Hiring and recruitment is an enormous challenge for most organizations today. Sometimes, wrong hiring decisions take a toll on the organization’s growth in the long run and at other times, even if you find a talented professional, it gets challenging for you to prompt him to join the company. A talented individual gets embraced everywhere and hence, to prompt him to join the company you have to overcome enormous competition.
Given that, to sail through the tumultuous waters of the ocean of hiring and recruitment and hire the best candidates, you need to possess some specialized skills as a recruiter. In this blog, we’ll discuss 5 skills that you need to excel as a recruiter in 2022.
5 Skills to Emerge As an Outstanding Recruiter in 2022
1. Body Language Skills:
“Your body language shapes who you are”. These words by Amy Cuddy highlight an important truth. Our body language is something that helps people form their first impressions about us. Imagine, you are interviewing some candidates and you sit with a hunched back.
What do you think the candidates will think about you? Obviously, they’ll consider you as someone with low energy levels and enthusiasm or someone who lacks confidence. As you are the one who represents your company in front of the candidates, it is obviously not good for you to portray such weak body language.
Quite the contrary, if you possess strong body language, you can influence the candidates positively. Your impression on them can prove instrumental in prompting them to choose your organization over any other. Hence, you should portray strong body language. To inculcate an influential body language, you can consult resources such as books on body language, YouTube videos, and blogs.
2. Experience with Applicant Tracking System:
Artificial Intelligence and automation have transformed the world of business. Every segment of the business world is getting automated and hiring and recruitment are no exception. According to research conducted by Jobscan, over 98% of Fortune 500 companies use an Applicant Tracking System for resume screening. Also, numerous small employers also use an Applicant Tracking System for quick, easier, and effective resume screening.
Given that, if you aspire to excel as a recruiter in today’s world, you should have some experience with Applicant Tracking System. You should be well versed with the basics of an Applicant Tracking System.
For instance, you should know how to sort, rank candidates, and track them. This will not only benefit you in getting hired but also help you excel in your profession. Who knows the company you are planning to apply to also uses an Applicant Tracking System for resume screening?
3. Communication Skills:
Did you know that most candidates decide whether to join a company or not from the type of interactions they have with the recruiting managers? Yes, that’s how it is. You might not think that the way you interact with the candidates has such a huge impact but it does. If you establish a good rapport with the candidates during the hiring process, you captivate their hearts. Consequently, they strongly wish to get recruited by you.
Quite the contrary, if you don’t communicate well or have a poor impression on the candidates, you can become the very reason for them not joining your company despite getting selected. Given that, you should not neglect your communication skills at any cost. Become an effective communicator, focus on 7Cs of communication and you’ll see yourself emerging into an excellent recruiter as well.
4. Keen Observation:
As a recruiter, you need to possess keen observation skills too. Why is that so? You can get to know a lot about the candidates by observing them. According to research, our body language and facial expressions can tell a lot about our emotional state, personality, and confidence level. Moreover, you can also know a lot about the candidates from the way they speak, write and present things.
Given that, if you have keen observation skills, you can determine the true personality of a candidate irrespective of what they say about themselves. This can be instrumental in preventing wrong hiring decisions and ensuring that you hire the best talent for your company.
5. Active Listening Skills:
One of the biggest mistakes that recruiters often make during their interactions with the candidates is that they speak too much and don’t listen much. As confident in themselves as they are, recruiters love expressing themselves, talking about their organization, and so on but they don’t give the prospects enough time to speak. This is disheartening to the candidates. As human beings, one of our most fundamental needs is to express ourselves. If you don’t fulfill this fundamental need of your potential employees, you can’t expect them to fall in love with your organization. Moreover, by not giving the candidates opportunities to speak, you miss the opportunity to tap into their hidden personalities.
Having said that, it is crucial for you to practice active listening. This will not only make the candidate feel valued, enhancing his interest in your company but also help you dig deeper into their personality. By listening to the stories they tell you and their preferences in life, you can determine whether a candidate would be a good cultural fit for your company or not. So, develop active listening skills. The key is to listen 70% of the time and speak only 30% of the time.
If you aspire to become an effective recruiter, there are some skills that you should definitely master. Throughout the blog, we discussed some of those skills. If you inculcate them well, believe me, nothing can stop you from fulfilling your aspirations. Wish you All the Best on your journey in life.
