Working within the recruitment industry I am sure EVERYONE has had their fair share of hair raising moments, but how bad do things have to get before you shout ‘I’M A RECRUITER GET ME OUT OF HERE’! Anyone who watches the popular ITV show ‘I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here’ will be more than familiar with the not so glamorous tasks and challenges they are faced with – eating parts of an animal you should NEVER even think about, let alone put in your mouth! Laying in the dark with snakes, rats and God knows what crawling over you and literally having ants in your pants – how far do your limits have to get tested before you have to admit defeat?? OR do you thrive on these challenges and use them to your advantage?
This blog post will identify a few sticky situations which a lot of recruiters can relate to, those pain points that can either make or break you – hopefully none are as bad as a mouthful of…..(will leave that open to your imagination!)
Situation number 1
After a bit of a slow spell you finally pick up a job from one of your clients, get a brilliant job description from them, you make contact with your network, also get the role out to your social network, write an excellent job advert that really sells the role, advertise it, email it out to those in your network you know will fit the role. You call around, chase up referrals, you find the IDEAL CANDIDATE for this role. You go through the process - qualifying the candidate, get the references etc– this candidate is looking better and better, eventually you get the CV over to the client and they are just as excited about this candidate as you are – set up an interview, agree it all with all parties involved, interview day finally comes around and you get that DREADED call, the candidate was a NO – SHOW!
Situation number 2
Similar to situation number 1, you pick up a great job, go through the process to find the perfect candidate for the role, again qualify the candidate, get all their references do all the tasks you have to do as the amazing recruiter you are, get an interview date scheduled, agree and confirm this with the client and candidate. The interview date comes and goes (the candidate DOES attend!), you call to get some feedback and the client is very keen on offering the candidate the position (excitement starts to kick in!) You then call the candidate to tell them the INCREDIBLE news…YOU GOT THE JOB and YES they accept the offer! In that moment everyone is happy, win win situation for all. Start day comes around, they start, all is well, a few weeks in the candidate decides this isn’t the role for them. Uhhhh ohhh!
Situation number 3
There are highs and lows in all careers, but recruitment is renowned for those high and low moments, one month you can be doing brilliantly, top biller - happy days! Other times things can be pretty slow, so situation number 3 is all about the lows! You have had an excellent quarter, hit your target, picking up roles, filling them – you are flying high and enjoying the rewards of all your hard work BUT you let yourself get a bit too complacent, taken your eye off the ball, maybe not doing each recruitment process as thoroughly as you have been previously – then things start to not go so well, that candidate you sent over for one of your top jobs, you didn’t qualify them properly and their references are all fake - that job you picked up, you didn’t work it quick enough and it’s been filled...just feels like one thing after the other is going wrong! You experienced the euphoric highs and now BAM, experiencing the lows of recruitment!
Through all the ups and downs of recruitment it is always important to remember the lows do not last forever – when you feel like shouting ‘I’m a Recruiter Get Me Out Of Here!’ think of the bigger picture! Yes drop outs are rubbish, going through a slow spell is crap but all this can be taken as a lesson learnt. What can you do to minimise the probability of candidates dropping out? What can you do to pick up more roles? What can you do to stand out from the crowd and be that ‘go to’ recruiter?
Remember nothing can be worse than eating chicken balls! (And I don’t mean the ones you get with your Chinese takeaway!)
Fancy a challenge and keen to see what the recruitment industry is all about? We are always looking to grow our team here at Calco so get in touch with Jordi Carol via 020 8655 4937 / j.carol@calco.co.uk (don’t let the negative scenarios you just read put you off! It honestly is a very worthwhile and rewarding career!)