Top Recruiters Have These Traits. How Many Do You Have?

It turns out that the industry’s top recruiters share the same qualities. These specific traits are what makes them stand out and excel in their careers.

How many do you already have yourself? Whether you’re a new or seasoned professional in the industry, each of these characteristics can be learned and practiced to up your recruiting game.

Here are the qualities that the best in the industry all have:

Top Recruiters Have Excellent People Skills

This may be obvious, but being in the recruitment industry boils down to having stellar people skills. Top recruiters have large groups of contacts in multiple industries, and know how to maintain these networks with great communication techniques. It takes time to build a vast, high-quality network of professionals that can be tapped into when needed. To do this, recruiters must be willing to put themselves out there—both online and offline—to build meaningful professional connections.

Once top recruiters make an introduction and have a few conversations, they don’t disappear and pop-up when it’s convenient. They make time to send occasional emails to stay up-to-date with their contacts and provide advice when possible.

At times, maintaining constant contact with a vast group of connections may get tricky, especially when busy schedules come into play. That’s why successful recruiters use the best ATS systems available to them in order to stay on track. Not only do these ATS systems automatically record all communication history, they also send scheduled notifications and reminders to recruiters to reach out and keep the relationship thriving.

They Are Trustworthy

For candidates, starting a new job can mean having a new salary, work location and environment. Accepting a job offer is not something people decide on a whim. The best recruiters truly understand this, and that’s why they work hard to instill a sense of trust with candidates. This means they strive to be as open and transparent as they can.

Alan Henshaw, a Talent Acquisition Leader, says that recruiters should be willing to share all aspects of a job, both good and bad. It’s not a bad thing to be honest about what an organization can improve on and how they plan to address it. In fact, it indicates that the organization is self-aware and willing to improve on areas that need attention.

Candidates want to know as much information about a role and company as they can before they make a major decision. When you share your insight with them, they truly appreciate it.

They Make Data-Informed Decisions

We know that many recruiters are naturals when working with people, but they also need to be comfortable working with numbers. The best recruiters should be able to interpret data to continue making smart and informed decisions.

Luckily, there’s an abundance of recruiting software today that enable you to quickly analyze and interpret big data. At Mindscope, one of the features we offer our users is the ability to track the probabilities of closing their sales prospects. When one of their candidates moves onto the next stages of an open job order, users can see the increased probability of the candidate’s placement reflected in real-time sales projections. This feature lets users accurately measure future sales and plan strategically.

With a data-driven mindset, recruiters can analyze where their best candidates are coming from, along with important metrics like time-to-hire and cost-to-hire. Top recruiters know that they need to understand the numbers to do their job well—and they use recruitment software to help them excel.

They are Resilient

Successful recruiters need to have thick skin. According to an article by Sarah Ferraioli, a good recruiter must be able to bounce back from disappointment or failure. While recruiters feel an exciting rush when they place candidates, they also must learn how to handle their emotions when opportunities fall through.

Even when recruiters do everything right, sometimes circumstances out of their control (like budget cuts) can squash opportunities. Top recruiters don’t give up after these setbacks. They know how to learn from the situation and move on.

Do You Have Any of These Traits?

Successful recruiters nurture meaningful connections with candidates and check up on them periodically. They know how important honesty and transparency is to candidates, so they’re more than willing to share their knowledge on a particular role or company.

Before creating a job post, they analyze data and make sure they’re using the best ATS system to ensure they’re always placing top talent. Finally, when they’re faced with a lead that falls through, they don’t let disappointment affect output – they just continue to be a top recruiter.