What to Look for When Hiring Your First Recruiter

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ClocksYour company is growing, and that means more business. More business means it’s harder to handle everything yourself — including hiring new team members to share some of the burden. You don’t have the time to search for talent yourself, so you’ll need a recruiter. You can’t just choose any old person to be your recruiter. No, there are certain skills and traits you need to look for. Here are just a few of those skills and traits to get you started on the path to hiring the right recruiters for your company:

1. They Sell Job “Ads”

Your recruiter needs to have the mind of a marketer. Like a marketing specialist, a recruiter has to be able to cater to the needs and wants of the job seekers and the employer. They have to be able to find key selling points — i.e., desirable soft and hard skills dependent upon the position requirements — in candidates and promote them to you, the employer, and vice versa. A recruiter also need to be able to market your employer brand to candidates; they have to understand your branding and how to sell it to job seekers.

More importantly, your recruiter has to understand where to find their target audience. They must know the best avenues to find candidates and where desired talent actively and/or passively searches for job opportunities. Your recruiter should have a thorough knowledge of social media sites and niche job boards to help them find the kind of talent your company needs.

2. They Play Matchmaker

No, they aren’t searching for Prince Charming’s Snow White, but recruiters are looking for to connect dream candidates with their dream jobs. “Matchmaker” may be a bit of an overstatement, but recruiters do instigate and build relationships between candidates and their hopeful employers. Even if a candidate isn’t offered a position or they choose to reject a position they are offered, a highly capable recruiter should be able to maintain a positive relationship with the candidate. In essence, recruiters should be able to keep up with candidates in the event that another position opens up for which a past candidate could be a match.

Over at HRO Today, Neil Griffiths, global practice leader of talent communications and employer brand at Futurestep, writes:

“With 56 percent of employers who recruited new employees in the last year reporting that a candidate rejected their job offer, it is more important than ever to get the recruitment process right and build positive relationships with candidates.”

The ball has shifted in the recruitment court. Candidates now have the upper hand in the market. It is therefore undeniably important that the recruiter you choose to add to your team be highly skilled in building andmaintaining relationships with candidates.

3. They Are a Jack of All Trades

Your first recruiter will most likely have to do the work of an entire recruiting team until you have the time and resources to bring more people aboard. Because of this, your first recruiter will need to be a pro at multitasking. And not only should your first recruiter be able to multitask in the traditional sense, but they should also be able to juggle a number of roles.

Ultimately, your new recruiter must be a strategist. They have to be able to wear all of their hats at one time, summon all of their skills, and devise a recruitment strategy to quickly and accurately find the best talent for your company. They need to innovate constantly.

The first recruiters is a tough position to fill. A new recruiter not only needs to understand your company and your needs, but they also need to understand what the organization can offer to candidates. A good recruiter embraces their inner marketer and sells the organization to the candidate and vice versa.

Your first recruiter finds candidates, fills positions, maintains relationships, and consistently innovates their processes. While they do play the recruiter role, they must also have learn from other employees in your company to help them better understand their position and how it fits into the company overall.

It is this unique — and necessary — set of skills that makes for a strong first recruiter. Now go out and find the person who has what it takes.

By Raj Sheth