Sometimes, the recruiter is in the other chair; some day or other, all recruiters will have the strange experience of being recruited. Strange, because when two professionals in the same field meet, they reflect their own image. Consciously or unconsciously, they are assessing each other and the halo effect is even more present. Be careful not to fall into the trap of “I want to prove that I’m better than you.”
Recruiting a good recruiter is not easy, as you know. Unfortunately, this function is all too often seen as a point of entry into human resources departments and services. The vision of recruiters as “interviewing machines” who spend their time carefully reading résumés, trawling the Web for gems and coordinating the work of outside recruiters when overloaded persists. And yet, recruiters are an essential link in attracting talents, who are required to provide great added value and demonstrate excellent tactical skills.
Tactical recruiters
While the human resources function needs to be strategic, have a long-term vision and plan and coordinate all of the actions designed to support the company’s business plan, the recruiting function is more often reduced to a tactical role. That is, a more targeted action generating results in the short term. We are still in the action-reaction mode, when someone leaving the company means a new file on the recruiter’s desk. Within a few years, the recruiting function will probably combine a long-term strategy with targeted tactical operations in the field. So how then do you assess if the recruiter you have is sufficiently tactical or strategic?
Some people say that it boils down to intuition and a customer orientation. Recruiter/candidates must have an innate sense of customer service. They need to show their ability to support internal clients as well as internal and external candidates, and to combine judgment and an ability to assess skills with empathy.
Here are some key things to look for in your recruiter/candidates to avoid going barefoot like the cobbler’s children!
- The approach. How did you meet up with them? Do they have a solid network of contacts who recommended them to you, or did they just appear? In all cases, a recruiter’s network of contacts is to be considered. Since they will be spokespeople in attracting the best talents, you must make sure they have an “in” in the right places.
- What do they know about the jobs they recruit for? What functions and/or industries interest them the most and why? Good recruiters should be able to discuss the jobs and/or functions for which they recruit with enthusiasm. In order to develop a special relationship with candidates and establish their credibility with managers and internal clients, they need to know the lingo and norms, and be familiar with the issues and trends in these fields. And that’s where the added value comes into play: through their knowledge of the jobs along with their ability to analyze and properly assess people. Ask them to describe the type of candidates they usually recruit in their current company. How do they differentiate candidates, tell good candidates from not-so-good ones, what indicators do they use?
- What is their vision of the organization? What recruiting issues do they identify for your company? What do they understand of the economic factors impacting your industry or company? Are they up to speed with the ratios, data and trends of their industry and yours? How do they establish connections between the organization’s various functions?
- What are their favourite tools? Are they sitting around waiting for candidates to answer their ads or do they already have a strong presence in social media, Web 2.0, interest groups, associations, etc.? Recruiters must be able to innovate, get off the beaten path, and be curious—in order to know what questions to ask candidates and determine how to attract them. Ask them about their biggest recruiting successes and why they worked. Challenge them on their vision of innovative recruiting. What do they have in terms of accomplishments in attracting talents?
- How energetic are they? How many files can they efficiently tackle at a time? At what point do they start to feel like they’re losing control? On average, how much time do they devote per interview, and how many do they do in a day? How do they recharge their batteries?
- Assess their resilience and ability to bounce back. Do they feel responsible and committed to serving their organization? Are they naturally optimistic? Are they solution-driven?
- What is their pet peeve? What do they like the least in their functions—which tasks or activities? There are all kinds of recruiters, so it’s essential to know which you’re dealing with and which you need the most. There’s a balance to be found between a “sales” profile, which is often very relationship-oriented and averse to policies and procedures, and a more “cerebral” type. The best of both worlds is to create mixed teams with the two styles to guarantee an effective recruiting team.
Good recruiters will obviously judge you on your processes and approach. So be honest—you can’t teach an old dog new tricks. . .
Nathalie Francisci, Adma, CRHA
Executive Vice-president
at Mandrake Groupe Conseil