“Recruiting is hard. It’s just finding the needles in the haystack.” Steve Jobs
We could stop right there and pretty much sum up what it means to be a recruiter, but the fact is that so many people don’t have any idea just how challenging it can be. A recruiter wears many hats – salesperson, sleuth, strategist, problem-solver, negotiator, agent – and that’s just to name a few. But the really tricky part is actually changing these hats at key intervals throughout the recruiting process – some times during a single conversation!
Successful managers know that finding and retaining top talent is the key to corporate success, but what most of them don’t know is the actual art of doing so.
And make no mistake – recruiting IS an art.
The Challenge of Recruiting
There are specific factors that make recruiting so incredibly challenging. One is that top talent is already gainfully employed and not looking for other career opportunities. They don’t come to you in the stacks of ivory linen resume paper. They aren’t waiting in your lobby with five other interviewees, fidgeting with their briefcase.
No. They’ve already been recognized, and are an invaluable asset to someone else, so the challenge is to figure out what is missing from their current role and/or work environment. You probably have about 10 minutes of their time to decide how the position you are recruiting for fills the missing gap in their current situation and persuade them that it is in their best interest to consider it.
And this is where the magic happens.
Recruiting is Investigating
The first hat you will wear during the recruiting process is your sleuth hat. Determining who to recruit is just as essential as convincing that person to change employment. Jeff Haden of Inc. Magazine advises recruiters to “ditch the job boards.” He says there’s a no-fail system for recruiting today, and that if you’re not using it, “you’re doing it wrong.”
So, how do you find likely candidates if you don’t post job openings for prospective candidates to see?
First of all, remember when we told you that the top performers you’re looking for aren’t looking for you? It’s true, and if they’re not looking for you, they’re not hanging out on Indeed or CareerBuilder.
This is where you will need to channel your inner Sherlock Holmes and do some investigative work. Take apart what makes a candidate a top performer. Have they been employed by innovative and progressive companies that do outstanding work? Have they been mentored by strong leaders? Have they had the opportunity to successfully build something? Look for other people who have been employed at these companies, have been mentored by these leaders and have added value to a growth opportunity. You will undoubtedly uncover a trail of professional talent worth keeping an eye on.
Recruiting is Sales
“The art of recruiting is the purest form of evangelism because you’re not simply asking people to try your product, buy your product, or partner with you. Instead, you are asking them to bet their lives on your organization. Can it get any scarier for them, and tougher for you, than this?” Guy Kawasaki
You don’t usually have long to convince a high-performer that you have a better opportunity. They need to hear your passion and excitement for the position you’re recruiting for. Remember Jerry Mcguire’s “Show me the money!”
He was demonstrating his dedication to his client and his strong belief that he could in fact deliver what the client wanted, which in this case was money and an agent who would listen. Just like in sales in any other sector, recruiting is selling yourself and your ability to give them what they want, just as much as it is selling the new opportunity.
Recruiting is PR
This is basically in the same category as sales, but a potential recruit needs to know more than just the company, location and compensation; they need to know about culture, leadership style, company and career growth, company innovation and what makes the company great.
The high performers you want to recruit will be very much vested in the company they work for. They realize the fact that if the company succeeds, they succeed, and there’s no way they’re jumping on a sinking ship that doesn’t align with their career goals.
They will want facts and statistics. Don’t waste your time with pipe dreams and fluff. Treat them like the savvy professionals they are and let them know you’re prepared.
Recruiting is Negotiating
You will almost never find yourself in a situation where all parties are agreeable to all terms from the very beginning, and companies will often give their recruiters some room to negotiate so that they don’t lose top talent by not offering what they want. It’s part of the sales process, but at this point, you have probably convinced a potential candidate to consider the opportunity. A recruiter should always stay informed of the amount of negotiating power the company is willing to give them.
Recruiting is Instinct
The best recruiters have a “nose for talent.” They can spot the key characteristics of top talent from across the room. They instinctively know who will be the best matches for the best positions and how to approach them.
This is why posting a job ad and waiting for a qualified candidate to float to the top is pointless. The perfect candidate for the position you’re recruiting for may not be the one with the MBA and 10 years of leadership experience. It may be the person who just graduated from a small-town University, but is hungry, driven and has a passion for your company’s product because he had a life-changing experience with it.
Bottom line, the art of recruitment is a lot more than the information you can read off a resume.
Recruiting is Personal
Most of the time, you are not just recruiting an individual, you are recruiting a family. Everyone has a circle of influence and if a potential recruit can’t convince his or her spouse/partner that it’s time for a change, that change may never happen.
It’s easy to get caught up in the “win” of scoring a candidate, but it’s important to realize that these types of changes affect people’s lives and loved ones. They can change the entire direction of someone’s future and it’s not to be taken lightly.
Don’t just appeal to a potential recruit’s personal life, show sincere concern for it. Let them know that you have done your research and believe this to be the best fit for everyone concerned…and mean it.
Recruiting is Art
When each element of the recruiting process is applied, you will see how all the pieces fit together to create the best scenario for everyone involved.