“It’s not you, this sector has never been easy”. We’ve all heard it. In this case though, it might just be true. It’s very possible that your current recruiting difficulties aren’t about you at all.

If you’re finding yourself struggling to find quality candidates or are regularly putting forward candidates that pull out at the last minute, there’s an excellent chance that….

It’s not you, it’s the sector.

Too often recruiters plough on, thinking their bad run is something they’re doing wrong, and don’t realise until the fifth or sixth time a candidate has jumped ship at the last minute that it has nothing to do with their skill as a recruiter: It is problem with the market they are in.

So how do you know whether your recruiting sector is getting in the way of your success? And how can you confidently and successfully move between sectors?

Ask yourself:

-Have you had an uncharacteristically bad run, where candidates keep pulling out at the last minute? This is one of the biggest signals that there’s a problem with the sector, and we recommend if it happens consistently it could be time to consider a transition to a different sector.

-Is your sector facing challenges that you now realise are filtering down to your billing numbers? Oil and gas are just one of the sectors that have been hit with troubles over the last few years, and it’s very possible that your current difficulties are the result of global market forces impacting on recruitment.

-Have you lost enthusiasm for your sector lately? It might just be that you’re in the wrong sector to make the best of your potential. You might even want to work for a certain employer that doesn’t operate in your current market, or think that executive search is just the right change for you after years of filling admin/ temp roles.

Whichever one (or several) applies to your situation, it’s could definitely be time to consider switching sectors.

How do you switch sectors?

It’s true that recruiters have traditionally used their sector experience as a selling point for their insider knowledge and contacts. However, it’s not quite that simple, and there’s a great deal of movement between sectors as it’s becoming apparent that a great recruiter is a great recruiter- no matter what sector you put them in!

Great recruiters have a specific set of skills that serve them well across industries. The ability to network, multitask, work towards targets, and be resilient are the vital characteristics of any recruiter, and they will be appreciated in any sector.

As for the sector-specific knowledge and contacts that you worry about having to start building from scratch? The Truth? Those can be built very quickly- and you’ll probably find that you have the fire and enthusiasm in you again to make rapid inroads and early billing success. Many recruiters also fear losing their years of contacts and experience by making the transition, but much of that knowledge base will still come in useful in some way. And remember, you almost always have to risk something to achieve something!

Some hints:

a. Find a recruiting company that is supportive of sector switches (some are not- often after having a poor experience with a ‘sector switcher’ who didn’t work out.)

b. Look for a collaborative company culture where information is shared, which will make your switch (and your learning curve) a bit smoother.

c. Be very proactive about learning as much as you can about the industry before you make the switch. Make friends in that sector, find yourself a mentor if you can, and above all- learn the terminology #jargon

Many recruiters have successfully switched sectors- there’s no reason you can’t do it too! With the right attitude and a bit of hard work you could find yourself in a very different industry before long- and loving it. If things aren’t going well in your sector now, what have you got to lose?

Until next time

Cheryl

P.S. Ready to switch sectors now? Need some advice. Give us a call on 0203 696 1215

According to the 2015 Jobvite Recruiting Survey, 96% of recruiters are now using social recruiting to find candidates, but the question remains: Are you using it well?

Recruiting across social media channels such as LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter is now so ubiquitous that social hiring is considered an essential recruiting practice. And no wonder- social media channels increase your candidate reach, build your recruitment brand, offer insight into the candidates,  and—if utilised properly—source high quality candidates who will also feed referrals into your talent pipeline.

Sounds perfect, right? However, there are some serious pitfalls to social recruiting if it’s not done correctly…and a lot of recruiters, unfortunately, aren’t doing it right.

How Social Recruiting Can Go Wrong

Failure to connect:    The biggest danger of relying too heavily on posting jobs on social media is that the process is so quick and distant that the proper relationships aren’t built.

Recruiting is all about relationships, and by posting only a constant stream of job ads on your social media channel you give the perception that you are only ‘selling’ something, and not creating human relationships. Without relationships, you’ve given the candidate no reason to return to you for their next role, or to refer you to their company or friends.

Failure to build your brand: Some recruiters are posting relentless streams of job postings…and nothing else. Take Twitter alone: 60,000 jobs are posted on the platform each day- what makes yours stand out? Is anybody even listening?

Recruitment is a crowded, competitive landscape so you need to stand out by creating brilliant social media accounts that people want to, not only find their jobs through, but stay signed up because they find your posts interesting, valuable and possibly even funny.

