Emotional Intelligence (EI) is the secret weapon you need to build into your selling arsenal if you want to hit new heights as a recruiter.  

A high level of emotional intelligence doesn’t just allow you to interact with and understand your clients and leads better; it also reduces the stress and strain of selling – a huge advantage in the high-pressure world of recruitment.  

So, what is emotional intelligence, how does EI help you become a better recruiter, and – most importantly of all – how do you build it?  

What is Emotional Intelligence? 

Put simply, EI is the ability to recognise and manage emotions – both your own emotions and those of the people around you. The core principles are self-awareness; self-regulation; socialisation; empathy, and motivation.  

Someone with high EI is, therefore: 

• Someone who is self-aware and recognises their own emotions and how they impact others. 
• Someone who is in control of their emotions. 
• Someone who builds relationships easily with others.
• Someone who recognises and responds with compassion to other people’s emotions. 
• Someone who is motivated towards a goal.  

How does EI Help a Recruiter Succeed?  

As you can imagine, someone who displays the above traits of relationship-building, empathy, motivation and emotional control is in an extremely strong position as a recruiter.  

They are good at building networks and positive relationships with clients and are good at gauging that fine line between effective selling and pushiness.  

Given that clients will make at least part of their decision based on how they ‘feel’ about your sales interaction, the skill of reading a prospect’s emotions well is something that will pay dividends in a recruiter’s billing numbers.  

Additionally, because someone with high emotional intelligence is in control of their own emotions and motivational levels, they suffer less from stress and the negative feedback that all recruiters face. People with high EI maintain their motivation, even when the going gets tough.  

Sounds pretty good, doesn’t it? So, what if your level of Emotional Intelligence isn’t naturally high, or you’d like to improve it further? Can you build it?  

Absolutely. Here’s how. 

Ways to Increase your Emotional Intelligence 

It’s true, some people have higher levels of emotional intelligence than others, and this can be through a combination of innate personality traits and environmental factors (for example, if your parents don’t display high levels of emotional intelligence, you won’t have learnt good habits through their modelling.)   

But the good news is that emotional intelligence is easily improved, and is something that even the best recruiters are working on, all the time.  

1. Improve your listening skills.  

The ratio of listening to speaking should be roughly double. If you get off the phone with a prospect and realise you didn’t learn much about what they needed but got a lot of what you wanted to say across, this means that you have largely failed the sales call from an emotional intelligence perspective.  

Ask good questions, listen carefully to the response, and finally, offer an answer that refers to their situation, so they know they’ve been heard. Moreover, never, ever interrupt. This is the biggest secret to selling success. 

2. Pause before you react. 

It’s easy to let emotions take over in a high-pressure situation. In a quote attributed (perhaps apocryphally) to Victor E. Frankl, he wrote that: 

“Between stimulus and response, there is space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.” 

This is a powerful strategy for successful recruiters to adopt. Rather than letting our brains fire off the first, often unformed response that springs to mind, a high EI person pauses for a moment to consider a measured response. The power of the pause cannot be underestimated. If you’re one of the many who fears pauses in conversation on the phone, then don’t – it often adds to the weight of what you’re saying when you do offer your considered response.  

Result: you don’t say anything you regret, and you come across as strong, calm, and thoughtful. You may also benefit from mindfulness or meditation training in becoming more centred and calm in the moment.  

3. Always apologise when at fault, or admit when you don’t know something. 

Whether you’re speaking with a client, candidate, or colleague, it does no-one any favours to try to shift or avoid blame, or waffle on with an answer when you don’t know what you’re talking about.  

Offer your genuine apologies for making an error (without grovelling), and when faced with a question you don’t know how to answer, just calmly and professionally admit it. Saying something like ‘I’d hate to give the wrong answer on that one, and I’m not 100% positive myself, so I’ll find out and get back to you immediately’ works wonders. Although it feels like it exposes weakness, this strategy tends to engender respect. As long as, that is, you do get back to them with a good answer straight away! 

4. Change your mind-chatter. 

To improve your resilience and self-awareness in the face of rejection and criticism, it’s important to reframe your self-talk. For instance, if you put yourself down after an unsuccessful call, then you’re failing to learn the lessons from it. 

Every perceived setback in recruitment must, therefore, be reframed as a learning opportunity. This creates a resilient mental approach to ‘negative’ experiences and allows you to maintain motivation through tough times.  

These are just a few of the ways you can build your emotional intelligence to become a more successful recruiter, as well as enjoy better relationships in all aspects of your life. There are many resources on the web as well as training courses to build your EI for career success, so get researching! 

Until next time,  

Cheryl 

It’s been a long, glorious summer in the UK, and keen recruiters are returning to work refreshed and excited about smashing their billing numbers for the rest of the year. So, how can you maintain this ‘back to school’ enthusiasm right through to Christmas? 

