Simon M
Creating Perfect Matches Between People and Organizations [simon.meth@sdcorprecruiter.com] [TopLinked.com][LION]
What makes a great corporate recruiter?
I’m wondering exactly what traits, personality, skills, and experiences would make a great corporate recruiter. Some of the key things that come to mind are customer service mentality, excellent organizational skills, great at working with people, exceptional at assessing people, smart, strong administrative skills, hard and smart worker, inquisitive, perceptive, business oriented, more extraverted than introverted, and technically savvy. Any other ideas?
Clarification added 4 months ago:
Sure do appreciate all the great responses so far! My interest in asking this question is in "corporate" recruiters and not in third party recruiters of all types. I didn't bother to list the obvious things such as ability understand the requisition, sourcing skills, & closing but they all belong on the list. My plan is to distill a "Top 10" from all the responses. Let's give it a while...
Clarification added 4 months ago:
I blogged about your answers here: http://community.ere.net/blogs/sittingxlegged/2009/06/what-makes-a-great-corporate-recruiter/
I had planned to do a "Top Ten" but there were so many great answers!
Answers (38)
Robert B
Business Development
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Loves to talk, can't mind own business, good sense of empathy, persuasive.
Clarification added 4 months ago:
And I mean that second one in a "good" way. Sometimes it's your business not to mind your own business.
Shankar B
Writer, Artist, Thinker, Musician, & Oddball Innovator
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Simon,
Whereas things used to be different in this regard earlier on, I do think that it is useful to be a bit impersonal and lacking in sympathy when recruiting at the operations level these days.
The *best" recruiters that I know of serving sectors that hire lots of people to (e.g.) sit at computers, usually process candidates almost entirely as pure dry data.
O well.
Keep well ~ Shankar
Syed J
Senior Vice President at Gilbert Tweed Associates (+91-9810950666 / syed@gtaglobal.com)
Person should have ability to
1. Understand Business
2. Understand skills & Competency required to do job
3. Ability to put oneself in the chair of the position whom the position reports to and look at the prospective candidate/s from his eyes
4. Always hire for future and scalability and not to just plug the contingent requirement of the asisgnment.
I think the most important skills are: relationship building and understanding of the business requirements.
What one finds lacking in most people are the relationship building skills--they want to build relations with people they need to hire today but not with people who are not a fitment in the short term. The best recruiters I have known are people whose candidates come back to them each time they need a job whether it is for a direct placement or asking for expertise and reference. So relationship building and understanding of business requirements are key skills--the rest can all be built.
Cheers
Akanksha
One have to make things simple. Looking for people who are looking for a JOB.I mean to say who can join within short days.Hiring technically good but are exploited in the market due to various reasons, means there salary bracket either the smae or bit less compared to there Exp: Looking for someone whose Organization stands on the lower side compared to the one u are hiring for.Last but not the least making everything clear before hiring someone and most importantly maintaining a friendly relationship means need to be much professional during the conversation......so that u can develop a TRUST that will substaintially decrease the rate of Dropout Candidates..
Robert J
Program Manager | Sr. IT Specialist | IT Architect
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I'm a bit taken back here.
We have one response saying the best recruiters should be impersonal and sit behind a desk. Others say the best should essentially be socially adroit, others indicating the need for a good corporate recruiter to network.
All seem to focus on essentially getting the largest numbers of people recruited as quickly as possible.
Here's something that I think should be focused on heavilly. A great corporate recruiter needs to know what it is they are recuriting for - and locate the people with the best skills, at the best rates, for the job.
I get 5-10 offers a week from recruiters and I know for a fact they have not read my resume to even see if I am a fit for the position. Some software or search tool dropped me into their queue and that's all they need or want to know apparently.
There seems to be very little belief that knowing the job you're recruiting for is all that necessary. Which is something that I would consider the very bottom level of what is acceptable for customer service for such a position.
Mohan S
Vice President at Cucumber Consultants, Recruitment Firm at Hyderabad, India
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Recruiting is one of the few jobs that offers great scope for learning, practising, improvising and contributing-all at the same time.
A person who wants to be a recruiter has to possess certain qualities:
In general, a Recruiter needs to possess:
Good Listening Skills
Excellent Conversation skills
PC skills
Good surfing skills
Hunger for Information. Ability to extract information
Ability to understand, comprehend and take responsibility
Flexibility - Ability to change course
Ability to multi-task
A SUCCESSFUL Recruiter:
- Has the Right ATTITUDE
- Builds Long-term relationships with Clients/Candidates
- Must Empathise, not sympathise
- Is always looking to Learn/Unlearn
- Checks, cross-checks, double-checks
- Doesn’t take short-cuts
- Needs to take care of client and Candidate interests equally
- Understands the client company-its culture, values, ethics, style of work
- Offers solutions, not quick-fixes
------------------
Mohan
Links:
As a recruiter myself I always find out what is the most important thing a client is looking for in the candidate - I don't want to waste my time sending over 15-20 CVs in the hope that 3 will be good enough, I'd rather send a max of 5 knowing that all 5 will be good enough to be hired (giving the client a headache in that respect can't do as much harm as giving the client a headache by making them trawl through 20 CVs!).