As a recruiter, if your facebook or Twitter page is regularly updated with interesting articles, great images and even quotes or jokes, then the person has no reason to discontinue their account. You stay in their mind and they will return to you and recommend their friends, colleagues and hiring managers to you. Jobs can definitely be a part of your posting strategy, but they have to be interspersed with real content.

Failure to properly target: The potential candidate pool is vast- but if you don’t target your audience right you’ll end up with a vast pile of under-qualified CVs to wade through. Inexpensive Facebook and Twitter ads allow you to target your audience within very specific age, location and keywords, while the LinkedIn Recruiter tool is designed to make your life easier.

Also, some recruiters are making the error of blanket-posting across all channels without pausing to consider whether the channel is particularly appropriate for the audience, such as using Instagram or Snapchat for posting senior roles.  Inappropriate targeting on social media can actually damage your brand.

Failure to capitalise: The best quality candidates are found through referrals, yet perhaps you didn’t properly trawl the candidate’s social and professional connections to discover new talent for your pipeline. Perhaps you’ve not kept in touch with the candidate after you placed them- thereby squandering your social capital with them and missing out on valuable referrals or job openings at their company. Perhaps your Facebook or Twitter account doesn’t have enough engaging material so they deleted your page as soon as they got a job. So many missed opportunities that a good social media strategy could have prevented!

Failure to use each social channel wisely.    Each social media platform has its benefits for both the recruiter and the candidate. Linked in is still overwhelmingly the best place to vet candidates on a professional level and post jobs, while facebook and twitter are a great vehicle to build the company brand, post jobs intermittently, and get a more personal glimpse into candidates’ values and networks.    The range of social media channels used by recruiters is ever-expanding, with YouTube, Instagram, Snapchat, Pinterest and even Vimeo and Tumblr used by some recruiters. The language, format and target market for each social channel is distinctly different, so you’ll need to craft each post for each channel differently.

When done properly, a social media strategy both invites the candidates into your world and sells you as a recruiter, while also giving you an insight into the candidate’s professional and personal world. Ultimately, via a good social recruiting strategy, both sides get a window into the culture and competency of the other.

Until next time

Cheryl

It can be hard to make the big choice to move to a new recruitment company. You might wonder whether things will improve on their own, or if you should just stick it out to reach a certain milestone that will make your CV even more attractive.

Here are some of the key signs it’s time to find a new job. You’ll notice we haven’t included verbal abuse or harassment at work, as those of you who are in this situation already know in your heart that it’s time to move on!

1. The culture fit isn’t right. This might be a team culture that has you feeling constantly on the outer, an uncomfortably strict office hierarchy, or it could be that it could be that the company’s goals or ethic don’t align with your own. These things are unlikely to change to suit you, so it’s a good reason to start looking for a new job.

2. There’s no career advancement in sight. It might be that you didn’t get the promotion you expected, or that there are no promotions to be had at all in the foreseeable future. Even if there are many things you like about your job, being stuck in a career rut is dangerous to your long-term prospects.

3. Your skills are under-utilised. You joined the company thinking that your skills would be put to good use, yet you’re finding yourself stagnating on dull or easy tasks. If your requests for more challenges or training aren’t met, then you’re probably wasting good career years there that you could better spend elsewhere.

4. You’re not paid what you’re worth. Money is not necessarily the ultimate motivator, but a feeling that you’re underpaid is definitely one of the ultimate de-motivators. If you have tried to renegotiate and your salary remains stubbornly low against industry benchmarks, then it’s time to move on. With a talent shortage developing across many industries, you hold significant power over salary in the current market.

5. You don’t have support from management. Your manager is the distant type, who offers nothing in the way of support or coaching and development. It’s the responsibility of management to develop you, challenge you, and coach you- so if they’re not doing this, it might be time to find someone who will! It’s always worth chatting with your current manager to request further support from them before making a decision—they might not even know that you’re keen for development, and it’s common for the more hands-off managers to be taken by complete surprise when they find out their employees were unhappy!

6. You dread going to work. Often this feeling stems from having a bad boss or one of the other factors already listed here. More than anything, however, it’s linked to a lack of passion for what you’re doing. It’s hard to drag yourself out of bed to go to work for eight or more hours in a job that bores you rigid. If you’ve already requested new challenges to no avail, then you need to be the one that forces the change with a new job. However, be very careful not just to switch companies and keep the same job description, otherwise you’ll hit the same wall of boredom as soon as you’ve memorised your new colleagues’ names.