Here are some great strategies to set in place now so you can follow through on your goals for 2018 and finish the year strong. 

1. Check in with past clients. 

It’s the time of year that many businesses increase their recruitment drives, which means it’s the perfect time for you to search through your lapsed client campaigns and check in with past clients. There are opportunities waiting for you in those half-formed relationships and lapsed campaigns; you’ve already done some of the work, so they also deliver good returns, fast, while requiring less effort than finding brand new leads.  

2. Check in with current clients! 

You’re feeling great after the summer break; chances are your clients are too. This is, therefore, an ideal time to reach out and find out if they are happy with your service, and if there’s anything else you can do for them. Even if they don’t have any additional recruitment needs, just checking in with them reminds them that you consider them a valued client. This is also the moment to refer to any successes you’ve achieved for them and ask if they have any business problems or queries you can help solve. If you get good feedback from them, this is the perfect time to ask them for a referral. You should also be leveraging the LinkedIn referral program.  

3. Know when your clients spend money.  

When have your long-term clients traditionally increased their recruitment spend? Do they have any plans to expand the business in the coming year? How might current economic/political uncertainty over Brexit affect their business and their plans to hire? A clever recruiter looks at a client’s historical spend as well as the wider economic landscape when deciding which businesses are likely to have the most money to spend and the most positive outlook for growth. These are the clients you prioritise.  

4. Come up with a plan of attack to build your talent pipeline. 

It doesn’t matter how well you get along with your clients or how well you pitch: if you don’t have the candidate talent to back up your claims, your billing numbers will languish in the doldrums forever. Be strategic though: look back on your career as a recruiter and remember which of your candidate-sourcing efforts offered the best return. Where did you find your truly outstanding candidates in the past? Consider replicating what has worked before, rather than reinventing the wheel. Oh, and one other thing – those outstanding candidates of the past: have you asked them for a referral yet? If they’re outstanding, chances are there are people in their circle with talent too.  

5. Consider offering a ‘monkey’s paw’ to a dream client.  

What are you doing to get your foot in the door at the big-shot company you’ve always wanted to recruit for? Is there a small service you could offer them for a good price that will get your name known? Consider making an offer of service that the client won’t refuse, simply because they see no risk (and only potential gain) in accepting it. 

This is what’s known as a monkey’s paw. It lets you get your foot in the door now, only to get your whole body through later and become part of their recruitment team.  

6. Know which leads aren’t worth your time. 

ou are chasing down your yearly billing goals, hard, so you simply don’t have time to pursue every clearly reluctant lead who doesn’t want to take your calls or that small-fry client who pays poorly or late. Assuming you’ve got a healthy number of contacts in your CRM, you need to learn to prioritise the ones who are likely to close this year, and who provides a good ROI on your time and energy. You know the ones you’re likely to get over the line, so attack these first. A word of warning though: don’t be so focused on your end of year target that you empty the pipeline for next year, and never shut the door completely on a potential client. The funnel must remain full – particularly as January is a huge month in recruitment.  

With the right strategy in place, you will blitz your targets in the final third of 2018. 

Until next time, 

Cheryl  

There’s a famous motivational saying by William H. Johnson, ‘If it is to be, it is up to me’, and there’s no better route to success in the recruitment world than by following this adage. 

Successful people know that they must forge their own path in life and that they must take full responsibility for their careers if they expect to end up on top. Savvy recruiters do this by writing their own development plan.  

1. Conduct your own performance review. 

This means taking stock of your career strengths and weaknesses, triumphs and disasters. In the last year, where could you have done better, and where did you find the work easy and fulfilling?  How are you managing the admin side of recruiting, and are you making efforts to build your talent pool and client referrals?

Every recruiter has their talents and weak spots; the difference is that successful recruiters don’t ignore their weaknesses but create an action plan for overcoming them. 

2. Build your selling skills.  

This one may seem rather obvious!! And many recruiters go on auto-pilot with their pitches once they’ve been in the job for a while and may forget to develop their selling skills further. Given that the power to persuade is the core skill of a recruiter, it is vital to continue to hone your sales techniques.

There are so many resources out there to improve your pitching, closing and retention skills- whether that’s reading sales blogs or books, attending seminars and webinars, or reaching out to your billing manager for some one-to-one coaching.  

3. Broaden your knowledge. 

The best recruiters are great conversationalists and are full of interesting data and facts they can use to help their clients and candidates get results. This means keeping abreast of recruitment trends in your sector (and beyond), keeping an eye on economic data and potential new opportunities, and reading the latest literature on leadership, interview skills and business strategy.  

Clients will be impressed when you always have a new idea to help their business grow or impress a candidate with some tips to improve their interview skills.  

4. Have clear goals in mind.  

It can be very tempting to try and improve every measure of your performance at once, but it’s a strategy that invites splintering your attention and possibly not getting much achieved at all.

