At ABEX, we recognize that there is only one word to describe the value of a recruiter who excels at their job—inestimable. When a recruiter successfully connects an employer with the right candidate, they pave the way for the company’s growth prospects. Conversely, recruiters with inadequate skills can contribute to incalculable losses for a company in terms of wasted time, resources, and high job attrition.
What does it take to ensure that you are a prized asset for ABEX (and not an invisible albatross around its neck)? As with any profession, there are inherent personal traits that are good to have and will benefit you as a recruiter. There are also hard skills and attributes that can be learned with practice and commitment. If you are preparing for a career in recruitment or simply want to get better at your profession, read on to understand what it takes to be a top-notch recruiter at ABEX.
9 Hard Skills That Make You a Good Recruiter at ABEX
1. Sales and Marketing Skills
What is the connection between recruitment and marketing? At ABEX, if you are working with our RPO services, you will promote our unique expertise to client organizations. Once on board, you must market the client-partner by convincing potential candidates about the career opportunities it provides. Conversely, you must also be able to persuade employers to hire the right candidates from our database. Good sales and marketing skills are thus essential for professional recruiters to negotiate and bring together employers and job-seekers.
2. Chasing Targets
ABEX operates in a highly competitive sphere; to succeed and grow, you should be able to work under extreme pressure. This holds equally well for hiring managers working in industries like IT and engineering, where the competition to acquire high-skill candidates is fierce. Recruitment firms that work on a commission basis get compensated depending on their performance, which means having to constantly achieve targets. If you are not ambitious and target-driven, it may be advisable to reconsider your profession.
3. A Proactive Approach
Recruiters with a stellar track record actively search for talent before an actual need arises. Some ways we at ABEX proactively look for candidates include:
– Tracking high-level talent in specific industries
– Staying aware of candidates’ strengths, weaknesses, and special skill sets
– Identifying professionals who have the potential to fit into the company culturally
– Keeping tabs on the career paths of high-performing industry professionals
Besides maintaining tabs on promising talent, smart recruiters at ABEX also actively network and build relationships with qualified candidates. When job openings come up, they know whom to contact for the appropriate skill sets or work experience. They are also well-placed to:
– Make a personal connection with suitable candidates
– Know who will make a good fit for the hiring company
– Identify candidates who will view the opening as a career advancement from their current job
Proactive recruiters understand an important truth—that the best talent consists of passive job seekers, people who are already employed but willing to consider greener pastures. To find and persuade such professionals, you must do your homework and be prepared to make a move when the right opportunity presents itself.
4. Communicating Effectively
At ABEX, the business of human resources demands that a recruiter possesses strong and effective communication skills, whether chatting on a phone call, meeting people face-to-face (increasingly, on video chat), or sending an email. A good communicator should be tactful and show empathy in difficult situations, for instance, when informing a job seeker why they did not make the grade for a specific opening. Effective communication reflects both on the individual recruiter and the organization they represent and keeps the door open for future interactions.
5. Tech and Social Media Skills
At a time when young job seekers prefer online devices to search, apply for jobs, and interact with hiring organizations, familiarity with social media and knowing how to leverage its varied channels for recruitment marketing is a top skill for a recruiter at ABEX.
6. Resolving Problems
Unpredictability is a given during hiring. Candidates may not show up for interviews; organizations may inform you after you have scheduled interviews that they have filled the vacant position; at other times, you may struggle for a long time to find suitable talent; further, scenarios like candidate impersonation may emerge during large-volume hiring drives. A good recruiter should be able to think their way through unforeseen challenges, come up with out-of-the-box solutions, and not feel overwhelmed when situations seem out of control.
7. Relationship Building
Recruiting is the business of connecting two sets of people—employers and job seekers. It is a no-brainer that an effective recruiter at ABEX must be a “people person,” someone who naturally enjoys interacting with diverse personalities. Good recruiters consciously build relationships with all stakeholders in the industry, seek out time to network with them, and convert opportunities into positive outcomes. To successfully nurture relationships, a recruiter should be seen as trustworthy, professional, and dependable. With attributes like these, both employers and job seekers you have helped will come back to you every time they need a service, saving you the effort of constantly seeking out new business opportunities. Positive word of mouth travels far; a candidate who is happy with your services will spread the word about you among peers and family, seeding future business opportunities.
