Characteristics of a Recruiter

I’m often asked by people interested in the staffing industry, what characteristics make a good recruiter.  While there are many, I’ve narrowed it down to what I feel are a few key qualities.

Curiosity

Having an innate curiosity helps a recruiter ask questions.  Asking questions is how they get to know their candidates.  They have to genuinely be curious about a person’s background and the choices they’ve made in their career.  What was their favorite job?  Why did they leave?  What gets them excited about the opportunity?  In a lot of ways, its like being a reporter uncovering a big story.  Curiosity may have killed the cat, but it helped the recruiter find the right person.

Passion

I’ve hired and trained a lot of Recruiters in my career.  Most of them came to me with no previous recruiting experience.  What they did have was passion. If a Recruiter doesn’t have passion about their job or the company they are recruiting for, I guarantee the person their trying to recruit won’t either.  Passion is infectious.  You can see it on your face and you can hear it in your voice.  If you’re passionate about what you do and the opportunities you present, people around you will feel it and get excited too.

Persistence

Finding top talent takes time.  You’ll go through a lot of people who will tell you they have no interest in looking at your opportunity.  If you’re instinct is to crawl under your desk, you’re not cut out for recruiting.  You have to be persistent.  When a candidate says no, it doesn’t mean forever.  Recruiting is all about building relationships and trust.  You approach a candidate and they say no.  You check in with them a few months down the road, they say no again.  You check in a few months later, they’re now ready to listen.  Persistence pays off.

Honesty

You’ve got to be honest.  If you’re candidate doesn’t get the job, being honest with them on feedback can help them with their next interview.  If they didn’t interview well, tell them.  If they didn’t present themselves professionally, tell them.  If their resume isn’t formatted well or doesn’t contain what you are looking for, tell them.  It still amazes me when I coach candidates, how many of them tell me I’m the first recruiter to take the time and give them honest feedback.

Tech Savvy

This day and age, you’ve got to be a little geeky.  Social media has become a huge source for finding and stalking great candidates.  If you aren’t tech savvy to use the sites or join the online communities, you aren’t going to be very successful.  Complex boolean strings, x-ray searches or surfing the web for research are all part of it.  If you’re still relying on newspaper ads and job fairs, you’re going to be left behind.

Above all, you have to be personable.  Recruiters spend a lot of time talking to people.  If you’re introverted and don’t like to engage in conversation, recruiting isn’t for you.