Instead, your development plan should be extremely clear and focussed on only one or two goals at a time, with each goal split into small, measurable steps with deadlines.  

Know exactly what is needed to reach your goal (for instance, if you want a promotion in two years, what exact skills and qualities will you need to get there?
 

5. Predict and plan for obstacles. 

The road to the top is rarely a smooth one, and often peaks and troughs along the way. What do you see as a potential obstacle to your success? Can you plan for this, have alternative options in place, or will you simply need to improve your confidence and ability to rise to meet challenges when they come?  

6. Ask for assistance.  

You should sit down with your billing manager and let them know what your goals are.

A good manager will be able to help you frame them successfully (in ways that reflect well on you as a member of the team.) They can also help you with career planning, and perhaps suggest a mentor or further reading or training to help you develop in the long term.  

Any manager worth their salt will be very happy you’re taking charge of your career, as it means that you’ll bring success to them and the company! 

7. Measure your progress. 

This will be easy if you’ve formulated a good development plan as outlined in step 4. Because you should have broken up your goals into small, measurable steps, it will be easy to see when you’re falling behind the deadlines or targets you set yourself.  

Measuring progress is an extremely important aspect of ensuring success— otherwise, your development plan will probably just languish in a drawer after a rush of initial enthusiasm!

Set time aside each week to assess your progress or set a goal of checking in daily to ensure you’ve worked on at least one thing (even if just an email or reading a blog post) that moves you closer to your development goal.  

When you take the reins of your own career, the possibilities are endless. A development plan is the most strategic, productive, and motivating way to take control of your success. 

Until next time,  

Cheryl 

Social media, done right, is about building relationships, and as a recruiter, effective relationships are central to your success. However, because there are so many channels and conceivable strategies to social selling, it can be overwhelming to know where your energies should be directed.  

Here are some of the most effective strategies to build candidate and client leads through social.  

1. Remember that candidates, just like clients, have ‘buyer cycles’. 

A passive candidate will be browsing for opportunities long before they’ve made their final decision, which is why a good social strategy is so important to ‘get on their radar’ before they decide to jump. If you can use social to create a connection in the early stages of planning their career move, you are perfectly positioned to be the one that they call when the day comes.  

2. Make your social media engaging enough that the candidate remains connected. 

It’s not enough to post jobs on social media. While a candidate might hit ‘follow’ while they’re job-hunting (assuming you are known to them already), if your Facebook or Twitter page is dull, or your LinkedIn page never updates with interesting links or articles, chances are that candidate will unfollow you or forget about you as soon as they have landed a job.  

You want to retain that candidate over their career lifetime, as well as hopefully get referrals and recommendations out of them too, right? You’ll need to spice up your social feeds to ensure they stay interested, whether that’s through posting interesting articles, funny memes, or the latest trend in their sector. 

Don’t be afraid to put a bit of personality in there: people react to authentic behaviour and connection, not just job posts on a screen! 

3. Don’t stretch yourself too thin. 

To ‘win’ at social media in a way that translates to better billing numbers, you’re going to need to know your audience, and which channels they like to use. There is zero point building up a Twitter-heavy campaign if you know that your candidate base doesn’t use Twitter. Conversely, your client pool might use Twitter a lot but steer clear of Instagram.  

Knowing your audience means that your social efforts don’t fall on deaf ears (and you don’t waste your precious time on channels that don’t get responses).

So, do some market research on the demographics of your client and candidate bases, and find out where they spend their time online. Either way, LinkedIn is a must for both candidates and clients—but you already knew that, didn’t you!  

4. Use the power of social to compete against the big players. 

Before social selling, how clients and candidates heard of and thought about your agency was largely driven by word of mouth and how big your recruitment companies advertising budget was, as well as superficial things, such as how fancy your office space is!  

Word of mouth still matters of course, but social media ‘evens the playing field’ to the extent where no matter how small your agency, if you have a great social media presence, you can punch above your weight.  

Social media means you have your own ability to publish, without having to rely on newspapers or your agency advertising budget. Social media, in many ways, has created opportunity for all, so use this to your advantage.  

5. Use tech to make the job easier.  

We know, adding social media management to your already busy day sounds like a bit much to ask. However, there are so many tools out there to make it easier and to drive your billing numbers sky-high.  

Wondering how to find that engaging content to post on your social media feed? Why not try Buzzsumo, where you pop in a keyword, and it will produce relevant trending content for you?

Tweet Deck is a winner for alerting you when there’s a relevant keyword trending, so you can tailor your tweet to take advantage. You’ll also want to get on top of a social media scheduling tool, like Hootsuite or Buffer if your company isn’t investing in marketing. 

6. Use social media to build your brand.  

A recruiter is known by their brand, and social media is the easiest, most time-effective way of getting your name out there. Sure, it would be great if you had time to go to every networking breakfast, and seminar out there, and you’d love to spend all day meeting with passive candidates for coffee, but realistically, you need to make money and social media, (done right) is a fast route to a large audience. Moreover, a large audience means a larger client and candidate pool. 

