10 Traits of a Successful Recruiter

The Recruiter Files

As continous change goes on recruiters need to be flexible and adapt to the real world in dealing with candidates and clients.

There are certain traits I think every Recruiter needs to have, to be successful.    Here they are, in no particular order:

1. Be structured.   Recruiting is a few simple disciplines practiced every day.
2. Be able to adapt.   You must me able to drop what you are doing to start something else.   You never know where that next phone call is going to take you.   This is the people business, we deal with people all day long.   Even though each situation or scenario is the same – it is also different.
3. Don’t be afraid to ask questions.   You don’t know everything.   Ask the candidate and company – they are the experts.   Keep learning and become the expert in the industry.
4. Partner with the Candidate.   You are in this together.   Be the expert, be the advisor and counselor.   Make sure they have a good candidate experience.   They are going to get a job and if it is not yours then make sure they remember you and refer others to you.
5. Pick-up the phone.   Too many newer recruiters are relying on technology and email.    Just pick up the phone and talk to people.
6. Use new technology with old techniques.   You should be using social media to recruit and source.   You should be using and know boolean strings.   But you should also be networking, asking for referrals and again pick up the phone and make some cold calls.
7. Prioritize.    What is the most important task for you to do today?    Is it sourcing new candidates?   Interview prep?  Each day is going to be different regarding which tasks are most important.
8. Have a good home support system.   Recruiting is NOT an 8-5 job.   If that is what you want then choose another profession.  
9. Embrace patience.   Everything doesn’t happen overnight.   My sense of urgency is not the same as others.
10. Handle rejection.    You will hear “NO” more often than “YES”.   Get used to it.  

By Bruce Rowles.

Change management and the power of small wins

When you have a daunting mountain to climb, it is often best to break it into molehills. Large change management problems are best broken down into smaller ones with concrete achievable goals. Otherwise it can be so overwhelming that solutions seem unattainable – therefore, people often avoid tackling them or come up with single, grand programs that fail.
Breaking such problems down into a series of more modest steps, all on the path to the ultimate goal, reduces fear, clarifies direction, and increases the probability of early successful outcomes – boosting support for further action.
It is critical for teams and individuals working on complex problems to achieve small wins regularly. Because setbacks are so common in truly important problems, people become disheartened unless they can point to some meaningful advance most days, even if that advance is seemingly minor, and even if it involves nothing more than extracting insights from the day’s failures.
This strategy propels long-term goal achievement. In his book, “Good Boss, Bad Boss”, Stanford University professor Bob Sutton argues that “big, hairy, audacious, goals” are not only daunting, but they are usually too obvious and too broad to provide useful guidance for day-to-day work. Similarly, author Peter Sims emphasizes the importance of incremental goal-setting in “Little Bets”.
One last remark: If you want something to grow, don’t forget to pour champagne on it.
Posted in: Business Improvement | Tags: Business Improvement, Change Management, Culture Change, Employee Engagement, Performance Management | By: Torben Rick| May 16, 2011