The 10 Skills Every Recruiter Should Have
I should probably add “hiring manager” to the title of this post.
The individuals responsible for finding and hiring the organization’s talent need skills. It’s not fair to simply say, “Hey! Go hire some high performers and rock stars. Oh, and do it quickly. And, cheaply.” I’m not writing this post to say that a recruiter or hiring manager needs to have these skills before they can get involved in the recruiting process. You can use this list to help develop those individuals involved in recruiting.
10 Skills Every Recruiter and Hiring Manager Should Have
- Ethics . The credibility of the recruiter and hiring manager can make or break the company’s hiring process. Recruiters and hiring managers are the first impression of the company. If they don’t appear to be ethical, what will candidates think of the company? One thing is certain: candidates are not going to take a job with a company that they believe is unethical.
- Analytical . The recruiting team needs to have the ability to look into the future to determine needs. As they’re sourcing candidates, are there skills they feel the company should develop from within? They need to speak up.
- Planning . Recruiting takes time. The efforts being made today will pay off weeks or months from now. Recruiters and hiring managers should be able to develop and work an effective strategy or plan of action.
- Technology . Yes, relationships matter but you cannot recruit without technology. Recruiting technology solutions include applicant tracking systems (ATS), onboarding solutions, social media distribution platforms, etc.
- Communication . Recruiting team members must be able to effectively relate to all stakeholders – candidates, employees, and management. They also should be able to explain the process, the job, and their decisions.
- Curiousity . Sometimes we put constraints on hiring managers and ask them to stick to a list of pre-written interview questions. I get it. We’re trying to mitigate risk. But let’s train managers on how to ask proper follow-up questions so they can find out more about a candidate and their experience.
- Risk-Taking . Recruiters should be allowed to take an educated risk and try a new source. Or take a chance and extend an offer to a candidate that might appear to be out of the ordinary. It could be the best thing that ever happened.
- Sales . Recruiters and hiring managers are in the business of persuading a candidate that they should take the job. Give them the tools – a great culture, competitive pay and benefits, etc.
- Follow-up . If companies want to keep candidates interested, recruiters and hiring managers must master the art of follow-up. The good news is that good planning (see #3) can really help and many technology solutions (see #4) allow for automated follow-up messages to be sent to candidates. They simply need to be used.
- Evaluation . The recruiting team should be able to explain, both quantitatively and qualitatively, the company’s recruiting strategy and its effectiveness.
Consider taking this list to your recruiting team and ask them what skills they feel anyone who is responsible for sourcing and selecting talent should have. Then evaluate the list and make sure those identified skills are being addressed somewhere – orientation, onboarding, training, mentoring, coaching, etc. Just make sure they are being addressed.
Organizations have an obligation to set their recruiting team up for success. Frankly, they should want to do it.
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