Recruitment Sinner or Saint?

A recent whitepaper from Jobvite highlighted what they believe are the 7 Deadly Sins of Recruiting and I found it most interesting reading.

I believe all recruiters would agree that our job has fundamentally changed, as clients, candidates, technology and the expectations of our services have changed so too do we need to do things differently.

You only need to look at the Sunday Times Careers section to realise that less than 20% of the advertising space is being utilised by corporate South Africa, as opposed to a fairly even split a few years ago.

It begs the question, how are recruiters and employers sourcing talent today?

Whilst technology may be driving our sourcing strategies online I wholeheartedly believe that it’s all still about relationships. Successful recruiters are those who develop and nurture relationships with their clients and candidates alike.

As you read through the Sins identified, ask yourself, would you be classified as a Recruiter Saint or Sinner?

Sin #1: “I usually just find them and forget them”

If this is your mantra when it comes to candidates you’re definitely a Sinner. Whether your candidates are stored in a filing cabinet or in a database/CRM system, only referring to them when you have a vacancy is definitely not the way to go.

In today’s highly competitive recruitment market, the quality of the candidate relationships and the extent of the network you are able to tap into will often mean the difference between making a successful placement and simply growing a list of names who have a poor impression of your recruitment brand.

Effectively developing relationships will mean connecting regularly with your candidates, sharing content that is of value to them and that helps to grow your brand (and reach) within active and, arguably more importantly, passive candidate networks.

Sin #2 “I’m supposed to track that?!”

As a commission-oriented job most recruiters are used to tracking activity, however too few track other important information, not least of which is WHERE your best candidates came from.

Understanding where you sourced the candidates who consistently turn out to be the ones you’re placing, will go a long way to focussing your efforts.

It is also useful to track information about the candidates, for examples their birthdays, interests and family, so that you’re able to establish rapport and build a long-term relationship that goes beyond simply what they do and why you hope they’ll do just that at your client’s organisation.

For managers and agency owners, sound tracking systems become critical if you’ve got multiple individuals working on a client and as a safeguard in case of staff turnover.

Sin #3 “I have enough prospective candidates today, so why feed the funnel”

Recruiting for today’s vacancies without thinking about the future is short-sighted. Great recruiters understand that they should be constantly and proactively marketing themselves as the “go to recruiter” in their chosen niche.

By investing in social recruiting, targeted communication campaigns and setting up a referral programme, these recruiters should be in a position to develop their value as a recruiter to both clients and candidates, many of whom become clients in the future.

Sin #4 “Who needs PR? Our employment brand is fine.”

Increasingly today, great candidates are seeking out opportunities with top employers and spend time and effort researching companies online.

A recent CareerBuilder survey indicated that especially amongst Millennials, 46% of candidates indicate that they would even consider a position paying less than their current salary if it was with a top organisation that they wanted to work for.

Recruiters should also build a strong digital presence as social media allows many opportunities to develop their brand, share their knowledge and “brag” about their experience in a way that engages clients and candidates and grows their network.

Sin #5 “I’m sticking with the old-school approach: scouring the Web for resumes. It’s worked before.”

Whilst many recruiters are committing this sin, forward-thinking individuals are constantly searching for more effective ways to grow their spheres of influence, networks and ultimately the pool from which they can access talent.

In my opinion, one of the worst sins of recruiters who use social media is that they’ve simply swapped job boards for Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter. They’re not job boards so don’t just use them to push vacancies on your connections. Doing this will likely diminish your reputation as a professional and surely cost you many great candidates who opt-out of your network.

In a world that is consumed by online, really old-school approaches might well come to the fore once again. Face-to-face networking can do wonders for accessing those top performers who don’t have their CVs uploaded to the Net.

Sin #6 “This is basic marketing stuff so I don’t need the Executives buy-in”

Although recruitment has most definitely shifted into high gear as a marketing and sales endeavour there is a constant need to ensure that executives, especially those at the client, understand the importance of the time, energy and money that should go into building an employer brand. With all of the tools available today, it can be easy to think that the costs of a recruiter are no longer needed. The true test of success will be in measuring ROI – with strategic partnerships with top recruiters and the effective use of technology, all employers should see a marked improvement in the quality of the candidates available to them.

Sin #7 “If I build it, they will come”

Some employers have spent lots of money in developing trendy talent portals and invested in swanky applicant tracking systems but this is only just the beginning. Individuals don’t simply want a platform, they want engagement. Central to getting this right is to ensure that, as a recruiter (or employer), you understand who you’re targeting, what is important to them and then providing them with content that grabs them.

Challenge yourself daily to engage in new methodology that will help us, as an industry garner the professionalism and credibility that our role deserves – shifting us from Sinner to Saint. Not only will you boost your own brand but the time and effort invested in focussing on avoiding the 7 deadly sins will ensure that your personal network of followers / candidates grows and you achieve greater success.