How do you see yourself as a recruiter?

I knew a recruiter who called herself a 'professional thief.' "I steal people" she used to tell me. Because of the lens through which she saw herself, she seemed to fit the profile that many of our clients see us fitting, as unctuous and smarmy recruiters. Because she lowered her professionalism she eventually had to do the same with her fees.

Do you see yourself this way? If you see yourself as a thief or a pimp or even worse, then that's exactly how your clients will see you.

We all train people on how to treat us. In this market, especially, you've got to see yourself as a strategic provider of value. Only then will your clients take you seriously. This is the time where you can make placements where there aren't any 'openings.' If all you work on are open job orders, then you'll see clients as 'not hiring right now'. But if you work at a strategic level then you capture search assignments that other recruiters don't know about.

And it all first starts with this question: How do you see yourself as a recruiter?

Scott Love
www.GreatRecruiterTraining.com