Searching for a Job? Why You Should Use a Recruiter
So you’ve never used a recruiter before and you have some doubts about the benefits? Take a moment to browse through the below article from a leader in our industry about how a Recruiter works and what they can add to your job search.
The Very Modern Recruiter: 5 Essential Skills for Success
by Kevin Wheeler, Founder and President, Global Learning Resources Inc.
What does a modern recruiter need to be good at? Are the traditional skills of cold calling, screening resumes, conducting interviews and closing candidates enough, or does today’s recruiter need a different skill set?
After discussing this with recruiters, candidates and recruiting managers I believe that these traditional skills are changing and morphing into the five skills below.
Skill #1: Recruiters build relationships
Most important and on top of the pyramid of skills is the ability to find great people and build relationships with them. This is what all great recruiters do. Recruiters within organizations need to get out of the organization and get to know people at all levels and professions that might be useful to their firm. They need to utilize technology to help create the initial relationship, and then they need to leverage that by talking on the phone, sending frequent emails, having breakfast or lunch with possible candidates and by always asking one candidate to recommend a few more.
Skill #2: Recruiters know the market
The competent recruiter is able to tell the hiring manager what the employment market looks like, what the supply of talent for a particular job is likely to be in her area and how difficult it will be to find and close on candidates. This knowledge has to be data-driven and can only be collected by vast reading, lots of discussion, the intelligent use of surveys and other data tools.
They also know the direction the market is moving for their client or organization. Are competitors laying people off? Is the market growing, shrinking, flat? This kind of information, combined with the ability to build relationships, can make an ineffective recruiting function very powerful.
Skill #3: Recruiters understand technology
Technology already dominates recruiting. Applicant tracking systems, HRIS systems, email, job boards, blogs, social networks, and recruiting web sites are all part of the technology equation. If the recruiter is not technically agile and informed, she cannot be successful in the long run. Great recruiters dominate the technology and learn how to make it do what they want.
Skill #4: Recruiters prove their value
Competent recruiters use metrics to put together business arguments for programs they initiate or for the systems they buy. They use facts, numbers and results to get what they want. They have a core set of metrics that show how they add value, raise quality, improve profits, or save money.
Skill #5: Recruiters sell and close candidates
In the end, a recruiter is as good as the number of candidates that she can close. To do this, she needs to be good at selling candidates and hiring managers. She needs to know how to overcome objections and turn negatives into positives. She needs to offer solutions, work out compromises, and in the end- make the hire happen.
