Don’t you get tired of asking the same questions every day?  I don’t know how you can do this job.  Now I admit to having asked my day care provider how she can do her job every day without moments of insanity, but that is another story.  In truth, I may ask the same questions, but I don’t get the same answers.  But to be honest, especially with the phone interview, that is not why I love doing this job.  It is for a very different reason.  It is the same reason that I strongly disagree with the statement that “anyone can recruit”.

Recruitment is definitely a special calling.  Many HR people I know are not fond of recruitment; it is more a sales role than standard HR specializations. It requires thick skin and the ability to manage the blame game when things take time or don’t work out – both on the candidate and the management side. However, recruitment to me can be an incredibly rewarding career when you take something very key into account.  You are helping others build their career.  You are facilitating growth and opportunity for both the individual but also the company when you make the right choice. 

Think of it this way - when you have a job you hate at a place you hate, what impact does that have on you, your health, and your family?  It takes a significant toll depending on how long it continues and the employee coping mechanism.  Marriages can dissolve from a poor job fit.  So as a recruiter, it is so important to ensure that you have a good fit.  It takes excellent interview techniques, coaching with your hiring managers and a lot of patience.

I still keep in touch with I hired over the past decade.  I love to see the impact I have had on these people’s careers.  One interesting case I have followed was a new immigrant that was really struggling to get employment.  She had started her career in finance overseas having worked in that field for over a decade.  When she came to Canada she returned to college to become a lab technician.  She graduated but no one was calling or most of the time even declining her, too many thought the switch was a little “strange”.  I enjoyed my interview with her and facilitated a contract placement in a laboratory.  It was a short one, but it was a start. 

About a year later I got my first corporate recruitment gig and had an opening and thought of her.  I tracked down her contact information and convinced the lab manager to interview her.  He thought she was great and hired her quickly into her first permanent role in Canada.  She stayed with that company for years and grew into more senior roles. She was a great success.  She passed through the interviews and was hired on her own accord – she was a great employee.  But it was also my belief in her and my sale to the hiring managers that helped to get the interview and then get her employed. She was now employed in a career, not just a job.

Now, could anyone of done that?  Maybe, but given how busy most managers are, would they have taken the time to dig deeper into the resume?  Consider the whole package she brought to the table rather than did she meet the laundry list of requirements?  Not likely.  She would have ended up at the bottom of the pile.

So in the end, I guess you could say I don’t always consider myself to be just a recruiter, but the facilitator of career development and an investor in people.  That is how I can do this job.  How about you?