How to Start a Career in Recruiting: 11 Tips from Professionals

The recruiting industry needs a clear-cut definition. It is an umbrella term for any job that involves finding and hiring candidates for jobs. Recruiters can be found in both the public and private sectors, and they are generally responsible for sourcing and screening candidates before their placement into open positions.

The role of a recruiter is similar to that of a salesperson in some respects. Recruiters must sell themselves and their company's mission statement to potential hires while simultaneously convincing qualified candidates that they would make an ideal fit for the role offered by the company.

Recruiting 101

Recruiting is about finding the right person for the job. Recruiters identify, attract and place active or passive candidates in roles that will help companies achieve their goals.

What is Recruiting?

Recruiters are team members responsible for evaluating, selecting, and placing employees in jobs that match their qualifications and skills. They typically report to an organization's Human Resources (HR) department or hiring manager but can also be retained directly by businesses as contract recruiters.

Why do companies need to hire?

Companies must replace employees who leave, whether by choice or involuntary termination, due to poor performance or misconduct. Hiring also allows organizations to expand into new markets when they cannot find qualified people internally.

This could happen when technology changes rapidly enough that employees need additional training before performing their current roles efficiently and adequately without sacrificing quality standards.

What to Know Before Jumping into a Career in Recruitment

Before you begin your journey into the recruiting world, it's essential to understand what this field entails and how it differs from other related roles.

Recruiting is often confused with staffing, HR, and sales. The differences between these roles are many but most importantly, recruiting focuses on searching for candidates who meet a company's specific needs.

The recruiter works closely with hiring managers and team members to find candidates that best fit the job opening. Recruiters also create strategies for attracting top talent by leveraging their knowledge of what makes great candidates great.

A recruiter may also be referred to as an employment consultant because they help companies navigate through tough hiring decisions by providing information about vacant positions, skill sets required for success within those positions, pay expectations, and more.

Tip 1. Know the Market

The best recruiters are those who understand the market. What do companies want? What is the job market like? How do candidates feel about different companies and roles?

It's important to know what you're looking for and what your employer is looking for. You also need to understand what candidates are looking for in a job and how they find this information.

Tip 2. Move from a Reactive to a Proactive Role

In a reactive role, you respond to client or candidate requests. You typically answer their questions and make decisions based on the information provided. In this case, you're not proactively looking for new opportunities; your time is spent ensuring that existing searches are correctly executed.

In contrast, in a proactive role, you constantly search for new ways to help your clients find great talent—and vice versa! You might be researching the latest trends in recruiting or improving the processes used by the company to hire new employees. Recruiters must keep up-to-date with industry news to stay competitive and current with best practices in their expertise (e.g., technical skills).

Tip 3. Talk to Your Hiring Managers Before Talking to Candidates

Hiring managers are the people who know their companies and their needs best, so it's crucial for you as a recruiter to understand this.

You need to learn about their culture and determine what candidate they're looking for because that will influence the type of resume you'll present them with. You also want to ensure you clearly understand how long they're willing to wait for an ideal candidate, which may affect whether or not it's feasible for them to hire someone at all.

Tip 4. Manage Expectations for Everyone Involved

Everyone has different expectations for recruiting. Be sure to manage those expectations for all parties involved, as it'll help you to move things along more smoothly and efficiently. You don't want your candidates to be disappointed with the job search outcome or feel they're being taken advantage of (or vice versa).

For example:

• If you are working on behalf of a client who needs someone by a specific date, ensure this is communicated clearly from the beginning so there are no false expectations about when openings will be filled.
• As an employer, you must explain what type of person or skill set you're looking for to avoid wasting time interviewing candidates who don't meet your requirements. This way, candidates can decide whether or not they want their resumes sent out yet; if they still need to, everyone knows where they stand and can move on accordingly.

Tip 5. Avoid the 'Cookie Cutter' Approach

The most successful recruiters are those who understand their audience and send out emails specific to the candidate. Don't just send out the same generic message to every applicant because they'll be able to tell you're not paying attention to them as individuals.

Instead, ensure your email is personalized and addresses something specific from their resume or cover letter. You must also have a good understanding of what kind of personality fits into this role.

For example, if it's a customer-facing role, then humor might play a more significant role than technical skills in approaching candidates. You should also avoid being overly personal in messages. While this may seem like common sense advice for emailing anyone about anything, recruiters often cross this line when communicating with potential employees without realizing it.

Tip 6. Know Who You're Talking to and Their Key Drivers for Job Searching

When looking for new talent, you must know who you're talking to and their key drivers. The following are some of the most common questions our recruiters get asked during this process:

• How long have they been in their current job?
• What did they like/dislike about their previous role?
• What were their most significant challenges?

These are also some critical areas that hiring managers or clients may be interested in learning about when interviewing a candidate for a position.

Tip 7. Don't be afraid of cold-calling prospects

Cold calling is an essential skill for a recruiter. If you're afraid of it, it's time to get over that fear. It's a necessary part of the job and will only get easier with practice. You can start by calling people you know who might not be looking right now but could be in the future or even not-so-close friends or colleagues.

Tip 8. Use an email finder Chrome extension

SignalHire is one of the best tools for recruiters to use when looking for emails. It can be used as a Google Chrome extension that helps you find emails in just a few clicks.

SignalHire does a great job of finding people's social networks, phone numbers, emails, locations, and jobs. In addition, you can use the tool as a CRM and ATS, write to candidates, and monitor the hiring process.

Tip 9. Network With Other Talent Acquisition Professionals

Building your network is a great way to start your career as a recruiter. You can attend recruitment conferences, join local recruiting groups like NAPRO and other interest groups online, or join social media groups. The more people you meet and learn from, the better off you'll be!

Tip 10. Ask for Advice, Then Take It!

When it comes to asking for advice, you have many options. You could ask recruiters who have been in the industry for a long time and have years of experience, or you could ask recruiters who are new to the field and may still need to learn more about it.

You might also find some great tips from people who aren't recruiters at all but want to help by sharing their expertise.

It's essential not only to ask questions when you're starting but also to listen carefully when others give their answers. If someone tells you something that doesn't make sense or doesn't seem right based on what your research has taught you thus far, trust yourself over them—but do consider their advice as well.

Tip 11. Don't Stop Improving!

As you progress through your career, you must continue learning and improving. Don't be afraid to ask others for help—you won't get far without a support system. Be open to feedback and willing to learn from new experiences, no matter how challenging they may be at first.

You can't know everything about the industry, so feel free to admit when you don't have an answer for something (but do ask around!). And never stop trying!

Conclusion

As we've seen, a career in recruiting can be a rewarding and lucrative career choice. If you're interested in this field, there are many different ways to start your own recruiting business.