients and candidates have so many recruitment consultants to choose from that you need to give them no reason to not work with you. If you do exactly as you say and call exactly when you arrange to call then that builds trust in you and what you’re saying. Don’t underestimate the credibility and value this can add to your service.
These tips have been put together by Phillip Carpenter who is part of our Internal Recruitment Team in the UK. If you’re interested in browsing our current job opportunities in the UK, click here.