5 Things that Top Recruiters are Doing Differently

The demand for skilled labor is at a record high, so recruiters are certainly staying busy. But that high demand also means more recruiters and more offers competing for the attention of top talent. 

Fortunately, there are proven strategies you can use as a recruiter to stand out from the competition. Here are five things top recruiters do differently from the rest: 

Construct a Narrative 

Just about every recruiter out there is going to try and wow candidates with facts and figures, so you need to take it a step further. You need to tell a story about your client and offer that will entice them with rewards of a fulfilling role that goes beyond salary alone. 

The facts and figures are still necessary, of course, but when they’re nestled in a greater narrative, you can appeal to a candidate’s greater sense of purpose, which is increasingly important to today’s top talent. Be sure that you can effectively paint an appealing picture of your client’s vision, culture, and opportunities, and then tie it to your candidate’s personal goals to create an emotional connection beyond the facts and figures. 

Be Human 

In a demanding, numbers-driven industry such as recruitment, it’s more critical than ever that you demonstrate you are serving a real person who has concerns, dreams, and potentially a family to provide for. Your goal as a recruiter should be, in part, to earn your candidate’s trust by establishing a personal connection. That’s easy if you get to know them. 

Recruiters are often pressured to fill positions quickly, but you need to make sure you take time to get to know the candidate and their personal motivations first — not only to find the best person for the job, but also to find a person that will be happy doing it. It’s important to remember that a job is ideally more than just a way to pay the bills. A job is how we relate to society around us, and it forms a large part of our identities. We spend a great deal of our time at work, so that work needs to be fulfilling in some way. 

Acknowledging your candidate’s personal concerns and demonstrating that you care about them is a great way to establish a more personal connection. 

Personalize Your Pitch 

Personalization has become one of the most important and powerful strategies employed in the marketing process. Smart companies collect data about their prospects and customers, so they can tailor messages for greater impact. 

Top recruiters take the same approach to stand out from the competition. 

Too often, recruiters don’t bother with personalization because they think it will conflict with their timetable, but the extra effort is worth it. Even the tiniest personal touch can make your pitch seem unique among the rest. A personalized pitch will not only let candidates know that you dedicated significant thought and time to them but will also give them confidence that you are presenting opportunities that match their unique skills and proficiencies. 

Add Value 

Just about any recruiter will be able to offer value to candidates in the form of a potential job, but that should just be the beginning. A great recruiter is valuable, serving as much more than a simple middle-man between an employee and an employer. 

Interview coaching, networking introductions, compensation advice, and providing accurate market intelligence to candidates are all ways to add value. By providing additional value in these ways and others, top recruiters create an impression that earns them referrals and keeps candidates coming back over the years as their career changes. 

Have More (And Better) Contact 

Recruitment is a contact sport! When all is said and done, the number of contacts a recruiter has with candidates is still one of the most important factors in driving results. 

All the aforementioned strategies require strong communication in order to be properly implemented, and the best recruiters take advantage of mobile and cloud-based communications solutions to ensure they stay in touch more effectively than their competition. By combining the power of these communication tools with complete and accurate CRM data, top recruiters achieve both higher contact volume and higher quality conversations. 

 Cloud Call, Wikipedia