7. You’re being left out of key projects and meetings that you were previously involved in. This can be one of the main signs that you are not considered integral to the team- and while it may not mean you’re going to get fired, it’s a good time to reassess other opportunities.

8. Your job is making you sick, stressed, and negative. You’re becoming that person who goes home from work and complains for an hour, or you struggle to sleep at night because of your workload or boss’ expectations. You can’t see anything positive about your role anymore, and your unhappiness is starting to reflect in your health. Unless you’re able to radically adjust your thinking process about your job, there’s little to be done but find a new job- one which won’t trap you in the same negative cycle.

9. Your ideas are never acted upon and praise is rare. We all look for signs at work that our ideas are valued and acknowledgement that we are doing a good job. If you find yourself regularly putting forward ideas that are ignored, then that’s a very strong sign that your input is not valued. Meanwhile, a lack of praise may simply be that billing manager’s style, but if others receive praise and you don’t then it’s definitely time to start hitting the job boards.

There are more reasons of course, and only you know what’s making you unhappy at work. Whatever is driving your career discontent, here’s some fresh encouragement for you to kick that bad job to the curb: The skills shortage is kicking in, salaries are rising in response to demand, and if you’re not getting what you need from your current recruiter role, then it’s time to find a job that will allow you to fulfil your potential.
Until next time

Cheryl

As the economy is still buoyant in the UK the outlook for recruitment company growth is still rosy.

It’s often said that recruitment organisations can be the first business sector into a recession and also the first out!

This is the natural cycle of business growth.

Companies might downsize during ‘tough times’ as recruitment is scaled back or stops completely.

As the economy moves out of a recession recruitment increases as companies recruit in preparation to scale again.

Read any good business book and you will know that one of the key factors that impacts company growth is to have the right talent in key positions in an organisation.

Opportunity alert…….

All logical facts aren’t they? This points to the very obvious conclusion that as companies grow so does their HR function.

As a busy rec 2 rec based in our own capitol city we have seen huge growth in the opportunities for HR recruiters.

A number of our own recruitment clients have seen the opportunity available in today’s market and are adding HR as a recruiting sector to their own recruiting offer and services.

In a recent article we posted on why London is a great place to move for your next recruiter role we shared the interesting statistics around the fact that many global organisations have their headquarters in London.

Consequently a company’s HQ will also have a significant HR department #moreplacementstomake.

Human Resources (or HR) is a rich, varied industry with many different roles you can fill as a specialist HR recruiter.

Here are just a few examples:

a. HR Generalist

b. HR Director

c. HR Manager

d. Internal recruitment manager

e. Learning and development manager

f. HR Administrator

g Employee relations advisor

………………….and we have barely scratched the surface.

Specialist HR recruiters are involved in placing all of these roles and many more depending on the size of the company.

The big growth for many recruitment organisations has been to become ‘niche’. In other words to work a specific sector. That might be as an engineering recruitment agency or a media and marketing recruitment company.

As a HR recruiter you get the best of both worlds as you can be niche in a bigger market: All companies except the small SMEs will have a HR function.

What makes a great HR recruiter?

The truth? The same skills that make a great recruiter in any market. There are lots of different articles here on the GSR2R blog about the attributes of a great recruiters.

If recruiting is your passion and you love that feeling of helping someone find  that dream role with a fantastic client, then being a HR recruiter will tick that box; why? Because you will be in the thick of a sector that lives and breathes; career development, advancement and engagement.

Great recruiters, apart from being target driven and focused, also have exceptional relationship building qualities and are great communicators; both key skills recognised and appreciated in the world of HR.

HR is a fascinating topic; hey as human beings we are all different aren’t we?

The good news is you can upskill your knowledge of the area by visiting some of the amazing HR resource blogs out there. HR Zone is a great go to resource as is the people management blog from the CIPD.

Interested to find out more about this recruiting sector and if it’s right for you? Then give us a call at 0203 696 1215.

Until next time

Cheryl and the GSR2R team

Read any modern or ancient fairy tale and you will often experience the story of the hero’s journey where the lead character goes off in search of fame and fortune normally to a land far far away.

It’s a story, right? Well yes and no.

