Recruiters are one of the most essential parts of the Human Resources (HR) department, specializing in finding the best talent for the company. Expert recruiters can find candidates who are qualified and well-suited for the company’s business culture. However, in this article, we define what a recruiter is and what their primary duties are.
What is a Recruiter?
A recruiter can be referred to as a Human Resources expert who specializes in recruiting new employees for a company. Also, recruiters may work independently with clients and recruiting agencies or as in-house recruiters for companies. For instance, a recruiter has a variety of responsibilities that relate to enabling their clients or companies to hire the right candidates for open vacancies.
What Is a Technical Recruiter?
A technical recruiter can be seen as those recruiters who recruit only for technical roles. For example, software engineers and IT specialists. Conversations with technical recruiters will focus heavily on your technical skills.
Here, always expect to be asked questions about projects you’ve worked on, your role within that project, outcomes of work you’ve done, and technical questions about skills required for a specific position. Wendi Reuter, senior IT recruiter at Carex Consulting Group, says.
In fact, technical recruiters often have a background in technology that helps them stay up to date with tools, programs, and applications people use. When talking to a technical recruiter, know they’ll have some background knowledge of the concepts and hard skills you’re talking about, so it’s okay to keep your conversations on the technical side.
What Is A Mass Recruiter?
A mass recruiter is a big company, usually a multi-national one that conducts large-scale recruitment or placement and drives for different markets. Note, that these recruitments typically happen once or twice a year and target graduate and postgraduate candidates from both private and public education sectors. Mass recruiters usually aim to recruit and train a large number of candidates within a short time. Often times, After the training, they shortlist the top candidates and offer them permanent jobs in the company.
What Is A Recruiting Agency?
A recruiting agency manages all the recruiting and hiring functions of another company. Note, that these organizations focus solely on sourcing candidates, developing candidate databases, and matching these candidates to available positions at client companies. However, recruiting agencies typically work with many clients at the same time and may specialize in specific fields, such as healthcare, education, media, and sports.
What Is An In-House Recruiter?
An in-house recruiter is an employee of an organization, usually from the human resources department, responsible for managing the recruiting and hiring process of the company. Also, in-house recruiters use inputs from managers and company stakeholders to source, screen, and communicate with candidates. They work directly for the organization to fill a variety of positions across different departments.
What Is Recruiting Vs. Hiring
Though, many people use the words ‘recruiting’ and ‘hiring’ interchangeably, they have many differences. Hiring is reactive, meaning it often responds to an immediate need. In comparison, recruiting is a long and in-depth process. However, it involves the use of vacancy postings, social media, and expert networks to match a company’s specific needs. For instance, in a hiring situation, you ensure that your skills apply to the job. You are also responsible for presenting yourself and your resume effectively.
For instance, if you use a recruiting agency, you work with a professional who assesses your skills and matches them to available job openings. They may also try to fulfill your other demands regarding salary, benefits, and work environment. Recruiters can use their experience to edit your resume to meet specific client needs and preferences. They may prepare you for interviews and answer your questions. Recruiting agencies normally retain your resume and present new opportunities to you, even after you have a job.
What Are The Duties Of A Recruiter?
Some of the primary responsibilities of recruiters are:
Determine staffing needs:
The recruiter assesses the scope of work and necessary skills when determining the staffing needs of a company.
Create systematic recruitment strategies:
Recruiters create efficient systems for finding the best candidates.
Screen resumes and applications:
They filter, tag, and sort candidates and match them to client or company needs.
. Perform candidate interviews:
Recruiters interview candidates to better understand their potential and their specific aspirations.
. Coordinate company interviews:
A recruiter may manage the details of interviews between candidates and company representatives.
. Attend job fairs and hiring events:
Recruiters frequent these events to find potential candidates for a client or company.
. Act as a communication channel:
A recruiter helps facilitate effective communication between candidates and companies.
