It takes the right blend of hard and soft skills to thrive in any career – but especially as a recruiter. Each day, you serve as a coach, a cheerleader, an advocate, a sounding board, an advisor, and more. All this on top of staying abreast of current hiring trends, getting a read on job opportunities coming down the pike, and balancing the needs of both clients and candidates. Whoa! But it’s worth it when you achieve ongoing success by keeping all your job-related skills up to date.
- Soft skills are often closely related to your personality and tend to be more innate. But don’t be discouraged if they’re not prominent in your wheelhouse. With training, dedication and practice, they can be perfected over time.
- Hard skills are more easily quantified than soft skills. They are specific abilities that can be demonstrated in more measurable ways.
Here are eight skills critical to success in your career as a recruiter:
Hard Skills
- Communication: You need to be adept at communicating through a variety of media channels including writing effective job descriptions and ads and corresponding with both candidates and hiring managers. This all fits your role as a liaison between both parties.
- Listening: Only by actively listening to what your candidates and clients say can you discern what they really want and make the right matches happen. The more you listen, the more valuable information you glean to guide you in your decision making.
- Reliability: Both candidates and hiring managers are dealing with important decisions, and both need a reliable person to advocate for them.
- Empathy: Always be empathetic of the stressful, emotional time a person is going through as they apply for a new job and navigate the hiring process.
Soft Skills
- A Data-Driven Mentality: Recruitment is a data-driven game. Take the time to learn which key performance indicators (KPIs) and other metrics are most important, and keep developing the ability to analyze and use data to your advantage.
- Marketing and Sales: The better you are at promoting and selling a company or a role, the more effective you will be as a recruiter. Think and act like you’re a sales rep and a marketer, all rolled into one.
- Technical Savvy: You need to know how to use hiring technologies like applicant tracking systems (ATSs), performance management platforms and human resource information systems (HRISs). The better your tech skills are, the more effective, efficient and ultimately, successful you will be.
- Social Media Finesse: Without a doubt, social media are among the most significant and influential channels for recruitment. Starting with, but going above and beyond LinkedIn, know how to stay active in conversations and online communities where your candidates and clients hang out.
Which professional skills do you need to work on? As you fine tune your knowledge, capabilities and network in the talent acquisition field, consider partnering with Search Wizards to keep it all on track for the short and long-term future. We focus solely on developing recruiters’ careers by placing them in environments where they’ll be a natural fit and poised to learn, grow and thrive. Contact us today to learn more.
