News & insights

Characteristics Of The Perfect Recruiter

By Fiona Frudd

Combines emotional intelligence with an outgoing personality:

A good recruiter is someone that can sympathetically advise and prep candidates, confidently liaise with existing clients and expertly use their powers of persuasion to get onto a new client’s preferred supplier list (PSL). They need to be able to speak firmly on an applicant’s behalf to negotiate better starting salaries and also explain gently and constructively when a candidate has been rejected. With so many relationships to build and maintain, an outgoing personality is a pre-requisite, as is the possession of emotional intelligence. A potential recruiter must be able to read a situation and know instinctively what is the most appropriate way to communicate. These traits will encourage trust and ultimately success.

Bags of drive and ambition:

There are many routes into recruitment, which is one of the reasons it remains such a popular profession. Some aspirant consultants take the academic path, working towards their certification in agency recruitment, while others come from a sales or relevant industry background. What they must all demonstrate, however, is drive and ambition. You can’t be quiet and reserved in recruitment. You need to be voracious to meet your targets; hungry to seek out the best talent before your rivals do and confident enough to sell candidates to even the least flexible client. The best recruiters are self-assured, while remaining professional and can persuade a reluctant candidate to think twice about a role. If they are self-motivated and competitive, they could do very well in recruitment.

Actually listens:

Candidates all come complete with a defined set of employment criteria: specific conditions they’ll work under and those that they won’t – however realistic. Similarly, the client’s job description prescribes a list of desirable skills and behaviours which embodies ‘the ideal candidate’. A great recruiter will listen to candidates and clients, working their hardest to meet expectations (within reason, naturally). They are passionate about placing the right individuals in the right jobs and by listening, they should be far more able to recognise when they are presented with a perfect match, pleasing all parties.

Good under pressure:

The phone’s ringing, you’ve got a pile of CVs on your desk, a candidate has dropped by to speak with you, your inbox contains ten new vacancies, a client need a temp that afternoon and you need to call three applicants about the outcome of their interviews. Recruitment is a busy profession and so it stands to reason that the perfect potential recruiter can stay calm under pressure, knows how to prioritise and exhibits a degree of resilience. Those that can keep on top of their workload without getting too stressed will go far.

Tech savvy:

The ideal prospective recruiter is one that can use technology efficiently to build a wide talent pool quickly. Engaging with LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and Google+ allows them to post vacancies quickly but also lets them search for candidates faster. To that end, they’ll need to prove they know how to carry out legal and unobtrusive online searches. They should also develop a valuable network of connections via these channels, to facilitate their head-hunting. By using social media, recruiters can place candidates in a far shorter amount of time and also reach out to future candidates or clients. Of course, there are a great many more traits and skills that a potential recruiter should possess, but being able to evidence those listed above should certainly get them noticed, if not hired.

At SF Recruitment we are always looking to hire experienced recruiters. We are an exceptional business with the strongest recruiters in the industry. We are incredibly proud of our business, our culture, our charitable positioning and of course the incredible rewards that being a successful consultant brings.

Fiona Frudd
Fiona Frudd
Head of Marketing