This Recruiter’s Bag of Tricks

What has been one of the key’s to my recruiting success? My trusty bag of tricks that I keep at my desk.

No this bag does not contain that magic web site to endless qualified candidates, nor does it contain that perfect script to sell a retained search, but rather this bag of tricks contains tips that I have learned over the years from my fellow recruiters. I am of course speaking metaphorically, but I used the term ‘bag of tricks’ when training new recruiters. By this I am referring to the importance of remaining open to try new things.  For the most part the recruiting process remains the same. There are critical stages along the way, but for the most part all recruiters follow the same course to obtain a successful placement. It is how a recruiter sprinkles a bit of his/her genuine individual self into the mix that makes all the difference. A perfect example of how this pertains to me can be found in my Movie Guy post.

It would also be a good time here to stress that by new things I am not necessarily talking about Applicant Tracking Systems, or Social Media tools. Both can be very helpful in growing a recruiters desk, but my bag of tricks contained the little things. The things I picked up from listening to the big billers, by reading all I can about my industry, and by being an overall sponge. For example; the way a colleague might word a closing question to move the process along would be just the thing I would soak up and add to my bag. At times just by wording things a bit different you can find new success. That was the purpose of my bag of tricks. To not keep the blinders on and see what was working for others around me. I might now have used every trick I collected, but at least I had a place to store them, and try one out from time to time.

Two weeks ago there was a great article featured in our ‘Around the industry‘ feed from the Post Gazette that had a great take on this topic;

Recruiters find old methods frustrating, choose innovation

Our most recent Tips from a Biller feature Andrew Combra sums it up very well in his tweet. Recruiters not only need to have a bag of tricks, but need to not be afraid to break it out from time to time and put to use. Evolve, not revolve– sounds simple, but is crucial to being successful today as a recruiter.

I personally know a number of big billers, and actual recruiting pioneers in specific fields that sadly did not adapt. They were not open to deviating away from what had worked from them in the past, and now those same individuals are finding it very difficult to maintain those levels of past success.

Don’t let this be you……….

Do you keep a bag of tricks? What new things have you tried at that desk that have worked for you? Join the conversation by weighing in on our comment section below.

By Tim Spagnola