How to Start a Recruiter Career

A career in recruiting is not something anyone dreams of, or plan to venture into, immediately after college. In most cases, recruiters stumbled upon their present profession, either through being able to match their skills with the requirements of the profession, a desire for adventure, or simply the desire to earn more income.

A profession in recruitment could be highly lucrative, if you have the skills and nous to go about your profession with the diligence and commitment required.

The first thing you should understand is recruitment involves matching desirable candidates to desirable position in desirable organizations. Your job is to ensure that the most qualified candidate with the right demeanor and personality fills the position that the client has a vacancy for.

You would feel a sense of reward and accomplishment, when you’ve been able to save an organization the possibility of the loss of future earnings, through your selection of the appropriate candidate to fill the position at the client’s company. Not to mention how you would improve the quality and status of your candidate’s life, by matching him with the position he most desires.

So, if you are yearning to begin a career in recruitment, there are some factors you should look into. These would be outlined below.

• An Educational Degree or Certification: – To establish credibility in this field, a prospective recruiter is expected to have an educational degree, preferably a Bachelor’s degree, or some form of certification. Even if candidates might not request for qualifications, employers would. Also, it would do no harm to impress an employer with the knowledge that you take your profession seriously, you have acquired certification in the profession.

Typical qualifications accepted are in Human Resources, Social Sciences, Psychology, Business Administration or Marketing. These fields involve professionals who would be working directly and consistently with other people, thus they are able to identify a candidate’s strengths, weaknesses, quirks, inclinations, anything that would help them in making a successful placement.

You can also read more about desirable skills in recruitment, at related education sites.

• Self-motivated: – This quality is very important. Even if you work with a recruiting firm, you are going to be expected to meet targets and goals set for a duration. So, to be a successful recruiter, you would have to be motivated to achieve your objectives for the day, week, or the timeline stated for its accomplishment.
• Go-getter attitude: – A successful recruiter is going to require a ‘go-getter’ attitude. You would need to be responsive, because unlike some professions i.e. Medicine, Surgery, Law, etc. where the clients ‘come to you’, in this profession, you would have to go to the clients (and your candidates). Though you could take your feet off the gas, after some time, when you’ve built a network of clients and candidates, it could be counterproductive to have ‘off days’.
• Confidence: – Like in every other profession, Confidence is very important for success. The recruiter must have the required knowledge in his field. In addition, he must be able to dispense this knowledge while conveying the impression that he has no doubt in his mind, that he knows what he is talking about.
• Communication: – Excellent communication skills are required to effectively interact with clients and candidates. Do not overlook the effect of a fluent communicator to persuade a client.
• Presentation skills: – Most of the time, you are going to be carrying out lots of presentations. It would be to your advantage if you hone your skills in this area.
• Sales: – It would seem that this should come at the top of the list. Recruiting requires lots of selling and sales. Though persuasion, presentation and communication, you are going to be selling to the client firms you would be working with. You would equally be selling to candidates on the perks of the jobs you are offering them.
• Positive attitude: – A positive mentality is really important to provide the fortitude that is required when the recruiter experiences the challenges and setbacks that could be associated with the profession. Some examples could be when you fail to get a client’s account. The recruiting profession, like other profession do have peak and off-peak periods. A positive attitude is vital to managing the off-peak periods.
• Networking as a skill: – To get your feet in the door, i.e. to get your first client, it is inevitable that you are going to have to learn how to network. From industry events, to seminars, to tradeshows, recruiters learn how to mingle, carefully, and conscientiously, with the knowledge that one contact can provide the reference for their first job, and other jobs.

 

Steps to getting your first recruiting job

1. You are going to have to decide the field or industr(ies) you would like to work within. Selecting a field, over time, gives you the knowledge, familiarity and expertise required from your working consistently in that field.
2. You might either join an existing recruitment agency and work on commission basis, or you commence your own firm. Though each option has its pros and cons, working with an existing firm might give you the leverage to absorb the processes involved in running a successful recruiting firm.
3. Develop a plan with which you would meet prospective client companies, and afterwards, corresponding candidates. Here, Networking is key. One resource you could look into are existing clients that you have known from past jobs. Attend events organized in your industry of choice, network with other recruiting professionals, attend talent hunt programs at schools or placement centres. Your objective would be to watch and learn how to develop relationships with prospective clients.
4. Create or organize a talent pool. A list of candidates should be within your reach when you get acquainted with available vacancies. You can achieve this by have an online database, encouraging candidates to register via their platform of interest, or ask for referrals from recruiters in other fields.
5. Match available positions with winning candidates. This is the final step of the recruitment process. You have successfully filled your first recruitment position, and can go on to creating other matches.