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Recruiters, Get it Together!

| August 3, 2017 12:32 pm

I enjoy the common question, “What do you do for a living?”  There is nothing I like telling people more than, “I recruit recruiters.”  The faces, looks and comments are great.  But while recruiting recruiters, you would be amazed how many recruiters don’t do the little things that they ask their potential employees to do every day.  Here is my list of things as a recruiter should be common sense, but I am learning common sense isn’t so common.

  1. Make sure you say what type of jobs you recruit for. You would be surprised how many recruiters just use general industry terms.  WHAT INDUSTRIES AND SKILL SETS DO YOU RECRUIT FOR?
  2. Your LinkedIn profile should match your resume. If it doesn’t, you look like your lying or not detailed oriented which is important in recruiting.
  3. Follow up is important. As a recruiter, following up with candidates and hiring managers in a timely manner is important.  If you can’t follow up in a timely manner and your communication is lacking, how will you do it when working for my clients?
  4. Don’t say, “I can recruit anything, it is all the same.” Although I do believe a good recruiter can recruit in different industries it will take some ramp up time to learn the lingo and where to find the right people.  Most managers I work with like specific industry experience.
  5. Keep on script when you interview, and don’t go of topic unless the interviewer leads you that way. Even then, tread lightly since you don’t really know the interviewer and you never know if they will agree with you or not.
  6. Don’t just answer questions in an interview with a simple response. Give examples and elaborate on how you solved the problem or a success story that relates to the question.  You recruit everyday so it shouldn’t be hard for you to explain what you do to be successful.
  7. Understand your metrics and be able to recite them. Even if your current company doesn’t keep metrics, you should know as a recruiter, how many requirements you normally work on at one time, weekly submittals and starts per month.
  8. Understand that each company is different with metrics and some companies are higher volume and some are lower volume. Be able to explain your environment so that we are not judging you based on our environments.
  9. Don’t just say, “I love to hunt and I normally am tasked with finding the most ‘difficult to find candidates’”. Tell me why and how you locate your candidates.  Give examples.
  10. If you’re a Sr. recruiter, understand what you like about a company’s culture and environment so you can go to a company that you can be successful at. Companies are not all the same and lots of recruiters are not successful due to a company’s culture or environment.

While I am recruiting recruiters, if the above details are not obvious or portrayed to me, “red flags” go up and I will most likely not move forward with submitting you as a candidate.  These are common sense things that all recruiters should know but, from where I sit, are not so common.

John Motley is the Director of Professional Services of NSS RPO, a consulting firm that provides on-site and virtual recruiting professionals. Contact NSS RPO to learn about how we can help your organization meet and exceed it’s hiring goals.