It’s a common phenomenon that people who are keen to advance and move forward in their career will find more opportunities in their capitol city.

It’s the same for Americans who move to New York or Aussies that take up residence in Sydney.

Here is the thing: London is the UKs capitol city and is full of opportunity for ambitious recruiters.

Where all the big companies with recruiting budgets hang out

A recent report in the Evening Standard shared the following mind blowing facts.

The latest data confirming London as the business capitol of the world revealed that 40% of the world’s biggest companies choose to base themselves here rather than elsewhere in the continent.

And there is more……

Two in five of the 250 largest companies in the world with a main or European headquarters have it in London, according to a study by Deloitte.

The gap grows even larger when looking at the non-European companies, with 60% of them having their European headquarters in London.

Logically then…..

With some of the world’s largest organisations basing themselves in London their recruitment requirements are much higher than a small SME in Burton-On-Trent; sorry Burton no offence meant.

Global organisations invest heavily in their talent and want the best people to grow their profits.  Consequently their recruiting budgets are higher.

The facts….

The team here  at GSR2R know many recruiters across the country and when we talk about recruiting our friends  north of Watford gap often lament how they struggle to command fees above 12 or 15%; even more concerning this is also on lower paid roles too.

Let’s do the maths

12% on a £23k role is £2760 billing fee. Imagine you move to London and work on bigger roles.

The figures might make you gulp…………how about 20% on a £60 k role will give you a £12,000 billing fee.

Get your calculator out and work out what these type of figures will do to your billings and your bank account……..and the even better news is that roles like this can be easier to fill.

Why would I want to relocate to London for a recruiter role?

The truth is you might not want to. You might be happy in your own home town in a small agency on a small salary.

However I suspect if you’re reading this blog that’s not you; is it? You want to play a bigger game and reap the rewards.

Let me share what folks we help move to London experience:

a. They recruit into bigger companies with bigger recruiting budgets

b. London based companies pay bigger fees on higher salaries

c. There is huge opportunity for career growth and advancement; no more waiting for dead man’s shoes- you might even be a billing manager in 18 months

d. Recruitment companies in London pay bigger salaries, commission and give added perks; Vouchers, Gym memberships, Incentive trips abroad

Your new company will invest in you, think training, database, software programmes, admin support…….the list goes on. One company we know has a team in India providing leads and phones numbers!………….how cool is that?

Peaked your interest?  If this has, give us a call on 0203 696 1215.

Until next time

Cheryl

P.S. Here is a link to our case study page where candidates, just like you, share their experience of working with us.

The rise of the internal recruiter has provoked consternation within some recruitment agencies over the last few years, and the two types of recruiter have traditionally been wary of each other. Yet as time goes on it is becoming clear that there are real opportunities arising from creating good relationships between agency recruiters and corporate recruiters.

Why do internal recruiters need external recruiters?

While the intention of bringing recruitment in-house was to lower the cost of recruitment to the company, it was never considered as a 100% solution to finding candidates. It’s been generally accepted that the work of corporate recruiters often has to be supplemented by the work of agency recruiters- in particular when filling roles with rare skill-sets or senior positions. In practice, external agencies still tend to attract the majority of the star performers, and head-hunters generally have better access to (and success rates with) passive candidates.

So while the idea of bringing all recruitment in-house might have been attractive for the company bottom line, in reality it was never practical for most businesses as a complete recruitment strategy- even during the recession when good candidates were plentiful.

Now, the skill shortage is starting to bite and internal recruiters are increasingly having to look outside to external recruiters to find the talent they so badly need. Internal referral schemes can only go so far, and external recruiters have access to a much wider candidate network- a network that internal recruiters desperately need in order to fill roles. Agency recruiters come into their own particularly well at the senior or niche level, and have excellent talent pipelines in place across sectors that corporate recruiters rarely have access to.

Why do external recruiters need internal recruiters?

However, the relationship extends both ways, as there are some ways in which in-house recruiters have the edge over agency recruiters. For example, corporate recruiters have a much better understanding of company culture and strategic goals. Therefore, they are much more proficient at understanding how the successful candidate is expected to fit into the organisation and what their success will look like. Also importantly, they know which vacancies will be opening up in the future, and have valuable insight into salary constraints and the hiring process.

As such, internal recruiters are a goldmine of information and potential vacancies that can be of immense usefulness to the external recruiter. Which is why external recruiters like you need to reach out to the internal recruiters in order to create a mutually beneficial relationship.