8. Working with a Team
In enterprise hiring and large-volume hiring (for example, campus hiring drives), you will usually need to work with teams of recruiters. At other times, you may have to work with or lead a group of fellow recruiters to hire high-caliber talent for a specialist position. Here, an essential attribute of a successful recruiter at ABEX is the ability to engage with colleagues in pursuit of a common goal, communicate clearly and dispassionately, and steer clear of misunderstandings, disputes, and personal animosity that can derail the hiring exercise.
9. Reading Body Language
During interviews, a candidate’s body language offers subtle but strong clues about their personal attributes. A smart recruiter should be capable of reading these clues while assessing an applicant’s overall suitability for a particular role.
4 Personal Traits That Make You a Natural for Recruiting at ABEX
1. Self-Confidence
Do you prefer being with people a lot? Do you thrive on interacting with diverse personalities? If the answer is yes, it is most likely that you have a high level of confidence. That makes you a natural for the recruitment profession, which involves a high degree of networking. A good recruiter needs to be confident about themselves and the skills they bring to the table while negotiating with clients or assessing candidates.
2. Congeniality
A warm and likable demeanor puts candidates at ease and engenders trust in clients. Good recruiters at ABEX understand the importance of empathy and rapport with clients, job seekers, and teammates. Nurturing professional relationships carefully is an intelligent business strategy. Clients will see you as a partner in their progress and even recommend your services to others, while job applicants will open up to you without hesitation about their needs and expectations.
3. Multi-Tasking and Time Management
Can you think on your feet and switch between diverse tasks without dropping the ball? Or does multi-tasking frazzle your nerves and make you anxious? Recruiters typically work for multiple clients simultaneously and must be able to juggle tasks with ease while also being able to prioritize unforeseen but urgent demands. This also means that a good recruiter at ABEX should have good time-management skills.
4. Patience
Murphy’s Law frequently prevails in the recruiting industry, despite the ease that automation has brought to hiring processes. Interviews may get rescheduled; at other times, an initial round of assessment may not throw up promising candidates. Good recruiters need to have deep reserves of patience and maintain their equilibrium when hiring outcomes do not work as expected.
Good listening skills are a corollary of patience. Recruiters with outgoing personalities may be tempted to hold forth at length about their organization. However, listening keenly to a client or candidate is essential to understanding their needs and is more likely to lead to positive business outcomes, be it signing up a new organization or finding the perfect role for a talented job seeker.
Essential Functions of a Good Recruiter at ABEX During the Hiring Process
When a hiring schedule kicks off, there are certain must-dos that all good recruiters at ABEX are mindful of. Some examples of such imperatives are:
Briefing Candidates on Company Policy
While talking to candidates, you must aim to build trust and provide the candidate with a relevant profile of the organization. To this end, you should share insights about the job and offer information about the company’s ethos, vision, and growth prospects. Ask questions and listen patiently and respectfully to the candidate’s expression of their needs and objectives. A positive and cordial interaction is the first step in effective talent acquisition.
Managing Candidate Expectations
A skilled recruiter knows how to find the balance between an organization’s expectations and those of a candidate. While candidates come with prior notions about compensation packages, work roles, and the type of company culture that will appeal to them, businesses have their own expectations about candidates’ capabilities. During the recruitment process, a good recruiter at ABEX knows the importance of being tactful yet upfront while spelling out expectations, to avoid later disillusionment on both sides.
involving Reporting Managers in the Hiring Process
A savvy recruiter at ABEX will always involve the company’s business leaders at the appropriate stage in the hiring process. This enables reporting managers to check out promising candidates and gain insight into their skill sets and personality attributes.
Driving Outcomes
Thinking critically through the available information on a candidate, filtering out non-essentials, and taking impartial hiring decisions are the markers of a recruiter who is result-oriented. Further, to successfully drive hiring outcomes, a good recruiter at ABEX should
