Nothing will have a greater impact on increasing your profit like a good recruiter. Someone who you can trust, who has mastered your firm’s recruiting software, and is highly productive. To limit your search for hiring recruiters to friends and personal contacts is a limiting way to build a business. Friendship is a welcome spin-off benefit of effective recruiter hiring; it is NOT the major criteria.
An empty desk is a drain on income. (You still have to pay expenses to maintain an empty desk and its resources.)
However, it is not significant when compared to the cost caused by a failing recruiter at that desk. Below are some suggestions.
What to Look For When Hiring Recruiters:
- Aggressive
- Willing to take calculated risks
- Can stand the stress of occasional big deals, as opposed to daily small deals ($30,000 a deal vs. a “DEAL” a day for $125)
- Handles rejection and opposition (give your potential recruiters a hurdle or two to cross)
- Deal maker (“hunter” personality) who seeks opportunities to create success and wealth and shares little concern over guaranteed income
- Street-wise (“sixth sense” for what’s going down, or as golfers will say, “They can read the green”)
- Business-wise (aware of hidden agendas and corporate politics)
- Effective communicators and listeners with professional demeanor (how will your clients and candidates react to this person?)
- Tenacious and overcomes obstacles
- “Half-full” versus “half-empty” personality
- Focused; avoids distractions
- Record of past accomplishments
What to Avoid When Hiring Recruiters:
- The “people person” who wants, more than anything else, to help people
- Burned-out corporate casualties
- The financially desperate who cannot function under the stress of financial need
- Burn-outs from other recruiting firms
- Gold diggers from other recruiting firms who want a higher commission rate versus a more fruitful environment and resources that aid in creating wealth
— — —
Doug Beabout, CPC has a career that spans over 20 years of expertise in recruiting, personnel services, firm ownership, and training. His tenure in recruiting includes building four highly successful businesses and establishing hundreds for others worldwide. Beabout speaks to state, regional, and private recruiter associations. He is a consultant to many corporations and personnel firms. Beabout is currently owner and president of The Douglas Howard Group, a professional recruiting firm, and conducts several online training programs for recruiters and researchers. He can be reached at 850.424.6933 or via email at trainer@recruiterelearning.com.