Recruiting Is All About Relationship

They say relationships are key to any kind of business, especially in the recruitment industry.

Cliche? The truth is, great recruiters are great relationship builders. Well those who stand out and

succeed are anyway!

In an industry where people are your assets, great relationships are crucial. And to build

relationships requires being proactive. You will need to take the first step. You must have a

conscious decision to arrange a time to interact with the recruiting networks, the clients and the

candidates.

The fact is your success is dependent upon your ability to connect with people to gather the

information you need, provide relevant information to others, and to know how to handle difficult

situations when they come up.

It's not always easy to build a relationship. You will face some challenges such as dealing with

conflict and confrontation. Many recruiters are motivated by being liked and so they dislike

conflict and dealing with confrontation in general. They struggle in certain situations such as

telling the candidate that they didn't get the job, or telling the client that their preferred candidate

doesn't want to work for them or that they didn't meet the qualifications or the standard

requirements.

However, many recruiters failed to understand that following up on these difficult situations are

opportunities to promote active relationship building. When recruiters avoid these calls, they

actually put the client and the candidate in isolation, which has been known to damage one's

reputation as a credible, ethical and honest recruiter.

In reality, candidates and clients appreciate both good and bad feedback in the end, and being

honest with them develops their trust in you as a recruiter.

Developing relationships requires both sides. It's a two­way journey. So it's important that you

provide information and referrals to others in your network, which will likely increase the chance

of them doing the same for you. Don't forget to provide them with updates on how things are

going with their referrals.

Make sure to keep in touch with your contacts in your network by setting aside time each day to

communicate with them through phone or email. MS Outlook is one useful tool you can use to

help you organise these schedules.

Go ahead and gather information from your contacts like their birthdays and do something about

it. A simple personalised email greeting or sending your contacts cards on their birthday will go a

long way.

It will also be a great help to entice people to you when you attend functions, seminars and even

grab opportunities to speak at forums and conferences. You can use Industry Associations to reach

out with your network and establish more relationships.

So if you want to be a step ahead of others in your profession, then remember recruitment is all

about people and people is all about relationships. Invest on developing relationships, always stay

connected with your contacts and impart value to your networks.