Don’t be basic
That is to say, the generic copy and paste paragraph you use on LinkedIn to say ‘I’m looking for a top (insert job title) in the (insert location) area to start immediately. Contact me for details’ is the most boring thing we’ll all ever read. Just stop it because you’re better than that. We’re all better than that. Your job adverts are the one place you’ve got room to get creative, to be funny, serious, witty, different and a host of other things, yet still recruiters opt for the standard LinkedIn status that everyone scrolls over. That’s not to say that you have to be a creative director to come up with good job adverts, you just have to put a little effort in. In a world that predominately hires for cultural fit, adverts are the best way to eliminate unsuitable candidates and find the top talent.
Use your greatest asset
I.e. the internet. Recruiters today have unlimited access to people across various platforms and yet so many agencies disregard social recruiting. Again, your LinkedIn job adverts do not, in any world, count as social recruiting. Use social media platforms to find candidates, and then build relationships with them. Create online friendships that will turn into offline billings. Use your social platforms to also build your own image so that when you approach candidates, they engage with a human with personality, likes and emotions, as opposed to another stone cold recruiter blowing up their phone lines.
Don’t be a recruiter
Be a mate. A friend. A confidant. A real human that doesn’t spit out reams of business jargon every time you pick up the phone. And this sounds remarkably simple, but it’s remarkable the number of recruiters who don’t seem to manage it. When we chat to candidates their biggest gripe is that recruiters are impersonal, dull, solely business focused and incredibly transactional. The biggest secret in recruitment is that no one want’s a recruiter, they want a friend. They want one person they trust, that they can always go to every time a career shift or change is happening. Someone who understands their goals, ambitions and wider story. They also want someone they can send their mates to, which in turn gives you an automatic referral network.
None of these things are easy or a quick fix, but if you’re looking for rockstars, superstars and A-players, you’re going to have to play the long game. Start employing tactics that build you a solid foundation of strong candidates, as opposed to a fickle few that may or may not be right for the job.
Find out about how Access has helped some of the leading recruitment agencies get to where they are today.