We’ve written on why it’s so important for recruiters to build their personal brand before, and social is a crucial part of that project.  

7. Know what works.  

Because social media is an added task to your day, it’s really, important that you know what is working, and what is not. You don’t have time to waste, after all. So track your follows and engagement religiously, and always remember to comment back when someone interacts…they could be your next client or executive candidate! 

Until next time, 

Cheryl 

Referral is a great strategy that most companies deploy; your recruitment company might have a formal referral process too.  

However, nobody is connected to candidates as closely as their own consultant, so how can you use the power of referral to accelerate your own billings? 

According to a Nielson study, 90% of people rely on recommendations from their network to drive their decision-making when buying products or services. The same crowd-led phenomenon applies to recruiting: many candidates will look for recruiter recommendations from friends and colleagues, as well as do some research online to see what your reviews and testimonials say!  

It’s intensely important to be maximising your talent pool by effectively leveraging your referrals.  

Systematise 

Referrals work. Period. As long as you put them into the mix. You’ll notice that here at GSR2R we systematically ask for referrals. That way we don’t forget!  

When it comes to business success, the secret sauce is always having a system and process that is regularly implemented.  

What about the last Friday of everything month, ringing round some of your key connections or creating a round robin email? It works like ‘gang busters’! 

Use the power of LinkedIn. 

As you know, LinkedIn is the recruiter’s best friend for most sectors. But not all recruiters are tapping into the maximum potential of LinkedIn as a referral tool. Not only should you be requesting recommendations from satisfied candidates as a matter of course, but you should also be mining your candidate’s connections for possible referral possibilities to exciting new candidates.

Act quickly! 

The time to ask a candidate for a referral is when they’re on a high, having just secured an interview or job through your help, or when you’ve just gone the extra mile coaching them on interview skills. The best time of all is when they’ve received an offer, so don’t dally: the candidate will soon be busy with their new role, and just how hard you worked for them will inevitably start to fade from their minds.  

Ask for feedback.  

If you’re finding you’re not receiving regular referrals or favourable reviews (either spontaneously or on request), there’s a worrying possibility that something in your customer service style needs addressing.  

We strongly recommend that recruiters ask for feedback- and often the best way of getting people to engage with this request is through a quick survey asking them to rate your performance. You won’t always love what you hear, but the only way to success is to face your weaknesses.  

Moreover, remember, if they don’t want to refer you, they’re never going to use your services again, so this is a powerful way of fixing any problems, so you have a candidate for their career lifetime. 

Leverage your social media channels. 

If you’re social media savvy, you’re already adding some interesting content to the mix when you’re posting jobs on Facebook and Twitter. (Please tell me you’re not just posting jobs with no engaging content to break it up?)   

If you are posting interesting articles or writing quick blogs like interview tips to post online, it’s a great idea to add a ‘share this with a friend’ call to action so that your recruiter name reaches more eyeballs. Sharing articles is a subtle form of referral, but an effective one.  

Try different methods. 

Just because your candidate might feel uncomfortable reaching out to an old colleague to make an introduction on your behalf, doesn’t mean they’re not happy to recommend you differently. Some people don’t like being so upfront.  

That’s fine, but don’t close the door on their potential to help you. Ask them if they’ll be happy to write a LinkedIn or Facebook recommendation instead.  

Chances are, they’ll feel bad about declining your request for a referral so may well say yes to this smaller request! Of course, if you encounter any resistance, do not push the point, or you risk damaging the relationship.  

Many recruiters hold back a little from pursuing referrals. Successful recruiters, on the other hand, know that referrals are a low-effort way of maximising their billing numbers.  

Until next time, 

Cheryl 

17 years ago, this month I opened shop at GSR2R… and wow things have changed!

Did you know LinkedIn didn’t exist then, and Mark Zuckerberg was still in high school!: Lower Sixth for us brits.

Posh recruiters (yes and I was one of them) did have mobile phones; mine was a Nokia 3310; the iphone was six long years away and didn’t appear till 2007, even later in the UK; I know how did we cope?

We used a fax and Royal Mail; though then the post office had changed its name to Consignia, not their best branding move; oh and our working day was even longer; candidates couldn’t nip out at lunchtime to take a quick call, so 7-9am and 6-9 pm was often spent ringing people at home.

On life outside work, Tony Blair was our prime minister, and we were getting in the groove with Shaggy who had the best selling record of the year.

For the film buffs, we were all running to the pictures to be amazed by Harry Potter, scared by Jurassic Park and swooning at George Clooney in Ocean’s Eleven.

Ah yes those were the days.

Recruiting has changed drastically over the last decade fuelled by the changes in technology though in 2001 versus 2018 there are some similarities that great recruiters embody.

