5 Skills Great Recruiters Possess
A recruiter’s role is probably the hardest to fill in an organization.
To satisfy staffing needs, most organizations outsource to temp agencies. Very good recruiters are hard to find, and the truly outstanding ones are fewer still. You’ll want to employ a recruiter with excellent skills. If you’re in search of a top-notch recruiter for your organization, here are five things to look out for.
Knows How to Build Relationships
Experienced recruiters understand that people will stick around if they’re treated well. And they are masters in the art of treating people well. Great recruiters understand the value of this skill, and they’re good at it. With this knowledge, they build positive professional relationships with candidates, especially rejected candidates. They are attentive to little details in conversations, which they use artfully to build a good rapport with candidates. With this, they can highlight candidates’ strengths, and may even suggest other suitable jobs. This also keeps them in touch for future openings.
Proactive
Great recruiters take the initiative and are foresighted. They collaborate with managers to forecast hiring needs even before there is a job opening announcement. Effective recruiting requires that a recruiter has a talent search solution, a skill that great recruiters possess. They have an eye for talent and know where to meet, and how to look for experienced candidates. Never one to shy away from adventure, they build on the benefits from social media and HR events to stay in touch with recruiting trends. And they do all these intending to bring growth and development to the company.
Works Well With Hiring Managers
During the process of recruiting, a disagreement might arise with hiring managers. For hiring managers, candidates’ experience is the single most important factor. Effective recruiters have the precognition to anticipate such situations, and they find solutions to assuage this conflict of interest. They understand hiring managers don’t have the time or knowledge to understand the hiring process. From a wealth of experience, good recruiters can highlight unfavorable personality traits in candidates hiring managers will not spot. Good recruiters try to understand how each manager thinks and find ways to balance their needs.
Non-Discriminatory
Recruiters that stand out are objective, are open to new ideas and appreciate the value of diversity over the typical requirement. Effective recruiters don’t judge a book by its cover. As professionals, they’re trained to identify their own bias and put it in check. Also, they look beyond what’s on a candidate’s resume. For an experienced recruiter, it is about whether what is on paper is replicable on the job. Good recruiters read between the lines and find proof that candidates’ skills match their job requirements. And they rely on a cache of operational and behavioral interview questions to identify qualified candidates.
Emotional Intelligence
Recruiters stand to serve the needs of two masters; they look out for candidates’ interests and that of the organization. For effectiveness, great recruiters understand these conflicting needs, and they find a balance that works. They empathize with both opposing entities so they can understand their needs. With in-depth research into job requirements, they can relate to the preferences of the hiring manager. They also identify what’s meaningful to candidates and see how they can be met within the organization.
