In Part 1 and Part 2 of this series, How To Hire Great Recruiters, we discussed the idea that great recruiting is the engine that drives an organization forward. As a result, hiring great recruiters must be one of the most critical hiring initiatives of any recruiting leader or company.
We have already presented and discussed two of the eight competencies we have to come to know predict future superior performance in a recruiter. They are:
Interaction: The ideal recruiter is able to communicate with others in a warm and helpful manner while building credibility and rapport.
Spoken Communication: The ideal recruiter is able to present information clearly through the spoken word. He or she listens well and influences others through oral presentation in either positive or negative circumstances.
Now, let’s take a look at the fourth competency that can predict superior performance in a recruiter – Commitment To Task.
Commitment To Task: The great recruiter is able to start and persist with specific courses of action while exhibiting a high degree of self motivation and a sense of urgency. They are willing to commit to long hours of work and make personal sacrifice in order to reach goals.
Great recruiters are motivated and driven to succeed by a fire that burns inside them rather than a fire that is lit under them. Sure, I have long been an advocate of compensating recruiters based on performance but the drive and push that comes from being passionate about recruiting and finding great talent cannot be taught or bought. You either have it or you don't. Recruiters that have it require very few "pep talks" or motivation by any external factor. As the talent economy gets more challenging and more intense, the recruiters who possess this sense of commitment and the selfless drive to sacrifice in order to reach a goal will win and be deemed great.
Great recruiters also see their most important positions as urgent. In many CEO and executive-level surveys, the chief complaint against HR as it relates to recruiting is the apparent lack of urgency when it comes to acquiring talent. Great recruiters know how to prioritize their work based on corporate business goals and strategies and then create a sense of urgency in the recruitment process in order to be more efficient and effective. This is also true of their talent pipelines. Great recruiters know their talent pipeline in detail and have prioritized the best talent in each industry, job discipline, region etc. so that they are capable of getting ahead of and/or responding to changing business, requisition and job opening conditions.
I don't know of anyone who grew up with the goal of becoming a recruiter. I never see my daughter, or any other kid for that matter, playing recruiter or summoning their friends to join them in a great game of "Let's Make Recruiting Calls" or "Hiring People". I firmly believe, and my experience hiring great recruiters tells me, that recruiters who are committed to task are born or developed but not made. Training will not teach a recruiter this crucial competency. It might be developed in them at a young age but it can't be taught.
In Part 4 we will look at Insight and Needs Analysis.
Anyone want to join me in a game of "Headhunting"?
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