It's pretty simple in my eyes - match the candidate to the client; too many recruiters see a few key words on someone's profile and then send the CV over and too many also neglect to listen to the client when taking down the job spec thus lengthening the recruitment process. It's really about listening to both parties as then all parties will know the situation and nobody is left in the dark.
And there's nothing wrong with asking lots of questions to fully understand every person's perspective and stance on the situation - so personally being more extroverted and strong interpersonal skills are always going to be beneficial.
Hope this helps!
Best regards,
Will
A great Corporate Recruiter (this is not a recruiter working for an agency) creates business value. This is the core an is most important.
The Corporate Recruiter searches and selects the best new employees to strenghten the group where he/she is going to work, to help achieve the targets of the hiring manager and in the long run will help the company.
"I get 5-10 offers a week from recruiters and I know for a fact they have not read my resume to even see if I am a fit for the position. Some software or search tool dropped me into their queue and that's all they need or want to know apparently....There seems to be very little belief that knowing the job you're recruiting for is all that necessary. Which is something that I would consider the very bottom level of what is acceptable for customer service for such a position."
I completely agree with this person that this is how it should be - but as a recruiter I also know that clients put enormous pressure on recruitment firms to get them CVs quickly above all else. Where firms give a vacancy to multiple agencies, in the belief this will increase their chances of 'covering the candidate pool', and yet say that where a CV is sent by 2 or more agencies they will only consider it from the first one they receive it from, they turn the recruitment process into a race, from which no-one benefits - neither the client, the candidates involved nor the agencies.
Niraj P suggests this expert on this topic:
Hey Simon
Some great answers here already! I think a Great Corporate Recruiter needs (in no particular order);
1. Intellectual & Business savvy- gets their own environment/culture and the wider market
2. Relationship orientated but able to be consultative and detached so can sound their ground when needed (assertive over aggressive).
3. Skilled in interviewing and able to get to the matter at hand- understanding people!
4. Possesses an instilled sense of urgency and focus on quality hiring within a fixed budget
5. Able to see the bigger picture (planning, project management etc)
6. Compelled to providing an outstanding experience for both (internal) customers, candidates and suppliers
7. Able to keep confidential stuff confidential!
8. Massive attention to detail and process but not a slave to admin!
9. Possesses a desire to research new channels/innovations-best practise, continual improvement etc
10. Influential, credible and someone who will lead with what they CAN do over what they can't!
Hope this helps
James
'Traits' aside (by and large, agree with the above)
Ability to resolve the four main causes of bad hiring: poor job definition, insufficient or poor quality candidates, ineffective selection interviewing, & failure to secure the intended hire.
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Scott B
Sr. Technical Recruiter at Compuware
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What would the answer be to the question 'What makes a great agency recruiter"? In my mind almost every trait for a corporate or agency recruiter is the same. Ambitious, self-motivated, know how to work with people, know what they are looking for, build strong relationships with hiring managers, create bonds with candidates in their market. All the things listed here are important to both types of recruiters. A corporate recruiter may be required to know more corporate policy but that's the easy part.
Celestine A
Creative Solutions Provider for Human Resources, Training Needs and Career Counseling
With todays' technological advances, anyone can identify candidates, but do they stay with the organization. I have worked with both agency recruitment and in corporate recruiting roles. I have also managed teams of recruiters. I have found, in addition to the KSAs listed in your question, that good corporate recruiters have to understand the organization, its' corporate culture, and the skill sets and inherent traits necessary for the role they are applying for. In addition, they have to have a sense of urgency, an understanding of the business unit managers they are recruiting for, and of course, let's not leave out professional ethics. I also believe they need to possess a good recruiting "intuition", sense of people, and the ability to make good discerning choices . This equates to knowing the business and knowing people and a sense of excitement for each vacancy that is filled. Are recruiters trained or are they born?
Richard F
Partner at Principal Search
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A very interesting question and some very good repsonses as well as some bizarre responses to be honest.
I think it is important to distinguish between working closely with a head of a business and helping them or punting in a few cv's and hoping they will stick. For the sake of this question, I will refer to executive search as opposed to agency contingent recruitment.
