Being a professional recruiter means continually improving the necessary skills to remain relevant to your organization and deliver talent. It’s that straightforward. My contention is there are four core skills recruiters must continue to hone, improve and practice – the 4’s: Sales, Sourcing, Service and Selection.
Regardless of what impact AI may – or may not have on our industry – these are the four skills that organizations will continue to expect from their recruiters. This is the DNA of being a professional recruiter.
Let’s talk a bit more about each of the 4 S’s.
SALES. Recruiting is sales. There’s no surprise or meaningful insight in that statement. But it’s how you see yourself as a sales’ person that matters. My experience has shown that recruiters tend to “wing it” because they are affable and can make conversation easily. This is a mistake. Most recruiters aren’t as natural as they think – and if you don’t believe me, record your candidate conversations. I have and here’s what I’ve found:
- Recruiters talk. And talk a lot. Often, they’ll start a candidate conversation with a 3-to-5-minute monologue even before the candidate says the first word.
- They don’t practice basic sales skills. When a candidate presents an objection, they simply discount the feedback and try to provide an alternative perspective. What they fail to do is validate the concern. For example, a candidate may push back on compensation and the recruiter immediately says “yes, but you fail to consider the bonus plan.” Instead, make sure to validate the concern prior to providing a resolution to their objection.
- They don’t ask for referrals. Not sure if there’s a lot more to say, but I’m amazed at how many times recruiters don’t ask for referrals to other candidates.
- They don’t understand what truly separates their organization. Recruiters should really study the industry and the landscape of opportunities from a candidates’ perspective. A lot is missed when making assumptions about your competitors.
SOURCING. Recruiters are on the hunt for talent. The tools and techniques may change regularly, but the ability to identify a target list of candidates, get accurate contact information, and engage meaningfully is a skill that won’t go away. Make sure to master whatever tools are at your disposal and spend time figuring out how to scale. Automate those tasks that make sense but focus on the outcome not the volume.
SERVICE. Recruiters are in support and service to a lot of audiences: hiring managers, operations, their recruiting leader, candidates, and industry / trade associations. This may seem burdensome, but it’s an opportunity. Over time, your interactions with people will add up and your reputation – and brand – will grow. If done well this is what can really set you apart professionally. That only works if you are consistent. Recruiters tend to live on the razor’s edge of emotion that goes along with wins and losses, hires and rejected offers. Really good recruiters don’t let that drag them down. They come to every conversation with a positive, calm demeanor – one that others enjoy working with.
SELECTION. At the end of the day making quality hires is all your organization cares about. Often recruiters are simply relegated to the front end of the hiring process, but professional recruiters become key influencers in the hiring decision. Recruiters should have the depth of relationships with their hiring managers to move beyond simply managing the hiring process to helping guide their leaders to the right hiring decision. This is often done with targeted questioning to understand why they believe a candidate is the right selection. In this way, a recruiter serves as an arbiter for the right outcome.
None of these 4 skills are mastered without intentional time dedicated to practice. For example, I’ve developed flashcards with the most common 25 objection/ resolutions that candidates may present to make sure I’m always prepared with the right answer to candidate concerns. Practice isn’t always fun but it’s the work that makes the fun possible.