7 essential skills that recruitment consultants

7 essential skills that recruitment consultants need

Working as a Recruitment Consultant can be fast paced, challenging and also rewarding. To be a successful Recruitment Consultant, you need to possess specific skills that can adapt to this kind of atmosphere. This article will highlight the top 10 soft and hard skills that will benefit you in your recruitment career!

Adaptability

In the recruitment industry, things can change rapidly. Having the ability to adapt quickly to unprecedented situations whilst also maintaining good relationships is a vital skill for a recruiter to have. An example of where this skill would be beneficial could be if an employer offers your candidate a job, and they pull out last minute to accept a job elsewhere. Navigating these unfortunate situations on short-notice can be detrimental for keeping healthy relationships with both clients and candidates- which is essential for a recruitment consultant.

Confidence

Having confidence in your sales skills will give recruiters the ability to persuade clients to collaborate with them and will also encourage candidates to accept your suggested roles. Having confidence in your abilities will increase your chances of securing a relationship with potential clients and candidates as it will build an element of trust.

Resilience

A career in recruitment can also sometimes come with rejection and things may not always go your way. As a recruiter, this is a factor that you can’t take to heart too much. Having a resilient mindset means to maintain a positive outlook on situations, remain professional and to continue to work towards a bigger picture. Overcoming setbacks such as job losses and candidate rejections will demonstrate resilience and will only make you a better recruiter.

Communication

Being a good communicator is fundamental for recruiters as they spend the majority of their day talking with people. Having the ability to articulate yourself properly and confidently will make you appear as more professional. Negotiating is also a large part of recruiting, and if your communication isn’t successful, your negotiating likely won’t be either. Negotiation is a part of the role as the recruiter will act as an intermediary between the client and candidate, finding solutions that each party is happy with- which can be difficult.

A woman holding a meeting in an office setting

Problem solving

Problem-solving skills are valuable for recruiters as everyday there may be a different issue that arises that you will have do deal with quickly and calmly. There may be obstacles to overcome with both clients and candidates, so it is the recruiters job to overcome these using their problem-solving skills. The steps for having good problem solving skills is to define the problem, evaluate potential options that will benefit all parties, and then implement that solution. If you have the ability to solve an issue for a client or candidate- this will most likely encourage them to continue working with you in the future.

Time management skills

In recruitment, there is no one size fits all strategy for time management, but it is an important aspect of the role. There are different ways to establish what time management strategy works for you, but there are some distinct methods that can be used in your time management strategy.

Prioritise your tasks

Determining the importance of tasks and putting them in a hierarchy of urgency will help the feeling of being overwhelmed by tasks that need completing. There is a method called the Eisenhower Matrix explains how to categorise tasks.

This is how you would implement this method:

If the task is urgent and important, do it first.
If the task is important but not urgent, schedule it for a later date.
If the task is urgent but not that important, try to delegate it or potentially outsource it.
If the task isn’t urgent or important, don’t feel stressed over it.

If you don’t think this method would be useful for achieving your goals, there is another method that may be beneficial. The ABC Method is the ideology of grading a task based on the importance.

Tasks with upcoming deadlines score an A.
Tasks that are important in the long run but not immediately would score a B.
Tasks that could be helpful and may make small changes would score a C.

Using either of these methods should contribute to bettering your time management and organizational skills.

Attention to detail

Finally, having an eye for detail is vital for a career in recruitment. Keeping track of important information about candidates and job roles is what will make the difference in your placements. However, it is a common assumption that paying extra attention to details can take up too much time, when realistically, going the extra mile to find relevant jobs for candidates or great candidates for clients will only increase your number of placements. Taking a people-first approach and going against the typical recruitment consultant stereotype will be appreciated and can boost your professional reputation.