Thoughts of a Rookie Recruiter
Tahlia • Oct 23, 2018

Recruitment is a tricky game. It’s a balance of highs and lows, successes and disappointment, brilliant plans that crumble, and situations working out better than you could have expected.

Tricky.


But among it all, recruitment is interesting and exciting! You meet people and hear their stories; they make you want to laugh, a few make you want to cry, some make you count your lucky stars that you’ve ended up where you are.


I’ve been in this game, placing temporary roles for 4 months now. so as a rookie recruiter, this is what I’ve learned:



Listening


And I mean really listening is the fastest way to success. Listening to your clients AND your candidates, listening to what they really want, versus what you want for them. In my experience, plonking someone in a role who may not QUITE fit the brief or doesn’t have the exact right experience but is the easiest option is so tempting (trust me), however, this doesn’t achieve a whole lot. The client will be unsatisfied (meaning that highly desired repeat business may be off the cards), the candidate feels as though you haven’t properly understood what they need, and you’re going to be back in the same sourcing position, however, a little more red faced and putting out fires that could have been avoided.


Following Your Gut


Cliché, right? But it works. If you don’t feel right about something, there’s probably a reason. With absolutely zero scientific evidence to back myself up here, I like to think that us humans are pretty good at unknowingly reading situations, which leads to that gut feeling saying ‘hey, don’t do it pal’. In recruitment – especially in the fast-paced world of temp recruitment – there isn’t always a lot of time to over analyse situations. You need to understand situations quickly, develop outcomes to potential situations; and make decisions on the fly. If your gut says no: listen to it!


Maintain the Relationship


This shouldn’t come as a surprise – recruitment is a very relationship-based industry. Thus, the better the relationship with both your clients and candidates, the further you’ll get. Being liked is awesome, knowing that someone wants to know about you and wants to hear about your week is great! Our clients and candidates are no different, maintaining frequent & consistent communication is by no means easy, but it makes a world of difference. For candidates, regular check-ins ensure they feel comfortable chatting with you. Once you’ve developed this rapport, they are then more likely to openly discuss future issues or problems in a placement. It also means that you’re able to keep tabs on what’s happening within the company and ensure you are on top of your client’s needs, as soon as they need it.


So yes, only a rookie here , but throughout the past few months these pointers have helped guide my understanding of how to best service all clients and candidates. There isn’t much that can save recruitment from being ‘tricky’ but these tips at least make some elements of the game a little more seamless.

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