Through forging a positive relationship with the internal recruiters you will gain valuable knowledge about company culture and expectations, as well as become the first person they turn to when they can’t fill a role internally.

How might collaboration work?

Great recruitment results are often arrived at when an in-house recruiter functions with the external support of an agency employed on retainer. The corporate recruiter can then turn to the agency when they need help filling senior and niche roles, or haven’t found the high quality candidates they’re seeking through their normal channels.  The in-house team then has the support of an external agency, and the agency has a steady stream of roles to place. It’s a win-win situation.

It’s obvious that in-house recruiters and agencies stand to be of real benefit to each other in the current marketplace, so reach out to some internal recruiters today and start networking in order to reap the rewards.

Until next time,

Cheryl

In a jobseeker’s market, companies are fighting it out to attract the top talent. Yet as we all know, that’s not where the battle for star performers ends. It’s keeping that talent long-term that matters- something that can be difficult to do when competitor companies are reaching out to passive jobseekers with enticing salary packages and perks. Yet it’s not all about the money, either.

Great recruiters understand that whether a candidate chooses to stay or go when offered a new opportunity often comes down to how well they fit in with the existing company culture. Which is why it’s so important to get this match right in the first place in order to keep both clients and candidates happy with your performance.

These days, company culture is considered one of the major factors in acceptance decisions—to an extent unheard of even 10 or 20 years ago. Today’s top candidates will probably want to know whether they’d be joining a strictly hierarchical company structure or a more flat and democratic-style workplace where the ‘door is always open’.

Other things they might want to know is whether flexible work is a possibility, whether promotion is awarded largely on merit or seniority, and whether the office has a sociable or more formal atmosphere.

They’ll often want to know a whole range of things from dress codes and corporate social responsibility ventures— to whether the CEO is the type who’d say hi in a lift. These might seem like small side issues to candidates who are more interested in salary and don’t mind a formal work environment, yet for the new breed of Millennial candidates, company culture is a huge deciding factor in whether to accept a role.

For a recruiter, knowing the ins and outs of company culture means that you can place the right candidate with the right role, pure and simple. When the right employee finds the right company culture in which to thrive, they won’t move on after three months when they realise it’s a bad fit, or get a more tempting offer.

As recruiters, we know how bad it looks to our clients when their star recruit ups and leaves! And the recruit themselves might be a bit disappointed in your services too for not matching you with a role that was right for their expectations.

So, how do you find out their expectations about company culture? You ask them, of course! Find out what kind of workplace they can see themselves being happy in, and take serious note of what they say. If they’re not sure, then ask them a few key questions to sound them out- do you like wearing a suit to work?

Do you think promotion should be on merit or is seniority important? Does it matter to you if the company has a good reputation for charity etc? Do you think it’s important to be sociable with people at work? Where’s the best place you ever worked and what made it great? Do you look forward to your office Christmas parties or are work functions a bit of a bore? These are just a few of the questions you could ask to get a general idea of where they would be a good fit.

Mind you, if they’re expecting Google-like cultural perks like in-house masseuses, sleep pods and sports facilities you may need to gently lower their expectations, but it’s up to you to do your research to try and create the right match.

Speak to the hiring manager about what the culture’s like and perhaps get in touch with some current and past staff if you can.

Remember, this isn’t all about the candidate’s wishes and needs. The importance of cultural fit goes both ways- you are protecting both client and candidate from a wrong decision. As well as yourself!

Until next time,

Cheryl

Those of you who recruit effectively in the HR field understand that you’re dealing with a significantly different type of candidate than your average jobseeker.

Because so much of HR revolves around hiring and company culture, you can bet that your HR candidates already know what makes a fantastic CV, they’ve probably already done some research on the hiring company, and they can predict interview questions perfectly- because they’ve used them themselves! In short, HR candidates already know the recruitment process back to front, because they’ve experienced it from the other end.

This means that HR recruitment is a specialist field- one where you need to bring your ‘A-game’ as a recruiter because the candidate has already studied the rule-book. In today’s climate where talented employees are at a premium, understanding how to make yourself invaluable to a HR candidate is tremendously important—and can also pay huge dividends to your career down the line.

So, how do you stand out and make yourself trusted as a HR recruiter?

