In our last article about management training for recruitment companies we looked at three basic skills. These were, the ability to communicate well at all levels, time management and how to delegate without abdicating. In part two I want to move into the four areas many recruitment managers find a challenge to get right, no matter how long they have been doing the job.

4. Motivating

Motivation is an interesting subject. Some people believe that the only person you can motivate is yourself. There might be some element of truth in that. However as a recruitment manager who needs to get her team back on track this is not particularly helpful. So how do we handle this one? How about reframing this to look at inspiring high performance. You see once people start acting and they get results something happens. Suddenly they are willing to make that extra call, come in half an hour early. Magic starts to happen. So thinking this through motivating your recruitment consultants is all about inspiring them, and that starts with giving them time and attention. So often recruitment managers assume that their recruitment consultants know what they are doing and don’t need a pat on the back. A first step might be to ask them what is important to them and this will give you a clue as to what the next step might be.  Joan might want to get a shed load of cash for the next holiday where John might be motivated to perform well and be considered for the next job.

The only way you will find this out is by asking someone not what motivates them. Instead ask what is important to them? You might be surprised at the answer.

5. Developing Your Team

Any recruitment manager needs the help of her or his team to succeed. The truth is that some of the consultants you are managing will have more skills than others. Because you are taking the helicopter view you will be more aware than they are about the areas they need to focus on to improve their results. First of all think through is there are any glaring issues? Are they confident with candidates and clients? Do they know how to sell? I don’t mean just tell sell either. Do they understand how to identify the needs of both their clients and candidates? As a recruitment manager create a training needs analysis for each person and then focus on how to make this happen. Some elements will be easy to address. If you take time to do this you will be in the select few. As a consequence don’t be surprised to see how fast you will be able to help your team develop.

6. Performance Management

So you have found out what motivates your recruitment consultants, and you are also a great recruitment manager that helps develop them as well. It’s working with most of the team with the odd exception. First of all let me tell you that you are not alone, it happens to all recruitment managers no matter how successful they are.

 I am sure you have heard of paretos principle often called the 80/20 rule. To sum it up eighty percent of results are delivered by around twenty percent of activities or in this case twenty percent of your team. So first of all expect it. Then you will need to do something about it. Depending on the size of your recruitment company you will have some human resources support that will give you a guide on first steps. This will need to be aligned with the job description and your own standards of performance document. This makes performance management much easier to manage. If you don’t have anything like this in place this is an action for you. With any performance issue you need to give the consultant time to put it right and with your help. Then monitor this closely.

7. Managing Discipline

This is often missed off many training courses and is important. The challenge with recruitment managers and this recruitment management skill is where the line is drawn between feedback and discipline. Often this is because it does not relate to the consultants work. Classic examples are lateness, attitude to others, personal grooming, alcohol or substance abuse. The key thing is to have a plan. Do some research and decide what you are going to do and then, take action. It is rare that disciplinary issue resolve of their own accord.