How To Hire Great Recruiters - Part 7

Last week I spent a few days at the ERExpo in San Diego.  I had a chance to meet up with  some colleagues, fellow recruiting leaders and friends I haven't seen in quite a while.  I also had a chance to meet and begin building new relationships with some great people and some excellent talent.  I will talk more about my time at ERE in a coming post but it was also really cool to meet up with some of the readers of this little blog.  I am grateful to those of you who read this site on a consistent basis and I am glad you decided to introduce yourself to me personally.  Almost every one of your mentioned the series on how to hire great recruiters and I am happy it has been a good series and might be adding value. 

It has been a few weeks but it is time to revisit the series on How To Hire Great Recruiters.  Last time we met on this topic we talked about the behavioral competency Tolerance of Ambiguity.  I guess it might be advantageous to review what we have covered to this point:

1. Interaction
2. Spoken Communication
3. Commitment To Task
4. Insight and Needs Analysis
5. Creativity
6. Tolerance of Ambiguity

Let's talk about competency number 7 on our list of 8 behavioral competencies necessary for success as a recruiter - Reading The System.

Reading the System: The ideal recruiter is able to recognize and use information about an organization's culture and its key players to accomplish legitimate organizational goals. He or she possesses a healthy awareness of the importance of timing, politics, and organizational process in managing change.

Every company is different. Every hiring leader is different.  Each line of business or division is unique and difference.  The systems and politics that exist within each require a knowledgeable and savvy recruiter to navigate what can be a treacherous labyrinth of confusion.

Candidates can be sucked into an organization's little nuances, quirks, and structure and never be heard from or seen again. Great recruiters know these difficulties exist and know how to navigate through them with great skill and effectiveness. They know when to put their foot down, when to back off, how to push something through, and when to grease the skids to make it appear seamless. Keeping the corporate goals and business objectives in mind throughout the recruiting process, great recruiters mesh all of these things for the benefit of the talent and the company.

As organizations become increasingly complex recruiters can find themselves becoming lost in the quagmire of organizational complexity.  They have to begin to seek out strong internal relationships and learn how to contribute and withdraw from them at key times during a business year or recruiting cycle.  These relationships form the backbone of what one could call their secondary recruiting organization.  The knowledge gained in this organization within an organization can improve recruiting peformance but more importantly help the recruiter learn to leverage these relationships in order to meeting recruiting goals more effectively and efficiently. 

As a recruiter gains capital in this inner organizations they must learn how to save up and spend that capital wisely.  Knowing who is friend and who is enemy internally and managing to those dichotomous relationships is critical to success. 

I find that this competency is often overlooked when hiring recruiters.  Why?  Because it is hard to ascertain and understand whether or not a prospect or candidate can actually execute in this area effectively.  Strong behavioral interview questions that are linked to this competency will improve a recruiting leaders ability to identify the right recruiting talent.