Seven Recruiter Sins – Mistakes Recruiters Can Avoid

Anyone working in recruitment knows that it's a cut throat, dog eat - dog world out there, full of competition and pressure. There are hundreds of Recruiters out there all looking for the same Job Seekers, pushing to land the same accounts and fill the same positions. Due to the nature of the South African recruitment industry, Recruiters have little room to make mistakes when looking to hire staff with a sustainable guarantee to the employer.

Effective recruitment is also not as easy as some may assume, with recruitment methods and strategies varying from agency to agency and industry to industry. There is however one common denominator which applies to each and every Recruiter, there is no place for mistakes to be make and no going back after they have been made. Many Recruiters forget that today's Job Seekers are tomorrow's clients and that where businesses exist so will there be an ever present requirement to fill staffing needs.

There are a few common Recruiter mistakes or sins if you will, that lurk in the under belly of every agency or HR department that Recruiters can benefit from by being able to identify and avoid. To follow find Jobs.co.za Seven Recruiter sins and how to avoid making such mistakes in your establishment.

Mistake One: Failure to Proactively Look for New Opportunities

Huge opportunity lies with the proactive Recruiter who is constantly on the lookout for fresh talent as well as staffing opportunities (potential clients) that they may be able to tap into and service. As with any business, we all have to practice an element of pro-activity as opposed to responding to situations on a reactive basis. As the saying states, 'the early bird catches the worm' and where Recruiters are able to identify opportunities from a Job Seeker angle as well as client attraction and retention, so agencies flourish and grow. Always keep an ear to the ground in terms of finding new Job Seekers as well as possible clients who may have a staffing requirement that you are able to assist them with.

Mistake Two: Failure to Grasp the Industry

Many recruitment agencies specialise in fulfilling the staffing requirements of specific industries. A common mistake here exists where Recruiters fail to familiarise themselves with the industry in which they recruit. The nature of the industry as well as specific requirements of the industry all vary and attention should be given to each on an individual basis. Recruiters should make sure that they comprehend each detail unique to each industry they recruit in and strive to become industry expects in each so as to avoid placing the wrong candidate in the vacancy they are recruiting for.

Mistake Three: Fail to Understand the Nature of the Role

As with Recruiter mistake two, the same amount of research and attentions should be given to the role itself for which they are looking to fill successfully. Without a clear understanding of the role and the responsibilities unique to each role within a give industry, Recruiters cannot expect to be successful in finding the ideal candidate. Recruiters should investigate each element that makes up the job function as well as the type of individual that will be suited to the role. By discussing the requirements of the employer as well as colleagues and team members that would be working closely with the newly appointed Job Seeker, Recruiters will have a clearly defined outline of who they are looking for based on the role that they will be required to fill.

Mistake Four: Limiting Job Seeker Search to Traditional Styles of Recruitment

With times changing faster than we can keep up, the traditional realm of recruitment has expanded beyond simply advertising a job spec and waiting for responses. Recruiters are now able to interact and market job specifications to passive and active Job Seekers by making use of the evolved means of technology we now all have at our fingertips. This is of course through social networking and building up social networks to access as and when a vacancy opens up. By connecting and interacting with the passive and active Job Seeker markets by means of online social networks (eg; LinkdIn amongst others) Recruiters essentially expand their reach beyond traditional means of locating candidates and find a larger pool of more diverse Job Seekers to attract and select from.

Mistake Five: Poorly Composed Job Advert

This Recruiter mistake must be one of the most common, failing to attract relevant Job Seekers to the vacancy or alternatively attracting too many to manage and filter. A bad job advert that fails to communicate the precise specs of the job function along with required qualifications, salary bracket and the company or industry that the job is available in, will not attract relevant and accurate applications. Great care and attention to detail should always be paid during the composition of a job ad that is successful in calling Job Seekers to action. With a clear description of the role as well as its requirements, Recruiters will avoid being inundated by unsuitable applicants as well as find the perfect candidate in a shorter period of time.

Mistake Six: Wasting recruiter Resources

Most Recruiters that make use of job boards and online job portals tend to forget about the useful resources that are available to them to utilise in order to make pre screening and filtering that much easier. Most job portals or at least the quality ones out there offer the option to include pre screening job interview questions that the Job Seeker is required to answer upon applying to the advertised vacancy. These pre screening questions offer immediate insight in to the relevancy of the Job Seekers application based on the way in which they have answered these questions. If the Job Seekers fails to comply to basic pre screening criteria, Recruiters know not to pursue the candidate in question any further. Recruiters should be aware of all of the resources that are available to them in order to exploit these and use them as they were intended and to their benefit.

Mistake Seven: Fail to look In-House

The final mistake that many Recruiters and employers tend to make is forgetting to look in-house before advertising a vacancy externally. On many occasions successful Recruiters have found the ideal candidate already employed by the company or even a sister company who are thinking about leaving in search of a new challenge or varied job description. By successfully recruiting staff that already exist within an organisation, saves clients money and time. While recruitment agencies may miss out on commission opportunities, remember that the value added to the service that you offer to your client ensures long term loyalty and sustainable revenue from the client in question over a longer period of time. Not everything is about instant gratification and sometimes by 'taking one for the team' Recruiters display expertise and insight in finding the very best candidate to fill the role and at best, that you have your client's budget, time and best interest at heart.