I’m not a recruiter, but I’ve had the good fortune to work with a few talent acquisition professionals over the years. As they shared with me their personal career stories, it struck me how common it is for recruiters to come into the profession as a 2nd or 3rd career.
Many of them came from areas of business that are totally outside the human resources function – like marketing, sales or accounting – and were drawn to recruiting through serendipity or by seeking to expand their own careers in new and interesting ways.
I wondered, why so many successful recruiters come from completely different career areas. Is there something about having work experiences in other domains that helps people become top recruiters?
And what transferrable skills did they bring to the job that have helped them be so successful?
How I Got Into Recruiting: 3 Top TA Leaders Tell All
I sat down with three top talent acquisition professionals who made the switch from completely different careers to ask three questions - which comprise the three parts of this story. The questions I asked were pretty straightforward and simple:
1) How did you fall into recruiting?
2) What capabilities are most important for someone considering a career in talent acquisition?
3) Do you have any more advice for would-be recruiters?
I spoke with:
Brenan German, Founder and President of Bright Talent
Rachelle Snook, Global Talent Director for WD-40 Company, and
Paul Gonzales, Director of Talent Acquisition for Orora
Brenan German (Founder and President, Bright Talent)
First, I’d say to make sure you have a facility for communication and that you enjoy working with people. Regardless of your college major, those are skills you will absolutely need as a recruiter.
Understand how businesses work. It’s tempting to think of recruiting as solely a people-focused job, but just being good with people isn’t enough. You also have to understand how businesses operate in order to be successful. If you don’t have a business background, it helps to take accounting and business classes, even if you’re already out of school.
As a recruiter, the work you do is tied to the company’s bottom line, and you need to understand how, so that you can ask the right questions, give the right advice to your hiring managers and find the right candidates.
You also have to be a continuous learner. The world of recruiting, like the world of business in general, is constantly changing. As soon as you think you have it figured out, it’s time to recognize that you’re wrong. That kind of thinking will stymie your own growth.
Stay curious and learn everything you can about what makes people tick. Evolve with the technology – learn the latest tools so you have a leg up.
Rachelle Snook - Global Talent Director, The WD 40 Company
People can come into recruiting in so many different ways, but I think there are a few skills and attributes that really help. I mentioned curiosity and problem-solving before.
Recruiting is largely about problem-solving – you have to understand the business, company culture, the problem the role will be tasked to solve as well as the minimum requirements for the role.
It really helps if you are a naturally curious person because you will enjoy the information-gathering process and the challenge of identifying the puzzle pieces and finding ways to piece them all together.
And, a common myth about recruiters is that they are all extroverted networking gurus – lots of introverts are very curious and great at asking questions to seek clarification, relationship-building, and problem-solving.
You also have to have skills of persuasion, negotiation, and the ability to overcome objections. Basically, recruiters are in sales – you’re selling the job to a potential candidate and you’re selling the candidate to the hiring manager. That’s why so many salespeople move into recruiting as their next career. You have to know where to look, to uncover rocks where talent exists in order to find the right candidate.
You also need to understand what it is the candidate is looking for. When you find a great candidate with the right capabilities, sometimes you have to work with them to explore why the opportunity is a great opportunity for them and how it checks all, or most, of their predefined requirements. In a way, it’s much like finding a new home – it’s unlikely you’ll find the perfect home, and there will always be tradeoffs and opportunities.
Persuasion also comes into play on the hiring side. Often, you have to overcome hiring manager bias, convince a hiring manager into considering a candidate you believe could do a great job in the role but who may not meet their vision of the “perfect” candidate, or you may need to broker alignment internally on candidate evaluations – it’s a juggling act.
This is why understanding the role and the business needs are so critical – rather than allowing a role to remain vacant awaiting unattainable perfection in a candidate, you may find yourself in a position to make a case for why developing someone into the role has long-term value or how a particular candidate meets the essential minimum requirements, even if they don’t tick all the “ideal” boxes.
Paul Gonzales, Director of TA, Ororo
I think you need to have a deep-down interest in people. It helps if you’re the kind of person who never gets bored picking up the phone and talking to people. It doesn’t really matter if you’re an introvert or extrovert – I’m more introverted than extrovert and I’ve been very successful at recruiting. It’s more a matter of having the social skills that help you be successful in the area of recruiting you to want to pursue.
For example, some people are perfect as recruiters for IT and other technical professions, while others are great at recruiting for sales, marketing or senior leadership positions. Basically, you need the kind of people skills that allow you to be a good matchmaker between the person seeking the job and the organization you are recruiting for.
You also need to have strong business acumen and intellectual curiosity, because you have to learn all the different nuances of the company you work for and be able to connect the dots. You need to understand the needs of different departments you’re going to hire for and understand what they do.
One of the reasons I, and most people I know in recruiting, love our jobs is that we get to wear a lot of hats. Sometimes you’re acting like sales and marketing in the way you market and advertise positions – you need to think about what a candidate would want to see in a job description or what they’d want to learn about at a career fair that would entice them to work for the company. You’re also a bit of a psychologist, particularly when you’re assessing a person’s skills for a particular job.
You need to know the culture and needs of your organization and be able to critically evaluate someone’s skillset, personality fit, and how compatible they will be with the culture of the organization. Fortunately, our industry has a lot of new technology and increasingly wonderful tools to make our jobs easier and more effective. While having our own gut feelings comes into play, these assessment tools really help us make the determination if someone is right for the job and the company.
You also need to be able to ask good questions. Behavioral interviewing is a great tool. The premise is that basic human nature doesn’t change – a person’s past behavior indicates future behavior. So if a person succeeded in a similar role in the past, they’re likely to succeed in a similar role in the future. Asking the right questions helps you determine if a person has the right aptitudes and alignment with the values of the company culture that will help them be successful in a role.
Great consulting and analytical skills are important. Throughout the entire hiring process, you act as a consultant, advising on what to expect and what to do. You are the subject matter expert in recruiting, so you consult with hiring managers about things like the labor market, and you provide advice on the salary range they can potentially offer for a job.
And when there’s a tight labor market, as we’re seeing today, you may have to advise leaders that if they can’t find the specific talent they’re looking for, their best bet is to “hire for aptitude and train for skill.”
That is, we look at if the candidate has the aptitude and complementary skills that will enable them to learn the skills or software or get the certifications they need so they can be an asset who will grow within that position and the organization.It also comes down to being a good mediator and negotiator. You’re the go-between – between the hiring manager and the candidate. You have to have the ability to see, understand and work on behalf of both sides to successfully mediate the negotiation. This is key to being able to advise and direct toward a successful engagement for a hire.