A HR candidate will often see a recruiter as a strategic ally and information source rather than someone to look up to and depend upon for advice (as a less experienced candidate might). As such, offer your services to the HR candidate in finding out extra information they may not have access to, such as company hierarchy and key figures, and more information about company culture. A HR candidate will also probably appreciate being able to speak to other company employees if that can be arranged.

It cannot be emphasised enough how important it is that you have a very specific job description outlining the candidate’s prospective duties and responsibilities, as HR professionals will scour this for detail.

A HR candidate will not appreciate being pushed towards roles that don’t suit them. They’ll definitely know their value in the current jobseeker’s market, so find out their remuneration and benefits expectations and don’t stray outside them.

Don’t give HR candidates the run-around or stall if the client is being slow in making up their minds. Direct honesty will be appreciated and create a bond of mutual respect between you and the candidate. In this vein, feedback is also important to the HR candidate so that they can improve, so find out what you can from the client and communicate it to the candidate. (You’ll generally find that HR candidates are quite comfortable accepting constructive criticism as they have to give it out so often.)

Culture, as mentioned, is tremendously important—in fact, you could argue that culture is more important in hiring a HR candidate than in hiring any other single employee. HR employees need to fit into the culture themselves, and perhaps more importantly, they’re also required to enforce that company culture if employees stray outside it, and hire people that suit that culture. So find out everything you can about culture so that you can match the right HR candidate to the right company. A HR candidate that doesn’t agree with the company culture is a disaster waiting to happen.

You probably won’t need to coach HR clients on interview techniques and it may be perceived as patronising if you do offer it, but they will definitely expect you to have all the information they need regarding interview dates, times, locations, contact persons, dress code and interview format. Have all this information ready for them and send it to them in good time. They will also appreciate any extra information you have about the hiring manager running the interview, as well as any information you have on the outgoing HR person.

Always remember that your relationship with a HR person goes both ways. If they accept the role, HR candidates are extremely valuable to your career, so look after them well, give them the information they need, and a respectful and perhaps even lucrative relationship will develop.

Until next time,

Cheryl

As recruiters, you spend a lot of time reading through other people’s CVs, yet how long has it been since you turned your professional eye to your own CV?

In the current job market many recruiters are considering moving companies— whether for promotion, salary increase or just a change. Even passive jobseekers never know if they might be approached with an offer out of the blue. Therefore, whether you’re actively looking or not, it’s vital to have an up-to-date and powerfully impressive CV that you can submit at a moment’s notice.

It might seem easy to write a stellar CV considering you have so much experience in reading them, yet anyone who has sat down to write their CV knows that it’s a difficult job to make all your achievements jump off the page without sounding boastful or missing something out, or how to skim over any long gaps in employment without raising a red flag.

Remember, a recruiter’s CV is even more closely scrutinised than normal, because the hirer needs to know that you can spot a good CV from a bad one! In your recruitment role you’ll need to advise candidates on how to improve their CV-from length to grammar mistakes to highlighting key information—so you need to make sure that your CV is spot on if you’re hoping to secure an interview.

How to give your recruitment CV an overhaul

Above all, if you’ve already got recruitment experience, you must demonstrate your past results loud and clear. As such, make sure that you detail how many placements, what fee level, how many new clients you’ve brought in, and how often you hit and exceed company or personal targets. If you’re new to recruitment, you need to pull out anything relevant to recruitment and make that shine on your  CV (such as any sales experience, networking ability, a good phone manner or IT and social media skills.)

Don’t be tempted to just add your current role onto your old CV and submit it to new opportunities! That’s a common mistake that fails to take advantage of all the new things you’ve learnt since your last job-hunting experience- including the new trends when it comes to CVs, cover letters and the job market. As a recruiter, you’re definitely in the know about trends in the recruitment market, so use this specialist knowledge to your advantage.

If you can, rewrite your CV from scratch- the first time do it without looking at the old version, and then compare. You’ll certainly want to update it with links to your online profile and any blogs or articles that you’ve published for your firm or on LinkedIn. Remember to keep it to 2 pages- 3 at the maximum. You may need to start culling information from early roles or irrelevant school awards.

Rewriting your CV from scratch is also a great opportunity to look back on past roles and see how they prepared you for both the role you are in now, and the role you’re hoping to get. When we leave a job it’s initially hard to get the distance and perspective we need to realise how helpful that job was in our career progression. So take this time now to look back and get a more holistic view.

