Recruiting is Personal
As someone who has been in the recruiting industry for a *very* long time, I've heard my fair share of complaints about the industry - from candidates, hiring managers and even other recruiters.
Candidates complain that recruiters are non-responsive, or only communicate when it benefits them. Hiring managers complain that recruiters aren't understanding their needs. Recruiters complain about lack of good candidates and non-responsive hiring managers. What do you suppose fuels these complaints?
Maybe the recruiters are under pressure to fill the role quickly; perhaps they are in a hurry to make a bonus. In nearly 100% of these complaint cases, a personal approach was missing or underutilized. We've become reliant on ATS systems, and in turn we've created a barrier between us, making actual communication void. We use a canned response, or in some cases, no response at all! With no personal approach, there's no obligation to each other and therefore "ghosting" is pretty easy to do.
Think about the last time you looked for a new job. What was your experience? Chances are it was confusing, tedious, time consuming and possibly frustrating. How many ACTUAL HUMANS did you interact with? Statistically, our most successful hires come from networking or referrals. We KNOW this. So why aren't we practicing this? Some of us are. Some of us are limited by time, budget, buy-in from management, under-staffing.
Listen to these words: Recruiting is PERSONAL.
If you want to achieve better long term success - to have happy and responsive hiring managers and candidates - you have to be PERSONAL. GO to a networking event, HOST an event, VOLUNTEER for a local charity, whatever might interest you. Just get out there and start building that network. This will take time, but you'll be so pleased with what happens. If you're shy, or nervous, or anxious about a room full of people you don't know - bring a friend or colleague. Just do it!
Recruiting is PERSONAL. Before you send that canned email to that prospect (candidate or hiring manager), take 5 minutes to learn something about them and use that in some way to personalize your email. It's an extra step, but wouldn't you rather receive an email tailored to you instead of SPAM? The golden rule applies, here.
Recruiting is PERSONAL. Take extra time during a phone screen to tell the candidate everything you know about the opportunity and the team. Even if the candidate is not a match, they will walk away feeling positive and informed. They will most likely talk about the experience, so you might as well make sure they have good things to say.
Recruiting is PERSONAL. Instead of rejecting that candidate via canned email, pick up the phone and tell them how much you enjoyed getting to know them during the interview, before you break the news. (If you don't have the guts to do this, you shouldn't be in recruiting.) Leave them with a positive feeling. They will talk about this, too.
There are so many ways you can improve your success, just by being personal. In this high tech age, people really long for it.
