What to look for in a staff recruiter
We have narrowed down the key skills, talents, and personality and character traits to look for in a staff recruiter. Whether you are looking to be a recruiter, refine your skills as an already practising one or hire a top recruiter and need to know what to look for, you have come to the right place! First, we’ll expound on the skills and expertise needed to be an exceptional staff recruiter. After that we’ll discuss the character, personality and talents that when combined makes for an excellent staff recruiter. If you are not up for the read, we have a printable checklist to make your assessment of potential staff recruiters as easy as pie! It goes without saying that a recruitment agency is only as good as its recruiters.
A specialist in their own field:
Ideally, the trademark of a staff recruiter is that they are a specialist in their own field! Be it education, administration or engineering. The old adage “it takes one to know one” is 100% relevant in the case of recruitment. A staff recruiter with experience at the ground level of a field or industry will have an acute awareness of whether a candidate has the know-how and aptitude for a certain position. This kind of experience is key, but do remember that a solid theoretical background earned from a trusted tertiary education institution acts as a springboard to accelerate the development of expertise.
Effective communication skills:
This is not a simple matter of eloquent speech: a skilled recruiter will know how to effectively send and receive information through various channels of communication like listening, speaking, reading, writing, body language, facial expressions, intonation and so forth. Being clear and gaining clarity is an essential building block in communication.
Because people communicate in a vibrant and multifaceted manner, being able to read between lines by asking questions while setting clients and candidates at ease makes the selection process infinitely more successful.
It goes without saying that listening skills in all its facets are at the core of good communication skills. A recruiter’s goal when listening should be to understand, not respond smartly. In other words, don’t listen in order to give a response, but listen to understand the other person.
People skills:
Staff recruiters will produce meaningful work if they have exceptional people skills. According to ResumeGenius.com people skills differ slightly from interpersonal skills in that the first is the ability to inspire people and spread positivity whereas the second is the ability to communicate effectively and empathise with other people. Inspiring people and spreading positivity is a sure way to attract and maintain clients. Looking for, recognising, identifying and connecting people’s strengths and unique bent to valuable roles in organisations can be an uplifting experience for both jobseekers and clients which can only be crafted by recruiters with rapport building skills, conversation skills, collaborative and team work skills, negotiation skills, and a whole host of other people skills.
The single skill of building rapport and thus creating channels of communication effectively by setting candidates and clients at ease helps a skilled recruiter to glean the necessary information for the recruitment and selection process.
Marketing skills:
When it comes to recruitment skills, marketing skills are a bare essential! Promoting and marketing your services, the skills of your associate job seekers and the positions and opportunities at your client companies are at the core of a recruiter’s work. Networking should come as easily as breathing. Navigating social media platforms should be like navigating your home town. Using the promoting and advertising capabilities of these platforms should be second nature. Recruiters are good at persuading, negotiating and selling!
Multitasking:
Attention to detail is key, because a staff recruiter has multiple projects running at any given time. Staying in tune with and on top of relevant details about candidates, jobs, companies, projects and deadlines will ensure efficient, effective and meaningful work. A recruitment agency is a dynamic organisation and therefore needs dynamic recruiters with an eye for detail and knack for staying on top.
Stay clear of recruiters who conflate multitasking and switch tasking (switching between tasks that are not related to the same outcome!). Multitasking in this regard is the ability to switch between relevant tasks that all have the same outcome. When multitasking like this a single train of thought and outcome is kept in mind.
Here is a simple example of multitasking: “Driving a car involves checking the rearview mirror, watching the odometer, looking at the side mirrors, checking blind spots, oh and watching the road ahead of you through the windshield.” (Gupta, 2016) These tasks are all related in that they have a single outcome: Get to destination safely!
Time management skills:
An exceptional staff recruiter uses their time efficiently to benefit their clients, candidates and recruitment agency. Until recently, time management was two dimensional. Tasks were rated on their urgency and importance. Rory Vaden introduced a third dimension in his transformative TEDx talk about the concept of how to multiply your time. This dimension is called ‘significance’. So if urgency is determined by how soon it will matter, and importance is determined by how much it matters, significance is determined by how long it will matter. When recruiters align candidates with companies and the respective positions they have available, making matches that last goes along way to ensure success allround.
IT skills:
This is one skill that can set apart a good recruiter from a great recruiter. In today’s technology driven world IT solutions keep a recruitment agency at the cutting edge. The better you understand and supply IT solutions the better you can help clients and candidates alike and the bigger the companies you can cater for.
Passionate about people:
Passion for people is the driving force of an exceptional staff recruiter. Capturing the abilities of people and seeing beyond their everyday strengths, while seeking to find the deeper meaning within the respective roles executed by staff is at the heart of this kind of recruiter. They understand and know how to read people and align them with roles and the relevant organisations in such a way that synergy is created in the life of the individual as well as the organisation.
Innovative and forward thinking:
Being forward thinking and solution-focused makes a staff recruiter quick on their feet. They stay on step ahead of a faced paced industry. The application of innovation in approach, practice and strategy will set a recruiter apart in a world where technology, opportunity and norms are constantly shifting.
Attention to detail
Going through resumés and professional profiles on social media while keeping the job specifications, the project details and the values of the relevant organisation in mind is no simple task, but essential for successful recruiting. It’s the little things that count in long term equations. Being one fraction of a degree off course is no big deal in the short term, but down the line it will take you miles from where you want to be.
Goal-orientated:
Setting targets and reaching targets quickly and efficiently is necessary in the fast paced recruitment industry. Candidates and clients alike use multiple sources to fill positions or find jobs. A recruiter that sets clear goals and stays focused will get the job done.
Reliable:
Staff recruiters must produce what they promised to both clients and candidates. Over promising and under producing is sure to wreck any recruitment agency. This is especially difficult in the recruitment industry, but by doing your due diligence, and doing it fast and efficiently, is key to provide maximum reliability in this fast-paced industry.
Confidence:
This kind of confidence in recruitment should be based on experience and competence. It is reassuring for clients and candidates when you convey a steady and strong confidence, even when things don’t go according to plan. Maybe a candidate cancels an hour before an interview. Or you have a no show on the first day of work. Having confidence makes problem solving and thinking on your feet easier.
Final word:
At Business Directive Contract Services, we have experienced recruiters. Our recruiters have access to our cutting edge technology as well as our global pool talent and they are led by an industry leading and award winning management team.
Gupta, K. (2016). You’re Not Multitasking; Why Switch-Tasking Is Ruining Your Productivity — Polar. [online] Polar. Available at: https://polar.me/blog/youre-not-multitasking-switch-tasking-ruining-productivity/ [Accessed 28 Feb. 2018].
