Building a high-performing team takes more than just enthusiasm – it takes a very specific expertise that includes the ability to lead as well as core skills that are fundamental to the recruitment process as well as in emerging areas related to technology, search, and social media.
If you are a recruitment manager who wants to improve your team’s chances of success in the coming year, you need to be in tune with the skills that are really going to help them rise above the rest, boost performance, and enable positive outcomes. A high-performing team is not only able to do more for your clients and candidates, but it also empowers recruitment managers like you to lead effectively, ensuring that success is as sustainable as it is attainable.
1. Be candidate-centric
Why this is important:
People remember how you make them feel, both on the client and candidate side. Are you measuring both candidate and client satisfaction?
How to improve:
Taking the time to get to know each stakeholder allows you to create meaningful connections. Taking a personal interest in who the candidate is at their core provides a better depth of understanding, creates a bond, and helps immensely when an availability arises. Transparent communication to candidates is also crucial; your key performance indicators should always be geared towards this.
2. Be a 'big picture' thinker
Why this is important:
Focusing on the big picture allows you to establish long-term relationships, as opposed to operating on a transactional basis. Long-term relationships lead to greater success as it will lead to many more opportunities to fulfil both the needs of the candidate and the needs of the client over the coming months.
How to improve:
Knowing where a company is headed in the future as well as having a good understanding of where a candidate sees themselves in the same time-frame provides maximum value and will deliver better results. Encourage your team to become a partner in the recruitment process.
3. Be authentic and personal
Why this is important:
The way you come across to your clients and candidates fosters more meaningful connections and loyalty, improving response rates and building the foundations of a relationship built on trust, respect, and genuine warmth.
How to improve:
Personalised communications demonstrate your understanding of the client or candidate’s needs. Your team should take an interest in their candidates as individuals. Getting to know their interests and motivations will deepen the connection and will pay dividends when it comes to placing them in the right environment.
4. Be results-driven
Why this is important:
Having clear priorities and being willing to do whatever it takes to get the job done isn’t lost on a client. Putting their needs over that of the agency demonstrates your willingness to accommodate and shows that you are on their team. Don’t be limited by procedure and structure if it’s not going to get the best results for the client.
How to improve:
Ensure that a client’s wishes come first. For example, if company policy is to spread the work evenly to ensure every recruiter gets his or her fair share but the client requests a specific individual, put the focus on giving the client what they need. An inability to be agile in this situation may sabotage the recruitment process before it even begins.
5. Be a networking machine
Why this is important:
In today’s competitive job market, top talent doesn’t stay idle for very long. Expanding your network through any means increases your chances of identifying and on-boarding such an individual.
How to improve:
Don’t limit yourself to traditional recruitment sources. Put yourself out there, both online and offline, continually strive to reach out and expand your network through any means available: internal database searches, networking events, word-of-mouth from industry leaders, social media such as LinkedIn, and even through creative eavesdropping. Allow your team extra time during working hours to attend relevant events so that they can be present within their vertical.
6. Be an Influencer
Why this is important:
Providing an influential voice in the staffing realm will help to build confidence in your business acumen and will open the doors to better engagement, both in person and online. The human connection always wins out over technology, no matter how effective a tech tool may be.
How to improve:
Be outspoken. Share what you know and connect with other influencers in the recruitment space. Once you are known as an influencer, social engagement will build along with credibility, ultimately leading to more fruitful relationships.
7. Be an active listener
Why this is important:
Being able to really hear your candidates and clients will give you great insight into what they are looking for and will help you to more easily fulfil their needs. By simply charging ahead without the benefit of this knowledge, you run the risk of derailing the process before it even begins.
How to improve:
Listen first, talk second. Practice great restraint, even when you are faced with opinions you do not agree with. There may be a valid reason for your contact to be taking a certain tack, but you will never know unless you are patient enough to hear the entire story. If you allow them to speak, they will still be there when it’s your turn to talk.
8. Demonstrate resilience and grit
Why this is important:
Candidates will pull out, setbacks will happen. Keep driving forward, regardless of how frustrating it may become. Getting hung up on one setback may prevent you from experiencing success in other areas as you might be too focused on what you lost to see what you stand to gain.
How to improve:
No matter what happens, resolve to carry on. Realize that not every assignment will have a happy ending, but resolve to move forward and do better. Honour your experiences and learn from your mistakes. Absolve yourself of responsibility if the situation was out of your hands. Nothing impedes progress more than a negative attitude!
9. Be a great communicator
Why this is important:
To speak and be understood means that you won’t have to waste time rephrasing or repeating yourself. Making your points in a clear, concise, and timely manner helps your clients and candidates to connect with you on a more meaningful level.