Most of the top executive search people I know and rate either have strong business careers prior to moving into executive search, or are career recruiters who possess outstanding people skills, and bring a unique insight into what it is the client is trying to achieve. Bascially, hiring at a mid to senior level is based on one of 3 scenarios in general. Either the business is broken and needs to be fixed, the business needs to be taken to the next level or re-directed and the incumbent who is heading the business is not the right person to do that or a new business needs to be established and they are seeking someone to lead it. Obviously there are other scenarios but they are either variations of these themes or they are building out businesses or replacing staff. So to be able to sit down with a business head and advise them on what is happening either regionally or globally in their sector, inform them about how their competitors have undertaken similar exercises and why they suceeded or failed, who are the best people in the market place to take on the role and why, what their strengths and weaknesses are, what their personal, communication, cultural skills are like, etc etc requires a pretty skilled individual. Secondly, managing the process from start to finish to enable a seamless transition from idea to hire in what can be extremely complex processes also takes a great deal of skill. As someone mentioned, identifying people is relatively easy in the scheme of things although I would add thattalent management is a little complex but that is for another time. Where the best are sperated from the pack are the other things that they do and belive me there are quite a few people out there who are just incredible. And alot of what they do is done behind the scenes with very little fanfare. I hope this gives you a little bit to think about and helps you in your question. cheers
Dear Simon,
Always interesting these kind of questions. As you know organisations get or chose the employees they deserve. The same counts for the recruiters they hire.
So it all depends on the vision the organisation has on talent acquisition & retention management. I notice that many corporations have still a pretty conservative view on how recruitment should be done.
HR departments aren't that Web savvy as they should be. So the first step is to get a picture of what the organisation is able to do. If you have that in mind, than you could make the profile of the recruiter everybody will say: this is a great recruiter!
My profile would contain this traits/skills:
- experienced, at least 10 years working experience
- genuinly interested in people
- networker, relationship builder, teamworker
- ambitious go getter, result driven
- creative
- pragmatic, hands on
- social media / ICT savvy
- business acumen
- integrity
And as we say in the Netherlands when we draft ideal profiles: Everybody is looking for the sheep with the 5 legs! (we all know this animal doesn’t exist!)
Hope this helps a little in getting the picture.
Alexander Crépin
www.recruitmentcoach.nl
For me its:
Intelligent, Articulate, Methodical, Persuasive, Operational, Strategic, Cultural Awareness, Negiotiation Skills, Writing Skills, IT and Internet literate and resiliance.
Thats why the good ones are in short supply and why I smile when I see cororate employers offering Stg 40 - 50,000 and expecting quality.
Rgds
Rob
Going from good to great.........make the interviewee feel that they are interviewing for the job they always wanted!!
1. Come up with five reasons why your company is amazing to work for. Think of reasons why you are at your company when there are so many others to choose from.
2. Empathize with the person you're interviewing. Look over this person's resume with admiration and respect and ask yourself: what is something about this person I can respect and admire?
3. Remember your success stories.Think of your best hires and how well they are doing for the company. Think of how great it makes you feel that you have had such a great impact on the company.
4. Get excited about working for your company.
A great corporate recruiter is able to answer the following question "How to recruit, develop, and retain the best talent?"
OR
A 'great' recruiter is able to attract, select and hire qualified candidates for current and future needs of employees for your organization.
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Kiyomi D
High-Level Assistant for Chairmen/CEOs of Sony, MGM, Fox w/ 9 years of progressive experience including Exec Producers
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Having been in recruiting and hired as staff, contractor, and a temporary employee, the best recruiters can be singled out by making sure the fit is mutually beneficial for all parties involved - the department, the company, and the newly hired. The recruiters take into consider helping you grow, advance your career, and want to know a little about you. The best ones also respond in a timely manner via email to at least say they went a different direction or have no updates at this time. Many also strongly request candidates to touch base periodically (and mean it) in case something opens up at a later date.
I've been extremely lucky and can only think of one or two instances early in my career in which a recruiter tried to "sell" me on a job, just to have someone/anyone be in that slot.
I think the below quotation is applicable to the relationship between recruiters and candidates.
"In about the same degree as you are helpful, you will be happy. ~Karl Reiland"
Kristina R
Copywriter, Cantor, Communicator
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In short, the ability to show what the corporation has to offer - on a positive note, but not unrealistically, so that good candidates will be attracted to the corporation in the future, and a good understanding of human nature.
Understanding of requirements, etc. should be seen as an obvious trait, but I've seen plenty of exceptions to that rule.
I'm looking forward to a compiled 'top ten' on this one!
Best,
Kristina
Janaki G
HR Professional
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Understand Business and the requirements clearly
Research competitor companies
Speed and Passion for excellence is a must for a great corporate recruiter. Must have the idea of how recruitment costs can be saved , quality of hires can be improved for a company with a good in house talent acquisition team.
HI Simon,
I believe asking the right questions at the right time , ability to direct a conversation ,Great listener and amazing selling skills
Foremost is the Eligible candidate having interest in that Client's Req.