Honestly?

Recruiting well is all about sales, understanding people and delivering an outstanding service. So, nothing in this context has changed over the last 17 years.

So, what are the key elements, once you nail them that will make you an outstanding recruiter…?

1. Become A Sector Boffin

It’s critical to know the trends in your sector, market and economy. Back in the day, I would go to the Library (I know who knew!) and scour the papers to make sure I knew everything that was critical to my market.

Today it’s even easier with Google at your fingertips and sector specific webinars being run on a weekly basis.

There is nothing better than when you notice a client or candidate agreeing with what you’re saying, or commenting; ‘that’s interesting, I didn’t know that’.

Moreover, that’s when you give them some options on how you can help. They are now open to listening because you are demonstrating your expertise in the market.

2. What Do Your Clients and Candidates Need: In Detail

You need to know what their specific candidate and business needs are. It will be more complex than ‘I need good people who’ll stick around’.

You need to delve deeper->

1. What are their critical skills gaps?

2. What makes a ‘good person’ to this employer?

3. Who was their last great hiring success-and what made them special?

4. What is their current culture like?

Above all, ask them how you can help. Only when you know this can you tailor your offering to them in a way that makes them sit up and listen.

3. Understand People

Understanding people is crucial to driving sales- it explains why the idea of scarcity pushes people towards purchase, why most people are repulsed by the hard sell, and how you can use people’s love of talking about themselves to your endless advantage.

There is a great book on my book shelves that has helped me over the years, and it is called The Psychology Of Influence, by Prof Cialdini from the US and in this book is fascinating data ( backed up by endless research) on what persuades human beings to do what they do. Well worth a read and here is a link for you.

4. Become Amazing at Listening

It doesn’t matter if you’re talking to a potential client, or candidate, truly listening will set you head and shoulders above the pack.

Your listening skills are what will drive a prospect to walk away thinking: ‘That recruiter’s solid. They listened to what I was saying; I never feel like my current consultant listens at all. I might use/recommend this person in future…’

Not only that, but your listening skills will furnish you with a barrage of useful information about what your candidates and clients want from you. Tell your ego to get out of the way and become a better listener.

5. Be A Clear Communicator

People are busy, frustrated and lacking in patience and good consultants are clear communicators, who identify their clients and candidates wants and needs; fast!

The days of salespeople engaging in endless chit-chat to even begin the deal are gone- the same verbose approach in today’s multi-channel workplace will probably deter the best clients and candidates.

6. ABC… Always Be Closing

In the famous iconic sales film with Alec Baldwin called Glengarry Glenn Ross, there is a famous line about the fact that good sales people are always closing.

Which is true.

In our field, it’s about taking people to the next step. If a client has vacancies that you know are roles you can fill; ask for the business; never walk away without knowing what the next step is.

It’s the same with candidates too. Can you help them? Is there a client of yours you could call with this hot candidate that would be ideal for their business then set it up?

Always close on something; one small step in the right direction has created many a big biller.

7. Know Your Inputs Versus Outputs

Do you know your numbers? What needs to happen to smash your target and bring in consistent commission?

I know mine and so do all the team at GSR2R.

This is how organisations become successful, and it’s something all switched on recruiters know and do.

1. How many contacts does it take to bring in a new client?

2. How many CVs do you need to send to get an interview?

3. How many interviews convert to a placement?

If you haven’t already, you need to break down your working week, focus your actions (inputs) so they can deliver your outputs (placements).

It might not be trendy, and selling is a numbers game. It was back in 2001 when GSR2R launched, and it’s the same today.

Until next time,

Cheryl

P.S. Would you like help to develop your career? Then call us on 020 3889 1675 or email us here.

For those in the know, employing a diverse workforce means better performance. When different genders, cultures, generations, orientations, and belief systems combine in a workplace, the organisation immediately becomes more dynamic, creative, and versatile.  

In a rapidly changing and heavily globalised world, diverse companies are outperforming those with mono-cultural or heavily gender-skewed organisations. Difference in employees equals difference in thinking and behaviour, which can give companies the edge they need to succeed.  

However, many employers still don’t realise the business benefits of having a diverse workforce, which means they are missing out.  

As a recruiter, you can ‘sell’ diversity to your client by explaining the benefits of having a diverse team, backed up by some hard stats and case studies to highlight how maximising difference in their organisation can deliver real results.  

These examples, taken from the global McKinsey ‘Why Diversity Matters’ report may be helpful to use in discussion with your client: 

1. Companies with a good mix of female and male employees are 15% more likely to outperform their competitors.  

2. Companies with an ethnically diverse background are 35% more likely to outperform their competitors.  

3. Companies with the worst diversity for gender and ethnicity are lagging significantly behind the average in financial performance.  

Once you’ve highlighted the advantages to the client, the next step is finding the diverse talent you need by developing a recruiting campaign tailored to attracting diverse candidates. 

