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Permalink Reply by Stephanie Huff on July 13, 2009 at 10:33am

My hardest part is time management. Keeping up with all the different positions and activites on a daily basis can be mind boggling at times. At any given time I can be solely responsible for 20+ open requisitions. Being a corporate recruiter, I am measured on my time to fill, cost per hire and manager satisfaction with my overall involvement in the process. So I have to have very strong time management and organizational skills to handle all of this. I am pulled in several directions at once and work on several different types of positions across the U.S. in any given day. I have to manage my time to network, source, screen, set up interviews for managers, complete behavioral surveys and some times manage external agency relationships for those positions that I just don't have time to source and screen candidates on my own. Ahh! Yes, time management is the hardest part!

All the other pieces in themselves aren't so bad. I like sourcing and cold calling. That is a thrill. I don't like the interviewing part as much but it isn't the level of difficulty it is the repetitiveness that gets to me, and what takes up the most of my time. Especially in this economy with tons of people out of work and needing a new job-other than time management the hardest part is also finding quality candidates, because quantity defintiely isn't the issue!

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Permalink Reply by Mary on July 13, 2009 at 10:40am

Marketing is definitely my biggest challenge right now. It seems like the market is so saturated with talent that they don't need my services.

Sourcing, self-training, and on boarding (if this means initial conversations with new candidates) - in this order- is how my time is spent. I found that in order to get my foot in the door I need to be more knowledgeable about my clients, I need to be up to speed on the latest 2.0 technologies, and I need to have a strong repore with my candidates-- so when I call-- I am the first recruiter they call back.

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Permalink Reply by Mat von Kroeker on July 13, 2009 at 12:18pm

Figuring out what the client wants in a candidate--- cause it SURE AIN'T IN THE JOB DESCRIPTION!!!!

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Permalink Reply by Claudia J. Samuelson on July 13, 2009 at 3:43pm

I love, it, Karen! I was JUST thinking of that this morning! But you have to remember not to take that personally. Which is, one of the hardest parts of my job is not taking it personally. However, IT's NOT personal. If it was, the banana heads would go out of business and great recruiters (like us) could make more of an impact as a strategic partner.

Corporate recruiters are receiving literally hundreds of calls every week from TPR's wanting to fill their jobs. They are also receiving hundreds of applicants weekly, many of whom are applying for jobs they aren't quite right for. This tangles things up a bit, creating an administrative nightmare. Good people are missed, and if a TPR is approached by this person who wants to get noticed, it's tough to help them if we aren't working as a team. We are really just trying to help. Often we are viewed as someone who wants something from someone. We really, truly, just want to help. It's fun when we find the best person for the job. Everyone is so happy!

The other hard part of my job is to recognize not all companies want to work as a team with an external recruiter. Sourcing specialists or recruiters who work under the wings of a recruiter within a corporate setting can add tremendous value. I love what I do, and I'm trying to help my clients find the people they want. If we work together, it can be accomplished in harmony, not to mention quickly.

What if..the company shared conference and membership directories with us that we could cold call? We know we'll do this anyway, but it will take longer if we don't work together. Everyone wants things fast, but sometimes don't work with us to accomplish that. People always say that information is power, and information quickly, is really powerful. If we worked as a team and not as someone to be avoided at all costs, we'd accomplish more, have less turnover and help our customers attract great people. Now that you're all seeing the butterflies and fairies flying around this post, yes, I laugh too that I'm somewhat idealistic. But it's those great customers I work with that DO use me as a team member that makes me believe there are more out there. But it's always hard to break in as an unknown, regardless of the level of experience we bring.
So, yes, keeping my head clear and free of the distractions of negative thinking is a challenge. I love the saying, "the busier you are, the more you get done". I also believe the busier I am, the less I worry about my competition, because truly, there is enough to go around!

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Permalink Reply by Thomas Patrick Chuna on July 13, 2009 at 5:04pm

Amen, Sandra..

When approaching prospective clients and candidates, i assume the following: I'm viewed as a necessary evil, bad recruiters have already tarnished my reputation, and the only entity I truly have an exclusive with is my wife.

This frees me to live in the now, and while others are trying to convince, partner, align, or whatever, I'm out beating bushes..if one learns to beat the correct bushes, everyone wins.

In early days, I used to struggle with finding positions to work - getting bogged down in convincing the HA I was worth working with, different, a better value, blah, blah blah....finding candidates has always been much easier..anyway, I solved that problem by taking my "most placeable candidates" by the hand, and knocking on as many pertinent doors with them as I could find.. the candidates dug the fact I was working on their behalf, and the client companies appreciated someone who led off with a solution to a problem, rather than marketing hoo - ha that was all about me.

the only real hard parts of this deal for me, are the same ones for everybody - companies pulling positions, long term clients evaporating, etc.. you know, the things we can't control.

Since i started as a sourcer many moons ago, it's still my favorite part of the business. finding candidates, and getting them to work with me, getting them ready for interviews, I dig all of that.

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Permalink Reply by Jimmy Roa on July 14, 2009 at 9:04pm

I agree with you totally.

The one-team concept is important in realizing a recruitment goal. Though the recruitment process is composed of various activities and doers, each activity and doer should be in support of the others. If your client can support you in name generation, then your sourcing activity is tremendously shortened.

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