How to hit your targets as a Recruitment Consultant

In the fast-paced and target-oriented recruitment industry goals need to be achieved on a daily, weekly, monthly and annual basis. So, who is going to survive? Only those who are going to hit their targets.

Let’s not forget all those unpredicted situations you might face before the perfect match between client and job candidate is made. These scenarios might sound familiar to you: people not turning up for their interview, clients hiring candidates directly, job applicants failing after the first interview stage, clients letting you down in the last minute and the list could go on and on. But if you keep calm, work well under pressure, stay focused, resilient, persistent and hit your targets regularly, you have a good chance to survive in this profession.

You surely don’t have it easy though, because you need to satisfy not just one party, but three: the client company, the job candidate and your boss. But what does the strategy of those recruitment professionals look like, who regularly hit their targets? They set SMART goals; goals that are specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time-related.

These are some ways how you can stand out from the crowd as a Recruitment Professional and hit your targets quicker.

# 1 — Create eye-catching and detailed job ads. How many job ads really grab your attention and would motivate you to apply for a job when reading them? Few, I guess.

ACTIONS:

In your job ads don’t just talk about job duties and the person specification (even though that’s important), but everyone does that already. If you want to attract the best talent, you need to be different and provide more details that jobseekers would love to know about.

Some ideas:

- Show a picture of the team that the person is going to work with.

- Describe the corporate culture (or even better provide a video — if available) that gives candidates a glimpse into what it feels and looks like to work for that company. That can already be an eye-opening experience!

- Include a short interview with the CEO of the company that reveals what the company is looking for in candidates, why it is a great place to work there, etc.

- Turn your job ad into an infographic and make it visually more appealing.

- Present your job ad in video format and promote the position in an enthusiastic way (people love watching videos!).

Remember, the more relevant and specific information you provide, the more targeted candidates you will attract and hitting targets will become much easier.

# 2 — Be creative and proactive. Don’t just rely on traditional, old-fashioned recruitment tactics. Discover new ways of networking and make more effective use of your professional, as well as spare time. Hitting targets can be achieved by using every possible opportunity to hunt, network and gain new business.

ACTIONS

• When going for lunch, don’t sit alone in the corner. Approach new people and engage in a conversation. When going to a doctor, don’t sit there reading their magazine or looking up to the ceiling. Start a conversation with those people sitting there. Going to a party at the weekend? Don’t just go there to enjoy yourself. Engage in interesting discussions, because you never know where and when the next great client/ jobseeker might pop up, ready to be discovered by you.

Listen to what they say. When talking about their job, do they sound, look and act happy? Are they looking to expand their team? Are they sharing any frustrations? Become a great listener and turn their problem into your challenge by offering them a solution. Thus, take the initiative, be proactive and apply a wide-spread strategy for attracting new clients/job candidates. By the way, when handing out business cards, don’t just give out one. Always give two business cards to each person (one for themselves, and one to forward to someone else who they think might also benefit from your services).

• Read the news. If you come across a company that is going to shut down, guess what? Huge potential for you to look for jobs for all those people who are soon going to be made redundant. On the other hand, if you hear from a company that is going to open a new store/office in your area, your approach should be the same. Getting in touch with the decision maker and finding out if you can take care of their hiring needs.
• When looking for new candidates, don’t just post jobs on online boards, in newspapers or on your website. Instead look out for industry-specific bloggers who demonstrate their expertise and skills, YouTubers who share insightful and educational videos in their respective niche, people on social media (e.g. LinkedIn, Twitter) who put out relevant content and have an impeccable online presence, passive candidates who caught your attention in various ways, etc.

# 3 — Focus only on promising candidates.

The more high-profile candidates you have, the higher the chance that the company will choose the candidate you put forward. It’s always more effective to present only those candidates to a client that you think have a real chance to be hired. Don’t waste your client’s, your candidate’s and your own time with poor candidates. You don’t do yourself any favour. If you present the wrong professionals, the client will doubt your competence, lose trust in you as a professional and question your company’s reputation. You surely don’t want that, right?

ACTIONS

Don’t just leave it up to the candidate to prepare for their crucial interview at the company. Provide strong job candidates with as much information, support and guidance as possible. The better you help them to shine during the interview, the better they will perform. And not just that, their confidence might increase so much more, that getting hired becomes easy. What you can offer:

- Providing real insights into the company, the culture, the interview person (and if you want to go the extra mile, even the company’s competitors!).

- Telling them what the employer is looking for (ask for hints once you meet the client initially).

- Giving some feedback where they might need to improve to really impress the company.

- Making suggestions for smart questions to ask the interviewer.

# 4 — Work smart, not hard. Do the right thing.

For every recruitment consultant, hitting targets is crucial. Working hard does not mean you are working smart. Thus, focus on doing the right things at the right time. Also, when interviewing candidates: ask only relevant questions and make sure you interpret them the correct way.

ACTIONS

Look out for those opportunities that are profitable and have long-term potential. Manage your time wisely and never forget that caring about clients and candidates still matters. In today’s social media world, negative word-of-mouth can spread quickly, easily and fully free of charge. Australia’s recruitment expert Greg Savage described the recruitment industry once as “working in the rejection business”.

Remember, how your company deals with rejections can also have an impact on your employer branding. How? By sending out rejection letters to your job candidates that still sound positive and encourage the applicant to not give up in their job search, creates a better impression, than leaving candidates completely in the dark and being fully ignorant.

# 5 — Avoid having a “place and forget” attitude. Too many recruiters have it, don’t be one of them!

ACTIONS

Try to maintain a great relationship with clients as well as job candidates at all times. Yes, also once you’ve successfully placed them. Why? Because they will notice that you don’t just have a “place and forget” attitude but you really care and are interested in how things are going. How to keep up a great relationship? Here some tips:

- by providing them with things/information they might find relevant and useful (eg. articles),

- giving them a spontaneous call,

- inviting them for a coffee,

- sending them an email/card on their birthday,

- liking/retweeting/commenting on their social media posts or

- introducing them to someone from your network (who you think could also benefit from knowing them).

What does that mean for you? If they are both looking again for a new candidate/a new job, guess who will be the first person to come to their mind? YOU! Bingo. And not just that, you will gain repeat business easily and hence, you will need to chase less new clients/candidates in the future.