My Recruiter Was Surprisingly Approachable

We came across a candidate who was willing to give us a vivid insight into how approachable his recruiter was. Here’s the full story.

When you’re a really senior recruiter at a reputed firm, it’s often taken for granted that applicants will flock around you apart from the other recruiters in the recruitment agency. Not only are you a bit scary by default to passionate candidates who have been willing to land a particular job that you’re recruiting for like crazy but your presence might also be intimidating to others.

This anonymous candidate we’re talking about today was applying for the position of an executive managerial role that this senior recruiter was hiring for. His account of the entire hiring process is something that recruiters who’re just starting out, can take major inspiration from. As soon as the candidate was mailed that he was shortlisted for the virtual interview process, apart from being spellbound, he was also fearful of the fact — what if he somehow manages to eff up during any of the recruitment stages. But guess what? He told us, “My recruiter never let that happen.”

Upon further insistence, he tells us that in spite of being such a well-known recruiter from the UK, he made sure he dialled down his intimidation factor just like you decrease that high screeching volume of your radio. This made him so much more approachable than I ever thought. Never in 35 years of my life did I witness such a smooth hiring process!

Our team at Recruit CRM was highly enthusiastic in locating this recruiter. Finally, as we got in touch with him, we asked him to list us 5 major things recruiters can do to become more approachable to today’s candidates. Therefore, keep reading to learn more.

How To Be An Approachable Recruiter?

1. Start Giving Others Your Time

This is a basic leadership lesson that every person out there should remember and practice religiously. In your day-to-day routine, there must always be an hour of free time which you need to divide into two parts — 30 mins for your colleagues and 30 mins for those prospective candidates whom you’re reaching out to, in case they have any issues. This should be done either face-to-face and by chance, if that’s not possible due to unavoidable circumstances (like a pandemic), virtual coffee meetings work the best.

Time is precious and if you don’t learn how to give your valuable time to others, you won’t receive it in return.

Start exposing your candidates to topics that they might find interesting and valuable. You can even take the pain of explaining a project that they will be working on after they’ve been onboarded.

2. Provide Feedback (Never Skip On This!)

A good candidate experience is key to better recruitment. If a recruiter fails to provide valuable feedback to his/her candidates then he/she is in fact, failing to complete the job. Without pulling any sort of rank, it’s highly essential for recruiters to make sure that the candidates know where they have gone wrong, where they’ve gone right, where they were brilliant and which are the parts they need extensive work on.

3. Be Authentic

Obviously, there are perks that come with being a senior recruiter in your staffing firm, but make sure you don’t abuse this position. If you’re interrupting a meeting, you should make way for a sorry. Your colleagues can smell it miles away if you’re being phoney and inauthentic. Embracing professional relationships with your candidates and making yourself available for your subordinates make way for a great senior recruiter and a leader.

4. If A Candidate Asks A Question, Reply

This is something which most senior recruiters don’t simply do. We understand that you’re really busy and you have got a lot of work to catch up on and you might even think how silly a question is this candidate asking, but no matter what, this is how individuals learn. When you’ve decided to become a recruiter, it’s your primary duty to focus on your candidates and making sure you maintain a good candidate pool. It’s understandable that you might not be always available via call. So, be prepared to reply via emails.

5. Be Less Dominant

In order to let your subordinates work better, you’ll have to make sure you let them explore. This is more prominent in a startup culture. However, trying to blend this into giant corporate workspaces can also lead to better results. In case a senior recruiter or a hiring manager is being dominant, the subordinates or candidates (those who are a bit coy) will find it difficult to address their issues. This slowly and steadily can lead to a toxic work ambience and you’ll tend to be insufficient as a hirer too.

Let us know in the comments below if you agree to the above and if you’re already in the process of practicing them. Also, don’t forget to subscribe to our recruitment blog on Medium for more such stories.