How to improve:
Develop a workflow for keeping your team in constant communication with clients, hiring managers and candidates. For example, create an end-of-week recap or institute weekly check-ins. The same should hold true for candidates: an email, a phone call or a quick text takes two minutes and lets them know they are still a priority and will improve response rates considerably.
10. Be a social seller
Why this is important:
Using social platforms to source leads maximizes the time you spend engaged in the process, allowing you to do more in less time and encouraging people to come to you, not the other way around.
How to improve:
Leverage relevant social platforms to encourage inbound leads. Encourage your team to keep their LinkedIn profiles up to date and actively connected to other industry leaders as well as recruiter-colleagues.
11. Be data-minded
Why this is important:
Being able to analyse data and communicate its findings effectively helps you to understand the current market and talent pool. Data is the key to making timely decisions.
How to improve:
Leverage industry data to form the basis of your recruitment strategies. Identify trends, chart progress, and move forward with a results-oriented approach that is based on verifiable proof. Recruiting metrics that are relevant to your company will largely depend on what your long-term business needs might be.
12. Be a Boolean expert
Why this is important:
Being able to think and search with a Boolean framework helps you to be more productive in complex recruiting environments. It helps you to identify appropriate candidates more quickly using multiple but very specific search variables.
How to improve:
Being able to grasp the Boolean mindset allows you to mine available search platforms more effectively. While not everyone on the team needs this skill, your most analytical thinkers may be the best candidates.
13. Demonstrate learning agility
Why this is important:
Being able to learn quickly and respond to change is essential. Technology is constantly evolving, giving us new search platforms, artificial intelligence (AI), and candidate matching capabilities as well as screening and interview tools, video, and more.
How to improve:
Recruiters need to be aware of and on top of current tech trends that are or could be relevant to the industry and be able to identify what’s valuable and adapt quickly to derive maximum value with minimum time spent.
14. Learn how to leverage technology effectively
Why this is important:
Technology should be an aid, not a distraction. It should be a way to help you accomplish a specific goal, not something to hide behind.
How to improve:
Leverage technology tools and solutions effectively to allow your people to spend more time on what really matters: people.
15. Be a brand ambassador
Why this is important:
Knowing what your agency’s unique selling point and being able to articulate that point is what sets you apart as a recruiter. With a clearer understanding of your clients, you will be able to more easily sell your company’s culture, values, and value proposition.
How to improve:
Have a solid elevator pitch. Be an evangelist and don’t be afraid to demonstrate your intimate knowledge of why your company is better than your competitor. Have your team practice their elevator pitches on each other to help them build confidence.
16. Be a thought leader
Why this is important:
Having an industry specialty sets you apart from your peers, adding value to individual efforts, team efforts, and those of your company as a whole.
How to improve:
Direct your team to own and understand the industry they recruit in. Each recruiter should craft a personal brand and be active in its evolution.
17. Be a calculated risk-taker
Why this is important:
Creating an environment which encourages problem solving and creativity, and allows each team member the freedom to fail supports a culture of innovation. Wins are bigger and losses are simply opportunities to learn and grow.
How to improve:
Be solutions-oriented and above all, don’t be afraid to fail. Try a new source, or take a chance on a candidate you have a good hunch about. Even if your decision falls outside of “normal” boundaries, it may come to be seen as the best move you’ve ever made.
18. Be a master storyteller
Why this is important:
Anybody can look at numbers and see why you’re winning, but they might not ever know how you did it – and that may be the most important part of the story. Stories get attention and encourage candidates to become emotionally invested in the role and the company.
How to improve:
People don’t respond the same way to a pie chart as they do to their feelings. Becoming an effective storyteller influences decisions and stirs emotions – and that’s what you will be remembered for. Relate anecdotes that better illustrate company cultures, challenges, and the potential opportunities the position has to offer.
19. Know thyself
Why this is important:
Having a good understanding of your team’s strengths and weaknesses can be leveraged to shape a high-performing unit.
How to improve:
Reach out to each member of your team. Have them complete self-evaluations as well as evaluations of their fellow team members. Encourage collaboration by aligning personal goals with long-term vision.
In conclusion, there are many ways in which you can optimize your recruiting team – in fact, many of your recruiters likely already possess these skills but may not be using them to their greatest advantage. Working closely with each stakeholder to understand the areas in which they can be nurtured to greatness will provide benefit to the entire team as well as to the recruiting company.
Here’s to your continued success! Sirius People has been supporting people success in Australia since 2003. If you would like to learn more about what we can do for you, contact us today, and don’t forget to download our eBook, “The Benefits Your Recruitment Agency Should be Offering to You.”
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