The quality of a recruiter has a significant influence over the experience of recruitment, for both candidates and employers. If you’re currently looking for the right recruiter to help you to take the next steps in your career then making a good decision about who to register with could be crucial. What makes this easy is that exceptional recruiters all have a few things in common:
1. Positive communication skills
Great recruiters know when to listen and are adept at dealing with difficult situations with tact and sensitivity. They may not always tell you what you want to hear but you’ll end up with much better results by choosing a recruiter that communicates honestly and unambiguously. So, when it comes to picking between recruiters look for those who are clear and up front about any challenges you might face, who are easy to get hold of and who come across as committed and professional. Your recruiter is essentially representing you with a potential employer so if they don’t make a good first impression on you the chances are they won’t on employers either.
2. Strong marketing skills
You can learn a lot about how a recruiter will market you as a candidate by looking at their own marketing skills and strategy. Do they embrace marketing technology – such as social media and mobile browsing – and are they on top of current issues and trends? Is the marketing for their own business convincing and do you like the way they market to you?
3. Effective organisation
It will make your life much easier to work with a well organised recruiter. This is something you can get an impression of from the very start by looking at response times to phone calls, how quickly emails are answered and how quickly a recruiter takes action when an opportunity arises. There is no reason why you should wait days to hear back from a recruiter or be left on hold for 20 minutes.
Finding a recruiter who understands that your time is precious means that they will make the most of your availability.
4. Broad relationships
The ability to establish relationships is one of the most fundamental skills for a recruiter. This is how the best candidates are placed and how the opportunities to find the most exciting positions are uncovered. Look for a recruiter with a broad network of relationships, especially in your industry, good people skills, confidence, positive body language and conversation all help too.
5. Motivation and problem solving
Does your recruiter ask you to fill out a basic form and then say they’ll contact you if anything comes up? Or do they want to know how you work in a team, what languages you speak and what was the most rewarding part of your last job? Key to a successful job search for candidates is a recruiter who is genuinely interested in success and motivated to make it happen, no matter what issues arise along the way.
At 2i Recruit we have been helping candidates seek out their dream jobs since 2004 – contact us to find out how we could help you move forward.
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