How would you find your "dream" candidate when hiring a recruiter?

We see (and some of us write, rant, vent) plenty of articles bashing all that is wrong with recruiting and HR. I've been giving this some thought lately and wondering what (else) would make it right?

Beyond the obvious things like - have a brain - know your stuff - treat people properly - and so on... what are the top attributes that would signal competence and professionalism?

If you were building your own dream team of recruiting and HR people or a prototype of the ideal recruiter candidate that YOU would hire, what would you include?

Once you have that person (or persons) in mind, how or where would you go about finding them? What would you look for on their LI profile or resume to "know it when you see it?"

How much emphasis would you put on them being active on SM, blogging or other visible signs of an active online existence?

What would signal the type of person/people that many of us vent about? How would you validate your findings and initial assessments?

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Permalink Reply by Doug Douglas on August 15, 2013 at 6:41pm

I believe we are facing a transitional time in our industry that will require a different skill set than what the tried and true recruiter of today possesses. Social media will be a piece of that puzzle, but I believe recruitment will become more social even without the media aspect (which will certainly be involved). Organizations will begin to engage people for future roles while they are passive, in school, or figuring out what they want to do. As a result, the recruiter will need to be much more engaged long term and working the potential candidate down a path where they see an organization as a potential home. Internships, open houses, networking events, etc. will be more of an emphasis than job boards, LinkedIn, and corporate websites. Candidates will need to be able to envision themselves working in that environment before jumping in with both feet. Sort of a "try before you buy" mentality.

To accommodate these changes, recruiters will need to be:

Patient
Long term focus instead of quick fix focus
Personable
Able to build trust quickly
Ability to interact with people of any background or station in life
Process oriented - following a long term progression of steps that lead to success

Where do we find them? I am a believer in taking someone with the right work ethic, drive, personality, and behaviors and then I can teach them what to do. It's about the person...not the skill set. I find them by being the kind of person that I described above and the ones who engage and can pace themselves, they are the ones who likely fit what I am looking for.

Here's a link to a webcast I did for SHRM on this topic. Click here.

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Permalink Reply by Kelly Blokdijk on August 15, 2013 at 10:49pm

Hi Doug - Thanks for taking the time to add your perspective and insight. I appreciate your contribution.

When I read your list of "changes" however, I wondered if those are truly changes or just characteristics that are and have always been in short supply, yet essential to being an effective HR/recruiting professional. For the most part, this looks like a description of emotional intelligence and work-ethic required to be considered competent.

I took a look at your webcast (narrative) and enjoyed the content as well. The only "critique" I would offer is I found the generational segment took away from the overall quality and momentum of your message.

Perhaps it's just (my own) intense fatigue with that entire topic, but anytime ANY reference to gen this or that shows up it immediately drags the intellectual value way down for me. Had that not been included, I think the entire presentation would have conveyed a more powerful call to action.

Thanks again for jumping in first to add your thoughts!

~KB @TalentTalks

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Permalink Reply by Doug Douglas on August 16, 2013 at 9:48am

Shouldn't a good recruiter...or good sales person....or good movie maker....or good preacher....shouldn't they consider their audience and how they are most impacted? That's why the generational issues matter so much. A Baby Boomer just isn't looking for the same things that a Millennial is looking for at this stage of their careers, nor can you guide them with the same messages and techniques.

To your other point, I think they are changes. Recruiters today are about "just in time" recruiting - their focus is on getting the job order, filling it as quickly as you can with as little investment (time, resources, efforts) as possible so they can gain more bandwidth to take on another new search. What is the biggest complaint about recruiters? That a candidate falls into a black hole and never receives feedback or knows where they stand.

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Permalink Reply by Kelly Blokdijk on August 16, 2013 at 8:41pm

Doug - I agree it is always essential to consider one's audience when communicating (or any other type of interaction). And, I agree that people at different life stages and career phases may be concerned with different things based on that particular (usually transient) situation.

However, I don't believe an entire grouping of people born within a wide time span are necessarily all on the same level when it comes to their wants, needs, desires, preferences or expectations. Sure, there is some truth to some of the generational stereotypes, but I think it is short-sighted to categorize and label people by their date of birth. There are people born within a few days or months of me that I have nothing in common with and others twice or half my age that click on multiple levels with mutual interests. That's always been the case in each workplace I've been in as well.

On your webcast you say: "Gen Y simply will not accept the disrespectful, insensitive, unresponsive, and insulting way that many recruiters go about their business today – agency recruiters or corporate recruiters. They are too smart. And they are too technically savvy to just fall into a blackhole of silence and disrespect – they will find ways to get to the decision makers and bypass recruiting. Candidates will remember the way that you made them feel…and it will impact their actions the next time."

If you replaced "Gen Y" with any of the following, wouldn't the rest of that statement and any others that beyond that point still hold true?

People with brown eyes
People that eat cereal for breakfast
People that love animals
People that get too many emails each day
People that like taking vacations
People that need to work to earn a living

From your chart, what generation would I most identify with if I like Eminem, Nirvana and Rolling Stones; constantly glued to my smartphone; prefer texts, DMs/IMs to other forms of communication; enjoy spontaneous learning opportunities; detest command and control leaders?

Again, I found your content valuable and believe in what your are conveying about what would make recruiting better now and in the future. Thanks again for adding your thoughts. Have a great weekend. ~KB @TalentTalks

Doug Douglas said:

Shouldn't a good recruiter...or good sales person....or good movie maker....or good preacher....shouldn't they consider their audience and how they are most impacted? That's why the generational issues matter so much. A Baby Boomer just isn't looking for the same things that a Millennial is looking for at this stage of their careers, nor can you guide them with the same messages and techniques.

To your other point, I think they are changes. Recruiters today are about "just in time" recruiting - their focus is on getting the job order, filling it as quickly as you can with as little investment (time, resources, efforts) as possible so they can gain more bandwidth to take on another new search. What is the biggest complaint about recruiters? That a candidate falls into a black hole and never receives feedback or knows where they stand.