What makes a great recruiter?

Written by Ross Parry-Clarke on 26/11/2019

One of our five core messages at Osmii is “Exceptional customer experience” when working with clients and candidates. A recruiter has a vast amount of influence on the success or failure of a placement. Sometimes candidates accept a job based on the trust of their recruiter. So what is it that makes a great one?

Be Credible

The recruitment industry had a credibility issue many years ago. That has changed. More and more recruiters are becoming true consultants. Partnering with the long term goals in mind has removed the “get in, get out” attitude of before.

Be sure to immerse yourself and understand your market (especially tech) have a community aspect to them.  Attending events such as meet-ups have a number of advantages, being able to speak to candidates and clients about things that you’ve learnt there will give you an element of credibility that will improve your relationships.

Listen

Take the time to really understand your candidates needs. Ask them what they love about their job, or hate about it, ask what they want to do more or less of in their next role, and make sure you listen to what they have to say. Make it a conversation, rather than just listing off questions from a script.

When you do this, it’ll help you explain aspects of the role in a way that feels much more relevant to your candidate. Likewise, if you have this conversation and the role isn’t relevant to your candidate, they will still have a positive experience with you and will want to deal with you when you have a role that is more relevant.

Provide Feedback

Good communication is the foundations on which a positive relationship is built. If your candidate didn’t get the job, press your client for detailed feedback as to why they didn’t get the job and then pass it on to your candidate. It’s such a simple part of the job but the most effective when it comes to maintaining relationships and rapport with your candidates.

Doing this will ensure that your candidates have a positive experience when dealing with you and it will be easier to approach them in the future for roles that may be a better fit. When the crux of your job is dealing with people, you need to be empathetic of their situation and part of that is being respectful of their time.

Keep in contact

A top tip: Think ahead and book scheduled calls in your calendar to check in with your candidates before and after interviews and all the necessary check points during the hiring process. If you manage your candidate’s expectations about; when to expect feedback, when you will call/email them to update them about progress of roles, and when you won’t be available to speak and ultimately keep your word with these communications, then 99% of your candidates will be happy.

Empathise

Recruiters have learnt that although the role requires making “sales”, our product is human with emotions, thoughts and feelings attached to their decisions. Your candidates have lots of circumstances to consider when taking a new role. When you place someone in to a job, you’re changing their life. It could potentially have a huge impact on every aspect of their life outside of work. Being empathetic about their needs and thought process whether they are accepting or declining an offer is extremely important. When you stop thinking about the deal and commission (however nice it is), and focus on doing the really rewarding work to make sure the candidate is happy and making the right choice that’s when you start truly being a top recruiter.

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