As you no doubt know, a touch of personality is important in a CV, but it’s also important to cherry-pick the personal information you include in order to increase your chances of securing an interview.  For example, if you include your sporting and volunteering experience in your hobbies & interests section, that lends a powerful message that you are good at teamwork and engaging with others- which is excellent for a recruiter.  Be savvy about what you choose to include. Remember that everything you put on your CV is selected purely to increase your chances of getting a job, so be wary of sharing any overly personal or irrelevant information.

Your CV needs to have personality, yet it also needs to make your achievements ring loud and clear. For a recruiter, there are no excuses for not getting a CV right.

Until next time,

Cheryl

Many people in the recruitment industry wish to become a headhunter, and on the surface it’s very easy to see why. Higher fees, long-term retainers and staged payments are obvious financial incentives in a competitive commissions-based industry.

Yet the advantages of headhunting aren’t just financial. Many headhunters choose this field because it’s a wonderful feeling to know that you’re presenting the very best in the business to your client. Having high-quality candidates is another reason why many are drawn to headhunting, and there’s a real thrill in placing candidates in some of the most senior roles in the country.

So it may seem a given that headhunting is a good career path for anyone in the recruiting business. For many, it’s considered the pinnacle. Yet it takes a certain mindset to succeed in headhunting, as it requires a particular set of skills and attributes.

The headhunter mindset

Calm confidence under pressure. At this level, you’ll need to project an aura of calm confidence that impresses your high-level clients and candidates. Don’t over-promise to either party, and conduct your business with a calm, approachable authority.

An unceasing desire to find the best. A headhunter cannot risk presenting under-qualified candidates in highly competitive fields. Never stop researching and interviewing the cream of the crop.

A high tolerance for rejection. Many of your potential candidates will refuse your offer. They might be willing to talk to you to find out what it is you have to offer but not go any further, or use your offer as a bargaining tool to raise their salaries at their existing roles. They might even just come along for a free lunch and a bit of flattery, or string you along only to reject the role at the 11^th hour— leaving you feeling a fool in front of the client. You’ll encounter all kinds, and your rejection rates will be high. Never fear though, for when you see real interest in the eyes of a passive candidate it makes it all worthwhile!

The long view. Even if the talent rejects going any further or doesn’t get the role, that’s just the beginning of your relationship. Every person you meet with has been added to your talent pipeline- you need to be very good at talent mapping and remembering all your possible contacts for future roles.

A tough skin. No company likes losing their star employees to a headhunter, and headhunters sometimes suffer from a negative reputation as a result. Having said that, in the senior circles headhunting is considered a part of business life, and often the very same companies who lost an employee after you headhunted them will then approach you to fill the very vacancy you created! As long as you operate with maximum discretion and don’t commit the cardinal sin of poaching from one client to serve another, then your reputation will flourish with the people that matter.

Networking skills. As a headhunter your networking never stops, so you’ll need lots of energy, a great memory for faces and names, and brilliant small-talk.

Industry knowledge. You’ll need to stay abreast of all trade news, employee movement and recruitment trends in the industry. Utilise social media, LinkedIn, Google, trade magazines and financial news to talent map across sectors.

The Charm Offensive. Many people will be deeply flattered to be approached by a headhunter, yet getting them over the line to applying for the role is another thing entirely- one that takes tact and charm and a sense that they can trust you.

Control people’s expectations. Some candidates will be so flattered to have been approached that they will consider any role they’re asked to apply for almost as a ‘done deal’. This can lead to some hurt feelings or even frustration if they don’t get the role, so you need to be able to temper expectations.

Listening skills. Because your role involves approaching passive candidates and asking them if they’re happy in their jobs, your job will involve a lot of listening- and the answers they give will be a treasure trove of information about what kinds of roles they might accept (and also what kind of employee they may make.) Lend a kind ear with respect for their privacy, and you’ll learn a lot about the candidate. Remember, even if they don’t want to move jobs at this stage, they may in future. Nothing you learn is wasted.

Discretion. Discretion is crucial across the entire recruitment industry, and particularly so in headhunting senior positions. You do not want to imperil this person’s existing job with a mistimed reference check or an obvious job interview call, as that would be a breach of trust and undermine your professional reputation.

Headhunting is a high pressure, high pay-off career. The mindset of a great headhunter requires calm authority, phenomenal research and networking skills, and a bit of inner grit. Above all, it requires that you demand the best and will keep searching for it until you can deliver the finest candidates to your clients.

Until next time

Cheryl