What does a Hiring Manager REALLY want from their Recruiter

As a recruiter, it is pretty much safe to say you live and die by the number of vacancies you have. So whilst a good portion of our time is matching clients and candidates, we also need to remember that a significant portion of our day needs to be dedicated to finding Hiring Managers who need our services!

Many recruiters find this the hard part – there are two areas:

1. The prospecting – FINDING THE VACANCIES, and
2. The closing – once you have found the vacancy how do you demonstrate that you can actually HELP the hiring manager ease the process.

Prospecting is the ‘salesy’ part that a lot of people in this profession don’t have the confidence in. (pop along to our post earlier this month for ‘sales’ tips, to help you get past the nerves many recruiters feel in finding business!).

But today’s post is about what you do WHEN you have found that potential vacancy you can help with and need to close the business – when you are convincing the hiring manager that they actually do need your services!

Mindset

Firstly, and most importantly, remember that the hiring manager is actually down a staff member, so they are likely to be handling extra workload, as well as a bit stressed about finding someone. REMEMBER that your primary focus is about HELPING THEM!

Process

In my experience, the recruiters who get the vacancies are the ones who are able to simplify the process for the Hiring Manager. How do you do this? HAVE A SYSTEM!

My best suggestion is to let your potential Hiring Manager know that you are there to solve a problem for them and the best way to achieve this is to have a measureable list of requirements, so you are both on the same page!

Schedule

Bearing in mind they are probably flat out, don’t be calling in a haphazard fashion. At the start tell them:

• how many candidates you will put forward and in what time period,
• tell them that you will conduct the follow up calls at predetermined times that suit them (and make sure you diarise this with them at your initial meeting), and
• that you prepare a check list for each candidate you are putting forward and you will clearly define what your recommended candidates meet or able to meet!

Finally – MAKE SURE you fully understand what the Hiring Manager wants BEFORE you embark on finding them their perfect candidate! There is nothing more frustrating for a Hiring Manager than feeling like they are not being heard and understood. The MOST successful Recruiters are able to understand and meet their Hiring Managers needs and REDUCE the stress!!

Have you got a process in place? Do you have any questions about how you can implement one, or improve? Or do you have a successful process you would be happy to share?