. Manage background checks:
To ensure a candidate is best for the position, a recruiter may perform background or reference checks for candidates.
. Track staffing information:
By gathering and storing data about candidates and companies, recruiters can improve their performance and provide information to their clients.
What Are The Importance Of Working With Recruiters?
Recruiters share information about vacancies, screen candidates for companies, and may even offer you a job on behalf of a company. Therefore, seeking the assistance of a recruiter saves you time during a job search by unlocking information that would otherwise be obtained through extensive research on your end.
Additionally, recruiters have access to inside information about vacancies and open positions in different companies and the nature of their staffing process. Therefore, this information is rarely available in the public domain and is very difficult to acquire through your research.
A recruiter can give you practical advice on how to do a job that suits your skills and experience. However, recruiters may also help increase your visibility to employers by utilizing their network and expertise. For companies, recruiters are important because they help the company find talented individuals who value the same principles as they do.
What Are The Features And Skills Needed To Work As A Recruiter?
Now that you know a little more about the job, you might be speculating if you’re the type of person who’d be a natural fit. We’ve identified a handful of critical skills and characteristics for a successful recruiter.
1. Prime people skills
It shouldn’t be surprising that good communication skills are required to be a recruiter. It’s common for recruiters to spend a large portion of their workdays on the phone talking to candidates. Hence, these early conversations are an important starting point for determining if a candidate is a good fit for the positions they’re looking to fill.
Therefore, you’ll also need to interact with the managers or clients needing to fill the position to understand exactly what they are seeking in an employee. Hence, recruiters are often an intermediary between parties that are heavily invested in the conversation at hand—so having the people skills to navigate these conversations well is a huge asset.
2. Critical thinking ability.
A recruiter’s work involves a lot of data and details, from salary ranges, necessities, and performance metrics. For instance, recruiters need to be able to modify a lot of information without getting overwhelmed and figure out what is a priority multiple times per day.
3. Strong intuition
You can never truly know a person through a few phone discussions or an interview. Therefore, that’s why recruiters need to have good instincts and be able to detect potential that may not be obvious to others. The reverse is true as well, a candidate may seem perfect on paper, but that doesn’t mean they’re a good fit for the position. It’s the recruiter’s job to make that distinction.
“Great recruiters have a sixth sense about who they should focus their time on,” says Chris Laan, founder of Designer
4. Will to succeed
“Recruiting isn’t about just finding a ‘butt to fill the seat’—you want to deliver quality talent for your team,” Wolcott says.
The best recruiters are driven to find the best possible candidates for each position they are attempting to fill. Also, it’s easy to find a person to take the job, but finding the right match is much more difficult. Hence, Wolcott adds that successful recruiters are always thinking about what’s next for an organization, going above and beyond to meet their needs.
5. Desire to help
“At the end of the day, this is a matchmaking business built on relationships,” Lauria explains. Therefore, the best recruiters understand that and treat their candidates with integrity and compassion. Also, they want to create a win-win situation for both the company and the client, so they endeavor to understand the needs and expectations of both sides before making a move.
What Questions You Are Required To Ask A Recruiter?
After selecting a few recruiters who have the proper qualifications, ask questions to find out who may be the most helpful during your job search. For instance, it is okay to interview your recruiter, similar to how a company interviews a candidate. Often times, that can help you assess how well a potential recruiter is likely to perform. By gaining more insight into their background and experience, you can also build a working relationship with them. Consider asking these questions to screen potential recruiters:
. How long have you been a recruiter in my specialty?
Get details of their recruitment experience regarding your specific field. Therefore, this can help you know if the recruiter has enough connections to help you find the right job in your industry.
. Do your clients have vacancies in my specific area of expertise?
Try getting information about your specific job market to accurately picture the potential of your engagement with the recruiter.
What type of positions would you recommend for candidates with a background similar to mine?
Knowing the ballpark for positions and pay helps you make informed decisions during your job search journey.