Begin with the job spec. 

Try looking at the client’s job spec with new eyes. Do you think it would appeal to the target market? Consider where you might make it more targeted. 

For example, women tend to be more responsive to job adverts that talk about the meaningful impact the role will have, make it clear that applicants don’t need every single skill to apply or mention flexible working hours for those with children.  

Be extremely aware of language. 

Also, take notice of the language you use. We all have our own set of cultural and gender markers in the language we unconsciously use, so be aware of how very assertive, masculine, or flowery language in a job spec might attract or deter your audience.  

Keep an eye on any unconsciously biased wording about age or disability too, such as ‘We’re a young, dynamic, work-hard-play-hard company who love to have drinks on Friday nights’. Such language immediately makes many older, more introverted, or non-drinking candidates (such as all Muslims) feel they won’t fit in and decide not to apply.  

Show that diversity matters to the client. 

You may also wish to mention any anti-discrimination policies in place, so candidates immediately know it’s something the company takes seriously, and don’t be shy to advertise that you’re already a diverse organisation.  

For example, sharing stats on how many women in leadership or different ethnic backgrounds you have in the team work well to show that your diversity initiatives aren’t just talk.  

Advise the client to offer different religious or cultural holidays. 

Is the client willing to grant different public holidays to different employees? If so, this should be made clear in the job spec.  

The advantages of this is twofold: the employees will be grateful, and there’ll always be someone in the office getting on with work while the rest of the team have time off.  For companies with international clients operating in different cultures or time-zones, this can be a tremendous business advantage.  

Be crystal clear about leave entitlements. 

On the topic of holidays, the job spec must make the leave entitlements clear, even if they are the standard four weeks offered under UK law.  

This is because the client may be hiring people from other cultures where may be used to something different, such as in the US, where there is no set vacation time at all.  

For people born in another country, favourable leave allocations also mean they’ll be able to travel back to see their families and friends. Business, therefore, shouldn’t underestimate the power of leave entitlements in driving candidate decision-making.  

Analyse the client’s image. 

For example, does the company website have images of non-white employees or are there women appearing in positons of leadership?  

This non-verbal messaging can powerfully attract or deter candidates, as they feel that ‘people like them’ are valued and can succeed in the organisation. Advise your client on what they can do to create a more diverse image, whether on their website or social media channels, as well as in the interview panel.  

Consider different talent pools. 

When you convince your client to consider a different type of candidate than their norm, you have the opportunity to impress them with a brand new crop of talent. However, do you know where to find them?  

Consider new avenues such as recruiting internationally, different colleges, job boards and job fairs, or offering internships.  

Hopefully, this article has got you thinking. Next step is to schedule a chat with your clients to see how you can improve diversity in their recruitment process! 

Until next time  

Cheryl 

Shocking isn’t it! 

The year is half-over, the sun is out, and summer holidays are almost here.  It’s tempting to take your foot off the proverbial accelerator and coast into the break, but the successful recruiter knows that it’s time to make hay while the sun shines to ensure success in the final six months of the year. 

The first step is to look back on your progress so far in 2018. Which of your goals have you met? What has stood in your way? 

Now, what will you do differently to ensure greater success by December? What must you change?  

After all, as the saying goes, ‘The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.  

It’s time to put a plan in place. Here are some strategies to smash your billing targets in round 2 of 2018.  

Set small, actionable goals  

All big goals must be broken down into small, short-term goals if you expect actually to reach them. So what will it be? Don’t just say ‘Improve billing numbers by 10%’, but rather:  

1. Make five more calls each day.
2. Publish one engaging, relevant social media post per day.
3. Attend a new networking event each month.
4. Contact one client or old colleague a day to request a referral or testimonial.  

Assess your work approach 

Are you truly as productive as you can be? Maybe you don’t even know what you’re capable of fitting into a day. Here’ how to find out.

Track your time religiously for a week to assess what tasks always take longer than you predict. Learn your most productive times of day and use them to your advantage by attacking high-payoff activities in this time slot.
Learn how to use the database or software tools more efficiently to reduce time wastage.

Check in with your clients and candidates 

Yep, with all that time you just saved becoming more productive, you’re going to set it to great use by reaching out to all your clients and valued past candidates to check in on them.  

Are they/were they happy with your service? IS there anything you could do better? Is there anything you could help them with right now? How can you assist them reach their goals? (Remember to refer to the notes in your CRM about their original goals so you can sound like you know what they’re looking for.) 

If you don’t remember to check in frequently, they will become very vulnerable to a competitor recruiter who shows more interest in their business. 

Maximise your referrals  

10-12% of sales happen through referrals, and recruitment is no different.  Referrals can make the difference between success and mediocrity as a recruiter, helping you land that VIP client or opening the door to that passive executive candidate answering your call.  

