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Why Do Recruiters Make Excellent Candidates?

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Aisling Harrison Blog, Tips, Recruitment...

It is the job of a recruitment consultant to help their candidates secure work and support their clients to fill vacancies.

They find vacancies for their candidates. They find workers for their clients.

It sounds so simple when you say it like that, but the job of a recruiter is anything but simple.

WHEN THE SHOE IS ON THE OTHER FOOT

At Ambitions Personnel, we know exactly how rewarding and fulfilling a career in recruitment is. But should a recruiter ever feel the urge to explore different avenues, then they could have many options available to them.

Recruiting is an amalgamation of many different skills and areas of expertise. It’s an extremely versatile role; therefore, those experienced within it have a wide and transferable skillset making them a prime attraction for many potential employers.

Here are five of the strongest, and most understated, skills of a recruitment consultant:

1. ACCOUNT & CANDIDATE MANAGEMENT

Recruitment is an industry that heavily relies on repeat business with clients who require temporary or permanent positions filling.

Delivering outstanding levels of customer service is paramount in such a competitive industry, so recruiters must have strong communication skills and be able to manage constantly changing expectations and demands.

Recruiters need to be capable of building long-lasting relationships, and the only way to do this is by truly caring about those they work with and support. They will be times when their candidates are extremely disappointed for missing an opportunity, and when they’re clients are frantic with stress trying to fill an urgent vacancy. A recruitment consultant must be able to work under pressure to meet these needs while ensuring their clients and candidates fully trust that they’re going above and beyond to support them.

2. ADMINISTRATION & DATA HANDLING

People skills are an essential part of being a successful recruiter, but it’s little known to industry outsiders just how bureaucratic the recruitment industry is. Recruiters need to be well-organised to effectively do their jobs, as they deal with multiple clients and candidates at one time.

It’s an industry, quite literally, all about people. And when people are involved so is a lot of admin. Even in larger firms, which have greater admin resources, a recruitment consultant is still required to manage a substantial amount of paperwork (often digitally) and data.

When processing CVs and applications, recruiters aren’t just looking for keywords or the perfect fit. They’re looking beyond the words and the professions candidates place themselves in. Recruiters are ascertaining a person’s transferable skills and experience, they’re envisioning them as cultural fits, and analysing if they can provide someone the opportunity to progress or revitalise their career.

Additionally, recruiters will often be proficient with CRM (client/candidate relationship management) and AT (applicant tracking) systems to manage their client and candidate relations.

3. HR

Recruiters hope to be considered as an extension of their clients’ HR teams, but this covers more than just supplying candidates.

In addition to assessing a candidate’s ability to do the job, a recruiter is also responsible for various safeguarding policies and conducting ID verification checks. Most modern recruiters will have received training to prevent modern slavery and fraud, as well as ensuring other legal requirements and GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) practices. 

When a recruiter places a perm, then all HR is passed over to their new employer. However, a recruiter for an agency that supplies temporary workers, will be exposed to greater HR duties; including, employee relations, managing absences, payroll and benefits.

4. MARKETING & SOCIAL MEDIA

A recruitment firm may have its own internal marketing department or use an external marketing agency, but this resource will not completely void a recruiter of being responsible for their advertising and conversion strategies.

Recruiters have to create and manage their own job adverts. They can only pick the cream of the crop when the talent knows that they have fulfilling opportunities and reach out to them.

We already know that strong communication is essential to successful recruiters, but it’s more than just being the “middle man” or “messenger” between candidates and clients.  Recruiters have to utilise marketing to communicate and attract clients and candidates.

They’ve got to create their personal brand so candidates feel encouraged and comfortable responding to them. Social media is a top platform to advertise and attract candidates, particularly on LinkedIn and Facebook.

5. SALES

Candidates are not products or services, they’re people, and they’re not sold to a business. But recruiters do require many of the same skills as salespeople, and the professions have a lot in common.

In order for a candidate to become an employee, it’s the recruiter’s responsibility to identify their clients’ requirements, find the solution in the form of a strong candidate and support them in convincing the client they are the best applicant for the role.

It’s not exactly scanning a candidate’s barcode and sliding them over a counter, but it isn’t too dissimilar to sales at all.

Negotiating is also a fundamental skill for recruiters. They are constantly negotiating fees with their clients and salaries with their candidates, and given what a competitive industry recruitment is, a consultant must be confident when managing these financial agreements.