To Save Bouncing the Head on Bad Deliveries, Recruiting has to do with -
Understanding the Client's Project needs;
Level of expertise required from the Candidate;
Personality Traits needed for the Job e.g. Comm. skills, work in Team or independently;
There are always positions which can be and cannot be filled by Recruiters...till they are understood by Client's perspective, So effective Hand-Holding with the Sales Team - Holds the Key
Closer and Sooner the Match is the Best are the Possibilities and Growth for All..!
Links:
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Hi Simon.
Great question! I’ve worked as an agency recruiter as well as a corporate recruiter. Here are some of the things that I think help make a corporate recruiter successful.
• Time management skills. As a corporate recruiter, sometimes it can be very difficult to focus on acquiring top talent when you have meetings, administrative duties and processes to contend with. Strong time management skills are vital.
• Ability to partner with the hiring managers. I know lots of people mentioned understanding the requisition requirements as being a key component of a successful recruiter. I think the best way to do this is to work closely with the hiring manager. You need to understand not only the job description, but how the position fits into the department and its contribution to the well being of the company. The only way that I know to do this is to truly partner with the hiring manager.
• Sales ability. The corporate recruiter should be able to sell top candidates on why this position and the company overall are beneficial to the candidate. In other words, what are the benefits of taking this job. What will the candidate be working on and why is it cool? In order to do this the corporate recruiter needs to understand why her company is the place to be and needs to be able to communicate that to the candidate.
• Knowledge of state and federal employment regulations.
• Ability to build and maintain relationships. This includes candidates, hiring managers and fellow employees. If you are going to build a pipeline of top talent, you really need to be open and accessible to candidates, the hiring managers and fellow employees (for referrals and to further understand the needs of various departments).
• Sourcing & cold calling skills. You’re not going to get the top talent by waiting for them to answer your ad. You really have to go out after them. It can be tricky working sourcing strategies and cold calling candidates into your day with all of the other things that corporate recruiters have to do, but with good time management skills, it can be done.
• Candidate control. I know this is usually associated with agency recruiters, but corporate recruiters need to learn this too. If you want to minimize fall off, you need to know where your candidate’s head is and know what is going on with him. Minimize surprises and head off potential problems by knowing who he is interviewing with, what he is looking for in a job, if there are any offers on the table, etc.
• Negotiating skills. The corporate recruiter should be able to present and negotiate the offer.
Hi Simon,
You've gotten some really great responses so far. I was a corporate recruiter for seven years and wanted to contribute to your question. In my opinion, the best traits, qualities, etc., are the following:
-relationship building skills in order to have rapport and trust with your internal clients (i.e. hiring managers and upper management),
-have thorough understanding of the business,
-excellent communication skills and follow-up with both the candidates as well as internal clients,
-outgoing personality and ability to interact and communicate with all levels of the organization,
-transparency.
I hope you find all the information from the responses useful! Best of luck to you.
Laura
Some one who is organized, methodical, analytical, and service driven. A good recruiter should have understanding of the knoweldge required. Someone who is able to build relationships with both clients and candidates. Someone who is able to listen to a candidates specific needs.
Dawn B
Director, Business Development & Human Resources
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I've been a recruiter for over 8 years, and a pretty darn good one, at that. I think it might boil down to the fact that a brilliant corporate recruiter establishes and/or pursues a corporate branding that enables them to perform and average of post to hire in under 30 days. When I became a Corporate Recruiter for a mid-sized defense company, the metrics were approximately 106 days to hire, and when I left it was 28 days to hire (average - there were a few that were one day hires, and a few that took me months to fill).
A good recruiter:
1) Uses their ATS as a constant communication tool with qualified candidates, as well as those who have applied in the past.
2) Continually communicates with those who have handed or submitted a resume, getting them in the ATS, and networking for e-mail addresses from other sources.
3) Always sends a thank you note to job fair attendees/resume submitters.
4) Treats job seekers with kindness, politeness, and respect. They are human beings, not cattle.
5) Doesn't make dumb judgement calls without getting the full picture.
6) Encourages job seekers not to stick with the historic two page resume format when uploading electronic versions. A job seeker should submit a CV to electronic databases, but continue to use the two-page resume for hard copy networking.
7) Recruiters should remember, there but for the grace of God, would be I - in this economy.
8) Recruiters should use those trade organizations and memberships to get their foot in the door to the people with the skill sets and experience.
9) Encourage employees within the company to provide as many referrals as possible - those are higher quality candidates because an employee is NOT going to refer a dud. It'll bite them back later if they do.
10) Get out of the office and to the local job fairs, and travel a little to outside the area career fairs, don't forget the local trade schools and universities, and get the local state employment commission every job notice you get - and keep them going bi-weekly so they will start expecting the information.
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Gail and Greg Myers have been in the business for over 20 years.
I worked with Gail. They don't miss a thing in providing excellent customer service to their clients and their personnell.