So it’s time to go through your database and mine it for possible referrals. Otherwise, you are just doing the recruiter’s equivalent of ‘leaving money on the table’.   

Know your sector at a SUPER DEEP level 

The best recruiters are gold mines of information about their sectors, leading clients to turn to them for sage recruitment advice based on current trends and data. They then become a trusted advisor, not someone merely hoping to fill some vacancies.  This is what you want to become- but it does take some effort.  

On your summer holiday, what can you read up on? Can you subscribe to HBR Magazine, or study up on the latest recruitment trends? Do you know enough about the rise of Artificial Intelligence or the use of Virtual Reality in recruitment?  

A broad knowledge of the business pages and economic data will also go a long way to making you sound like an expert next time your VIP client asks your opinion about their long term recruitment strategy. 

If you’re a real superstar, you’ll be turning what you’ve learnt into a short blog, or an email blast to send to your clients or candidates. They’ll feel like they’re getting a unique insight into the market, and you’ll be fast-tracking your reputation for expertise. 

Know yourself 

If you haven’t already, it’s time to do an audit of your performance.  You probably know your strengths well but might prefer not to think about your weaknesses.  

However, you might find it useful to cast your mind back over the last six months and see where your weaknesses might be losing you money. Have you ended up losing a prospective client at the last minute, or lost a senior candidate to another recruiter? If this has happened multiple times, there’s a good chance that there’s something in your pitch or service delivery that needs some work. 

Finding out what your flaw is gives you power, it doesn’t take it away. Perhaps you can request feedback from your supervisor or even candidates and clients to build your self-awareness and ‘manage out’ your weaknesses.  

These are just a few of the things you can do to supercharge your performance and smash your goals for the final half of 2018. Where will you start? 

Until next time,  

Cheryl 

Recruitment is high pressure and overwhelm can threaten the best of us at times. Smart recruiters have strategies in place to deal with the emotional toll the job can take on them when the going gets tough. 

When you’re overwhelmed at work, it’s hard to think clearly and perform well. Often, your rising sense of overwhelm will lead to poor decision-making, reduced confidence, and eventually to poor billing numbers, so it’s vital to get it under control, and put methods in place to ensure it doesn’t return the next time the pressure’s on.  

Prioritise your tasks.

Sit down with a pen and paper and write down every task you must do, to stop them swirling around your head. This is your ‘long list’.  

Then select the three most important things you must get done today, and write them down on a separate piece of paper. Then put the long-list out of view, you can come back to it when you’ve finished your three things.  

Choosing just three things sharpens the mind and gives a clear, non-negotiable goal to work towards, and a gratifying, confidence-boosting sense of achievement when you reach it.  

Schedule breaks. 

Humans are not machines and just cannot function at full throttle all day, every day. (And even machines need regular servicing, the right fuel, and replacement parts to keep going!) 

Productivity experts have proved that working long hours and sacrificing your breaks to work is terrible for your productivity and performance.  

So step away from the desk at lunchtime (and leave the office) and don’t burn the midnight oil. Your newfound energy and enthusiasm for the hours you are at work just might surprise you.  

Know when to say no. 

Your billing manager might be piling on the pressure, but you owe it to yourself, to your clients, and to your candidates to draw a line when you know your performance or mental health is starting to suffer.  

If you’re like most recruiters you won’t let it show that you’re struggling, so your manager may think you’re handling it all with ease.  

Sit down for a meeting and explain that you are becoming too stretched, and any good manager will know to ease off—not only for your benefit but the company’s! Your manager might also have some great tips for organising your time better or dealing with stress. 

Look after body and mind.  

Exercise, yoga, meditation, or just a quick jog around the block- whatever makes you feel like you can snatch a bit of peace will do a lot to bring balance and perspective back to your working day.  

Learn to breathe through overwhelm. 

If you find yourself overwhelmed in the middle of a meeting or when you can’t leave the office for a walk, then learning the 4-7-8 breathing technique (in for 4, hold for 7, out for 8) would be valuable. 

It is a great technique to force the body back into the ‘rest and digest’ nervous system instead of ‘fight or flight’. You really can do this anywhere, at any time, and it brings the body back to a state of calm remarkably quickly.  

Know how to use sleep to boost performance. 

You feel like you’re doing the right thing by working late, but by the time you get home, eat, and wind down in front of the television, it’s 11 pm. 

That means you know you won’t get 8 hours sleep- and that’s by if some miracle you don’t lie awake for hours thinking about all the things you need to do! 

When you’re sleep deprived, your capacity to remember information plummets, and your stress levels skyrockets, so you’re genuinely harming your work performance by skimping on sleep. 

If you do need to work late, have a nap in the break room if you can to restore your energy levels, and try to sleep longer the next night or on the weekend to reduce your ‘sleep debt’. 

