3 Fundamentals of Recruiting

Recruiters, let me tell you something. We’ve lost the basics of recruiting. It’s been replaced with idealistic disillusioned recruitment methods. The problem with most Recruiters is that we get some social media knowledge. A little info or a nugget and we become experts overnight. The fact is, you don’t know what the hell you are talking about. None of us do. That’s why were frickin’ recruiters to begin with.

Recruiting is not rocket science. In fact, it’s very simple. It’s finding someone and getting them a job. But, we have over complicated recruiting with tools, social media, process, methodology and blah freaking blah blah frickin’ blah.

Again friends! Let me tell you something! We truly don’t understand Recruiting because it’s so simple yet we make it complicated.

Forget about technology for a moment. Forget about process, methods, and planning.

Let’s forget everything we know. And I mean forget all there is about recruiting and start over.

Yes! Start over!

I’d like to introduce the concept building a relationship. You know, relationships you have with your family, spouse, and friends? Yeah, well, it requires your voice, ears, mind and soul. You invest some trust with someone. The same goes with Recruiting. We need to build relationships with candidates.

Here are the 3 fundamentals of recruiting

1) Interact – Over the phone, or in person, recruiters should be talking to candidates.
2) Listen – It’s not about you. It’s about what the candidate needs.
3) Inform – Explaining our job needs, or selling an opportunity or a candidate.

Recruiters are required to interact, listen, ask questions, and then act. Pure and simple. It’s what recruiting is about.

I’m not knocking social media, process, and all these new dazzling recruiting tools. We truly need them. But that doesn’t replace the basics of Recruiting.

I plan on getting back to the fundamentals of recruiting. But after I tweet these jobs, work on my career branding and promote my online communities.

Comment by Alasdair Murray on April 22, 2010 at 4:51am: Good post. Some people make recruitment sound far too complicated when essentially it is just matching people with the right skills to the company with the right culture and opening for those people. It's also a communication business. Social media and mobile technology is great but what would i rather, a text message or a tweet about a job or someone calling me by phone and saying 'listen i have this really great opportunity that's come up that i think might be just right for you'?

Many modern day recruiters seem to think a) that posting any old crap on a job board will elicit response from quality candidates (it doesn't) and b) as a spin off from 'a', that the world is full of poor quality candidates (it isn't).

Refreshingly, I work with one recruiter who has such a great network of contacts that he never needs to advertise. He keeps his candidates sweet throughout their career and every time they want a move or something comes up he thinks might be right for them guess what? It may sound novel, but they actually talk!

You're spot on when you say recruitment isn't rocket science. The trouble is too many people have tried to turn it into a science, to measure and analyse and God knows what else when really they should be networking and picking up the phone and keeping clients and candidates onside.

There is no secret fix, no magic bit of technology that will overnight transform people into the best recruiter in the world. it's all about your charm, your people skills, your ability to communicate and be honest, to sell a role to the right person rather than place any candidate in a job just for the fee. Above all, it's about picking up the phone and making things happen.

Comment by Phil Peters on April 22, 2010 at 11:57am: Good post..in every training video on recruiting I have ever seen that phrase comes up"recruiting is not Rocket Science" It is however psychology if there is any science involved and the key as recruiters is to make both parties happy. Clients (internal & external) as well as candidates. Speaking for IT, I see too many recruiters who don't understand the requirements they are working on (beyond just key words) or the skills of the candidate (again beyond key words). Whatever tools you use, the key is to find the balance between transactional and strategic that allows you to acheive excellence in your job as a recruiter with the satisfaction that you got a company the resource they need and found the right job/career for the candidate.

Comment by Ron Cottick on April 22, 2010 at 12:07pm: Bulleye Michael. I have thought about writing something similar. I have in the past had managers that would say things to intended to help keep me grounded. One was "keep your eye on the ball" and "get back to the basics". These comments were made to me before email, internet, resume databases, etc, etc, etc. Don't know what happened to the basics but they still work. I consider all the technology we have as tools to use in support of the basics. Now, gotta go, need to go online to find a candidate, talk to them about the opportunity, text my hiring manager and email them the resume.

Comment by Ron Cottick on April 22, 2010 at 12:08pm: Opps, meant to say "BULLSEYE"

Comment by Paul Alfred on April 22, 2010 at 1:39pm: Yes Recruiting is not Rocket Science I totally agree ... Unfortunately not everyone has the basic skills required to be a Great Recruiter. There is a big difference between the $80k a year recruiter and the players at $250k ... Like telling the SVP of a Bank to invest in a ESL Teacher for a candidate that has been turned down 3 times by the sub-ordinates for the same role. That`s taking a risk on losing the client for life ... Going above the Hiring Sponsor to make a point .. We are past the matching the words on the resume stage here .... Now its about your Reputation ...

Comment by Jodi on April 24, 2010 at 4:54pm: I should be building relationships, not reading this blog. :-) I think that it's all about balance - you don't have access to as many clients without some of the resources, you don't get the referrals and repeat business without the relationships. Question: what comes first the client or the candidate?