Ask Away: What Is the Most Important Quality of a Great Recruiter?
Have a question you’d like to ask the experts? Leave it in the comments, and you might just see it in next week’s Ask Away!
This Week’s Question: What makes a great recruiter? What kind of skills, personality traits, and abilities do they have? Let us know what you think the single most important trait of a successful recruiter is!
“The single most important quality of a great recruiter is ‘wherewithal.’ Filling a position is not just about filling a seat: it is about filling it with the right person who fulfills the short-term needs [of the company] and has ‘staying power’ with even greater potential/value in the long term. The recruiter must thoroughly understand your business and hiring needs and genuinely care how their candidates affect your business, rather than just filling a role and collecting a paycheck. This requires research and understanding of the position and candidate beyond the page, [research] into the implicit, underlying aspects that truly make a great match.
“Recruiters without the wherewithal to decipher between immediate needs and long-term fit are like short-order cooks. To separate themselves [from the rest of the pack], they need to act more like executive chefs.”
– Peter Kazanjy
Founder
TalentBin by Monster
“A good recruiter has to be a persuasive communicator. She has to be able to influence the stakeholders, particularly when they have unrealistic expectations about the kind of candidate (the proverbial ‘purple squirrel’) they are after. The recruiter has to be able to reset expectations [when necessary] and also convince the client that the proposed alternate course is actually the right course.”
– Steve Dempsey
Vice President of Recruiting
Aquent
“I would say open-mindedness. There are so many unconscious biases that recruiters have. To be able to have an open mind and treat every candidate equally is the most important thing a recruiter can do.”
– Jacob Shriar
Director of Customer Happiness
Officevibe
“Integrity makes a great recruiter. The industry’s reputation sometimes ranges between the cable company and Vinny’s Used Car Emporium. It’s the inherent flaw of any commission-based sales role: the incentives drive bad apples to perform unethically and take shortcuts. Therefore, a recruiter that is upfront and honest with their clients about their candidates will immediately surpass a large share of the competition. Get-rich-quick rewards are tempting in this business, but you’ll be rewarded far more in the long term by acting in your clients’ best interests.”
– Brad Lazarus
Founding Recruiter
Tomesei
“The best recruiters know that every piece of communication or interaction with candidates has an impact on the company’s brand. They treat every applicant with respect and are always striving to give the best candidate experience. They realize that, in the long run, nothing is more beneficial to the company’s ability to attract talent than a great employer brand.”
– Andy Parker
Cofounder
Zealify
“Great recruiters connect talent to the core intangibles. In order to find the best candidate, great recruiters first become extensions of a company. Great recruiters get clarity on a company’s purpose, mission, culture, values, and leadership philosophy. As extensions of the team, recruiters can leverage this information to ensure they are connecting with the right talent who can authentically align with the core intangible elements of a company.”
– Paul Eisenstein
Leadership Search Director
Y Scouts
“If I were to isolate only one most important aspect of a recruiter, I’d say it’s the ability to understand and know the candidate so well that they present only opportunities that would forward the long-term intentions of the candidate to grow and develop, vs. spaghetti-throwing opportunities against a candidate’s wall to see if something sticks.”
– Darrell Gurney
Career Coach
The Career Guy
“What makes a successful recruiter is someone who is able to combine both the art and science of recruiting. A successful recruiter is someone who listens to both their client’s and candidate’s needs and does what is in their client’s and candidate’s best interests without being self-serving. Listening skills are the single most important skills needed. [Being a great recruiter] is sometimes walking away from a deal because it is not in the best interests of either the client or the candidate. It is knowing that if you protect both the client’s and candidate’s interests, then you will be successful in the long run.
“Tenure is a factor. The recruiting industry has high turnover, and someone who is able to ride the waves of good economies and bad economies and still have a thriving business must be a successful and respected recruiter.”
– Stacy Pursell
President/Executive Search Consultant
The Pursell Group LLC / The VET Recruiter
“A recruiter’s job is to sell an idea, an organization, and a vision, rather than a product or service. Being personable, knowledgeable, and approachable are essential, especially in corporate recruiting, where you are representing the company you’re hiring for.
“You also have to be able to persuade and engage people in order to gain [their] interest in what it is you have to offer — a new job!”
– Shayleen Stuto
Talent Coordinator
TechnologyAdvice
“The single most important trait of a successful recruiter is resilience. Being in the people business, a recruiter often experiences highs and lows — literally on an hourly basis. One hour, there is the high of making a placement, resulting in a happy client and a grateful job seeker; the next hour can bring word that a temporary employee was terminated on the spot for misconduct. The ability to brush it off and keep pushing forward is paramount. If a recruiter takes it personally, they risk burning out very quickly, and [in the] long term, [they] can actually start to lose faith in humanity. Resilience is key!”
– Miriam Dushane
Managing Director
Linium Staffing
“The single trait that all great recruiters share is discipline. Recruiting is an incredibly demanding, highly competitive field, and no matter what other skills a recruiter possesses, the discipline to keep moving (especially when times are tough) is paramount. As is the case with other business fields like sales, recruiting is a numbers game. While it’s not always possible to tell which activities will lead to the next placement, it’s a fact that the greater the volume of activities, the greater the outcomes, and generating a high volume of activities requires discipline.”
– John Jersin
CEO and Founded
Connectifier, Inc.