7 Must-Must Have Qualities of Star Recruiters

If you want to switch up your staffing consultant career at your current staffing agency, change sector , or move to a bigger and better job, then you must sell yourself. Online. When you’re networking. In your resume. At interviews. At every opportunity you have. And that means highlighting and demonstrating your skills. The skills that staffing agencies require from their recruiters.

Here are seven must-have skills for recruiters to have today. Demonstrate these, and you’ll stand out as a star acquisition into the staffing agency of your choice.

1.    Interpersonal Skills

At its core, the job of a recruiter is to build relationships with candidates and clients. You need to know how to connect with people, and demonstrate your command of interpersonal skills to do so.

You’ll be a good listener, empathetic, a good reader of nonverbal communication, and able to lead and inspire.  Of all these, your ability to listen is the most important. It’s how you discover the needs of clients and the desires of candidates – and that goes a long way to matching the two.

You’ll know what questions to ask to get the answers you need. The answers that will drive better decisions and help develop trust ina growing professional relationship.

2.    Organizational Skills

You must juggle candidates and clients, and different roles, with all your open jobs at different stages of the hiring cycle. The number of candidates, resumes, and interviews you will be arranging and managing could get you in the Guinness Book of Records.

Without great organizational skills, it’s easy to drop the ball. A perfect candidate could fall through the cracks. Resumes may be forgotten.

You’ll also need to manage your time effectively, prioritizing tasks and ensuring that your flow isn’t disrupted.

You will, of course, use systems to help you keep organized and time efficient. But you shouldn’t rely on your system. At the heart of it all isyou – you make the system tick.

3.    Marketing Skills

You should have the skillset to market your agency and yourself. This will help you to win clients and attract the best candidates. Today, this ability includes effective use of social media channels – especially LinkedIn, on which you can both attract and search for talented candidates.

You’ll have the personality to influence, persuade, and inspire action, selling yourself and your agency’s services.

In addition, your interpersonal skills will help you to be an excellent negotiator and develop understanding and outcomes between clients and candidates. You’ll be influencing candidates to apply for the jobs that your clients need filled, and inspiring your clients to meet with your candidates.

After all, candidates need to be interested in your opportunities to apply for the jobs in the first place. Equally, companies need convincing of the suitability of your candidates.

4.    Critical Thinking and Problem Solving

Great recruiters never rely on their instinct to place candidates. They are critical thinkers and problem solvers.

You’ll be analytical, collecting information and asking questions to fully understand needs of clients and abilities of candidates. This will help you to make logical decisions, and where a perfect match is not possible, you’ll be able to formulate solutions that help to match the best candidate to your client’s job.

5.    Communications Skills

In addition to your interpersonal skills, you will also have well-honed communication skills. You are the middleperson between client and candidate. You’re the face of your agency to both. But much of your communication will not be in-person.

You understand how to communicate through a variety of communication channels – email, letters, video calls, social media, phone, etc.

You deliver well-crafted messages, providing both positive and negative feedback so that both are well received and acted on.

6.    Teamwork Skills

In your role, you must collaborate with others. These include hiring managers, candidates, and others in your agency. Your job is to produce a smooth and enjoyable hiring process whose product is a successful hire.

Sometimes you won’t be right, and that means having the humility to accept the decisions of others and facilitate the process.

7.    Confidence

Your confidence will help others to be confident in the entire hiring process. This comes with knowledge and experience. The experience you will gain from time in the role. The knowledge you gain from all those around you, including your clients and your candidates.

Demonstrate your confidence by answering questions with certainty, being honest when you don’t know the answer (but you know someone who will), and sharing your insights and experience. But a word of warning – never allow your confidence to come across as arrogance.

Summing Up

The role of a recruiter requires a specific set of skills. The more of these skills you command and can demonstrate, the more successful your career in recruitment will be. The skills we have outlined in this article are those that will mark you out as a star recruiter.

By practicing these skills daily, you will improve them. Where you identify weaknesses, seek training to help improve. Your efforts will be rewarded with improved results and greater market value.

To assess your career as a recruitment consultant and evaluate your skills, it’s often best to speak to an unbiased party. For help with this, and a confidential career assessment, contact Enabled Force today