How To Be The Most Likeable Recruiter In Your Agency
Being likeable at work has the power to transform your career prospects, your relationships with colleagues and clients, and your ability to attract and influence candidates.
As a recruiter, likeability matters a great deal, and impacts on your success in pitching clients, placing candidates, and wooing passive candidates. It also greatly affects how well you work with managers and teammates, as well as how you network in the wider recruiting field. In fact, it’s hard to overstate just how much your ‘likeability factor’ can impact on your career and happiness as a recruiter.
Yet traditionally, ‘likeability’ is an aspect of our lives that we tend to assert very little control over, as we often assume that likeability is a born trait: a fairly fixed part of our personalities.
‘That person is just naturally likeable’ we might think jealously, when we notice a colleague interacting effortlessly with peers, charming clients and candidates, and getting handed promotions and the best leads by management.
You might think: ‘I couldn’t do that, I’m not naturally that good with people’.
But what if you realised that your own likeability is massively up to you influence?
There’s a reason why the book ‘How to Win Friends and Influence People’ has sold millions of copies: it showed us that we could make other people like us and respect us by following clear steps.
Here are some key tips to drastically improve your likeability at work.
1. Identify what truly matters to clients and candidates.
If you can learn this and enact it, your billing numbers will skyrocket. When you’re pitching a client, ask searching questions to identify what their core business need is when it comes to recruitment. Ask them what keeps them up at night about their staff, and whether they think they have the people they need to take their business into the future. What is their biggest problem in their workforce? Then modify your pitch to fill that need.
When you’re talking to candidates, ask searching questions about what they want. What’s their dream job? What kind of culture makes them happy? What tasks in their last job gave them their greatest sense of flow and satisfaction? What don’t they like? What is their key motivator- and what are their ultimate goals? If you ask these questions and show that you’re genuinely interested in helping them fulfil those goals, you will find that candidates will listen to your judgement more, and will return to you through their career.
Takeaway: Your power to influence rises dramatically the more you ask, and the more you listen.
2. Be a person of your word.
If you say you’re going to follow up on the outcome of a candidate’s interview by Friday, do so. If you promise to have CVs to the hiring manager by 5pm, be sure to do that. If you promise your manager an updated candidate database by Monday, have it done- even if you have to work all day Sunday to do it. There is nothing more undermining to your working reputation and trustworthiness than failing to live up to your promises.
Takeaway: Everyone wants to work with people they can rely on. It is hard to like people who let us down, so improving your reliability will improve your likeability.
3. Don’t get involved in workplace gossip.
It can be so very tempting to join in on sessions where people are complaining are gossiping about someone you feel negatively towards, but doing so is a disaster waiting to happen. If you struggle a bit with your likeability, you might think that joining in with the group might improve your popularity, but in fact they’ll probably just assume you talk about them the same way behind their backs. And of course, you might find that the person being talked about finds out what you said, and then you’re even in more trouble!
Takeaway: People who don’t talk about others behind their backs are more trusted, and colleagues feel safer around them. It can take willpower to hold back, but it will pay rewards.
4. Talk about yourself less.
Most people like talking about themselves, we get it! But savvy recruiters take this principle and turn it on its head. Instead of talking to colleagues/candidates/clients about your last holiday or the antics of your crazy cat, turn your attention outwards, and start asking them and about their own hobbies, pets, children, holidays and sports teams. You’ll be amazed at what you learn, but you’ll also be amazed at how well-disposed people are to you when you show interest in them and their lives.
Takeaway: People like talking about themselves. Use that to your advantage, and you’ll find your relationships improve dramatically.
5. Sweat the small stuff.
Unconventional advice, yes, but when it comes to things like saying hello in the mornings, offering to help someone fix the photocopier, or going for a casual drink after work- these things matter hugely! These everyday courtesies and kindnesses are the glue that binds a team together, so make an effort. And always display good manners and personal hygiene!
Takeaway: The more you reach out, the more people will reach out to you. It just takes a bit of faith to get started.
6. Smile.
Not everyone has a brilliant sense of humour, and that’s absolutely fine. But a colleague who never smiles is making it extremely difficult for people to like him or her. Don’t let that be you.
Takeaway: Just smile.
If you want to become a top biller, improve your work relationships, or gain recognition from management this year, you can make positive inroads by working through these steps to become the most likeable recruiter in your agency.
Good luck!
Until next time,
Cheryl and the GSR2R team