Do a productivity audit on your working week 

If you don’t put methods in place to prevent overwhelm now, it will inevitably return then next time the pressure’s on. Being organised and consistent are your greatest weapons against overwhelm getting its hooks in in the first place and doing an audit of your working week is a great place to start.  

Begin by planning your week, and assign projected times each task will take. Then religiously time-track everything you do for a week, noting where you spend more time than you expect, what kinds of tasks you forgot to schedule, and whether you’re setting yourself realistic goals in the first place.  

All of a sudden, you’ll probably understand why you never get to the end of your to-do list- it’s because you were setting yourself up to fail by expecting the impossible! What a relief to know this. You can feel the overwhelm starting to diminish already. 

Now it’s time to plan better.  

1. Leave some time free in the schedule for the unpredictable tasks 

2. Schedule high cognitive tasks like pitching for the times that you have the most energy and concentration.  

3. Attack emails and database work in blocks of time (preferably when your mental energy is waning), 

4. Have a frank discussion with yourself about those tasks that take longer than they should. (Is there a more effective way of doing them?) 

5. Remove the dead weight in your schedule. You may need to say ‘no’ more to achieve this.  

So, which of these have you already mastered, and which will you start on today? Knowing how to deal with overwhelm is part of every successful recruiter’s skillset.  

Until next time, 

Cheryl 

There are a sea of recruiters out there, all competing for the same pool of clients. Clever recruiters know they need to make themselves stand out, and the most effective and professional way to do so is by building a powerful personal brand.  

Here are three reasons why developing your personal brand will dramatically transform your fortunes as a recruiter.  

1. Personal brand = standing out = more clients 

Clients respond to power and knowledge, so it’s up to you to shape your professional reputation in a way that stands out. You need an edge. 

What’s your edge? Moreover, what do you want it to be?  

1. Have you got a vast network? Does it include influential people? Is it a strategic network, or a sheer numbers game? Do you have a talent and influence pool made up of top candidates, VIP clients, and industry movers and shakers? If not, it’s time to start building.
 

2. Are you an expert in your field? You should be a great conversationalist who always has an interesting bit of information to offer your client that might help them with their HR issues, whether that’s a recruitment trend, economic data predicting an upcoming boom, or a case study of a competitor firm. Start subscribing to recruitment magazines/blogs, and scour the business pages for forecasts and exciting titbits relating to your niche and the wider economy.
 

3. Is your online presence impressive? Creating a personal brand isn’t just face-to-face, as a recruiter, it’s just as important (if not more) to cultivate your name online. Write blogs, comment on industry forums, and make sure your LinkedIn and other social media profiles reflect your best professional self.
 

2. Personal brand = impressing candidates = larger talent pool 

A positive personal brand creates a sense of power. Candidates are drawn to this power, recognising you as someone who can help them positively shape their careers. This is extremely useful when you’re trying to woo passive candidates, build your talent pool, or place a candidate in such an effective way that they remain loyal to you as a recruiter throughout their career. 

Personal brand characteristics that candidates tend to be impressed by include: 

1. Willingness to spend time helping the candidate with CVs and interview tips. 

2. Detailed knowledge of the role and the company. 

3. A genuine interest in the candidate’s goals. 

4. Sharp dressing. 

5. A large network. 

6. A friendly, positive, ‘we can do this’ demeanour. 

7. The long view: checking in on candidates after placement and through career. 

What can you do to improve your personal brand in a way that the candidate will recognise your power to help them? 

3. Personal brand= impressing the billing manager = promotion 

For those candidates seeking promotion, spending some quality time developing your personal brand is one of the most effective ways to get your manager’s attention.  

Often, managers have you ‘typecast’ within the first couple of weeks of working with you (and often much, much earlier.) This means they’ve probably already made up their mind as to whether you’re ‘management potential’ or not.  

It’s your job to change their perception of you, through giving your personal brand a promotion-ready makeover.  

Dressing for success can be a great start, but you’ll have to go a long way further to really change perceptions. Here are three pointers to build your personal brand in the eyes of the manager. 

1. The first step is to speak to your manager and ask them for their opinion on what you need to do to improve. At the same time, tell them about your goal of promotion so that they recognise you as a contender (but make it clear you’re not after their job!)
 

2. Work harder and smarter. You need to radically change the manager’s perception of you. If that means staying at work a little longer, making 10% more calls a week, or getting dramatically better at managing your CRM, then you know what you need to do.
 

3. Focus on your teamwork. A manager needs to be collaborative and support others, rather than hogging the limelight as an individual. While you definitely need to keep up your individual performance, concentrate on how you can help others around you and build the team’s success. This highlights you as a person more focussed on business success than your own personal glory, which is a crucial characteristic of a great manager. 

There’s so much you can do to build your personal brand to impress clients, candidates, and your billing manager. It’s an exciting journey, so what will you pick to start on today?  

Until next time, 

Cheryl