Stumbling into recruitment

“People usually stumble into recruitment,” this is an oft repeated answer when asking someone how they started in recruitment and this is also true for me.

While I am still new to the recruitment industry, I believe it has been quite an adventure so far. Here are three things I have learnt from recruitment to date.

Resilience
Resilience is an important factor in recruitment, especially because the job seeker can change their mind in an instant, or the hiring manager may decide that the job seeker is not quite the right fit for them and the job. You will hear a lot of ‘no’ before you hear a ‘yes’. Once you receive a rejection from a job seeker or a hiring manager, you will need to be able to bounce back quickly, to be able to continue to fill the role, or help the job seeker find their dream job. This rollercoaster will be thrilling and rewarding at the same time. I remember having to recruit job seekers for a specific event, a mass recruitment drive, and had gathered many job seekers ready to go. As we got closer to the deadline date, the hiring manager’s objectives changed and the knock on effect was job seekers started to become unavailable. I was able to move forward by making sure I was able recruit and apply the factors I could control.

Asking questions
Ask questions, as many as you can during the training session will help you combat the random scenarios you may experience when speaking to job seekers and hiring managers. Asking questions is essential when interviewing job seekers, as you will discover their motivations and be able to understand what their ideal role will look like. This also applies to the hiring managers when taking in a job brief.

Winning and losing
Wins and losses in recruitment are both important. Wins bring the satisfaction of linking job seekers with hiring managers successfully. Losses help you to see where you need to make some improvements and can work on ways to improve processes.

I never thought I would move into recruitment, but I am thrilled to be in it. It is like a roller coaster filled with all the ups and downs. Everyday, I learn more and build more fantastic relationships.