Top hiring professionals don’t get there accidentally. The people who are at or near the top in the industry tend to have a similar set of habits and values that propel them forward ahead of the rest. The drive to succeed and improve affects almost everything that you do, but all comes down to one thing: avoiding the rut that can trap you into a career of settling for ordinary when you could have something much better.
RELATED: Be the Recruitment Process Leader You’d Want to Follow
Here are 5 good habits of effective recruiters that you can start today.
#1: Monitor Key Metrics Daily
The only real way to know if your recruiting strategies are working (or not) is to run a report on key metrics every day. It doesn’t have to result in a sit-down meeting with the team. A quick review is enough to alert you to problems in time to make a course correction. It might also start off your day on a positive note. Recruiting.com says these are a few that you might want to track.
Site visits
Visitor sources
Job posting views
Job applications submitted
Visitor engagement
#2: Keep Your Listening Skills Sharp
Do you strive first to be understood, or to understand? One of Stephen Covey’s ”seven habits of highly effective people” revolves around being a good listener. It’s not just polite, it’s also good business. Recruiting Daily says how well you listen helps define your brand. And that’s not just the company brand, but the one that defines you.
Listen in conversation, pay attention to feedback and also keep track about what’s being said online. Good or bad, there’s always something to be learned from what others say to you and about you.
#3: Be a Positive Force in the Industry
All that you have to do is switch on the TV or check news headlines online to feel the negativity that’s swirling around these days. In fact, you probably don’t have to follow the news at all. It permeates social media as well. With so much negativity, strive to be a positive force.
Recruiting Daily takes positivity a step further: stay away from people who bring you down. Give positive attention to co-workers and candidates alike, but try not to give unnecessary attention to the people who thrive on spreading bad news.
The small effort you expend to follow up, even if it’s through an automated email response, can turn a candidate’s head.
#4: Show the Talent Community Some Love
The candidate experience can’t be overstated in a full employment economy. The luxury of letting them do the legwork is a thing of the past. Now, talent professionals need to build relationships and nurture them a little more every day.
Being left to wonder is a top job candidate complaint that can hurt your brand. Emails are a fine way to communicate. Phone calls are even better. And remember, the talent pipeline is made up of people who aren’t a good fit for a current job opening. Otherwise, they’d already be on board. You never know when the right job will come along. If you nurture relationships, you’ll stand a better chance of landing the right talent when it does.
#5: Work on Self Improvement
Above all else, the most effective recruiters spend a little time every day on self-improvement. In personal life as well as at the office, there’s always a way to do better. Make it part of your daily routine to tackle one issue that bugs you or do one thing that needs attention but usually slides to the bottom of the priority list.
If you’re slow to respond to candidates, set a time goal and stick to it. If your site needs improvement, set the ball in motion to make the experience better. Are you responsible for blogging but rarely find the time? Add it to your calendar or decide to delegate posts to someone else. You don’t have to overhaul your life in a day. Just focus on something and strive to make it better.
Becoming a top talent industry professional takes time and more than a little effort. It’s not a career that you can slide into and find success overnight. With so many different aspects to the job, there’s always room for a better process, more efficient method or just a more positive way to approach it.
Skill, education and time in the industry are only parts and pieces of what makes you great. Nearly everything else depends on how much you’re willing to put into the job and how determined you are to up your game along the way.