Today’s professional environment is a dynamic landscape with a fast employee turnover and plenty of new career opportunities ahead. The prospects of changing employers and even careers are easier now than ever before, so it is no wonder businesses rely on recruiting specialists and staffing agencies to keep the new talent flowing. Moreover, the job pays well for the talent headhunter — from 25% to 100% of every new hire’s monthly salary.
It would also seem that a recruiter’s job does not call for any particular hard skills, which is why many people mistakenly believe that anyone with a laptop and an Internet connection can start making money on recruiting. Well, the reality is always a bit harsher than that. So, before you start a recruiting agency or try your luck as an independent staffing contractor, we’ve decided to list what professional staffing agencies are really about. Here are the top things you need to know about this profession before you can decide if this industry is right for you.
Hard skills are minimal but soft skills are over the top
While recruiting does not require too many hard skills, working with people calls for a lot of attention to detail and some basic understanding of human psychology. As a staffing manager, your goal is to find professionals who could fit into a company not only as far as their technical professional experience is concerned; it is also important to find candidates whose personal qualities could be a decent match for the already existing team.
This is a challenging and often creative process that requires a lot of attentive thinking. Here is a simple example — say, you need to find a chef for a new BBQ restaurant. Would you contact a convinced vegan with such a job offer? The answer is an obvious no; the trick is that this same principle, even though with subtler and less obvious nuances, applies to all other industries out there.
Recruiters must have an understanding of the industries they work in
It’s very uncommon for a single recruiter to provide expert hires for multiple unrelated industries because a thorough understanding of professional specifics is the key to finding the best-suited candidates. This statement is especially true for the tech sector or any other high-skilled job openings, for that matter. A successful IT recruiter, for example, may not be able to write a single line of programming code oneself — but it is still important to have at least some understanding of IT specifics, technologies, and professional responsibilities to find suitable candidates. Why so exactly? Check out the next point.
Routine screening and searching is a major part of the job
Staffing is not about interviewing people all day long; for the most part, it is a routine job of searching professional databases and making new connections on LinkedIn. It’s true that recruiters use tools like SignalHire to help them in their search for qualified experts by industries and skillsets. Yet, even after you export a spread of — let’s say, .NET developers — it is still up to you to study each prospective candidate’s experience and employment history.
Without this manual screening, you will not be able to make any informed predictions as to the candidates’ real experience (what projects they worked on, how long how they stayed within one company/department/position, etc.) And such details are extremely important for finding the best candidates and building a solid reputation for your recruiting agency. The software can do quite a lot these days — there are tools that work miracles in automation and bulk candidate search. But it is still up to people to interact with other people, which is an important part of any recruiter’s job.
Building a steady presence on social media is a must
Speaking of interacting with other people, most recruiters spend quite a lot of time building a consistent presence on social media. It is important not only to connect with new prospects but also to keep an eye on industry groups and build your own professional reputation. And it is not just about LinkedIn (even though this platform is always an obvious start). There are plenty of other social sites with hundreds of professional groups where you can engage with prospective talent. But before you get there, you must build some reputation for yourself, too — and this is a never-ending process that always leaves room for improvement.
Reputation is always at stake when suggesting candidates for hire
No matter if you are working as an individual contractor or as part of a recruiting agency team, keep in mind that your professional reputation is at stake whenever you send a candidate for an interview with the employer. Most companies use staffing services to save time on weeding out unfit candidates. So, if you keep sending applicants that are clearly not suitable for the job, there really is no sense in employing your services, right? Sure, this does not mean that your candidates should have a 100% hire ratio on every first interview, but they have to be on par with what an employer expects. This is another reason why recruiters should work closely with employers and why it is so important to understand industry specifics.
Recruiting agencies often accept responsibility for candidates’ trial period
Quite often, companies have a certain trial period for their new hires. This period can last from a few days to several months, depending on the level of responsibility and company specifics. It is also common practice to pay the recruiter only after this period is successfully over, and the temporary hire gets employed in a permanent position. Many recruiters and staffing agents have a serious problem with this practice, but the simple truth is — if you claim to be the best talent hunter for responsible job openings, you have to justify your claims with factual proof (which is the trial period, in this case). The upside is that responsible vacancies are also high-paid positions, which will be clearly reflected in your commission. If, of course, you did your job right.
The industry is always changing, so one must learn on the go
Today’s professional environment is changing at an incredible pace, so successful recruiters must be able to adapt quickly. This is true both for recruiting tendencies and job specifics in most industry segments. So, it is vital to stay updated on all the latest trends — from the best recruiting software, helping with search automation to new technologies and skillsets in your respective market segment.
At this point, it may already seem that recruiting is a singularly insecure job and way more challenging than most people believe. In practice, the truth is neither here nor there. Like any professional activity, staffing is a job that calls for some skills — in this case, people’s skills, for the most part. And of course, if you are about to start on a recruiting career path, do not expect to make large profits right away. Building a database of contacts and learning the basics of your new profession will take some time — as it always does with any new occupation. But if you have an eye for detail, are good with people, do not mind a bit of routine now and then, and are not afraid of challenge, this could be a perfect job for you.