So now we come to part 5 in our series on How To Hire A Great Recruiter. You can check
out the first 4 parts here.
Before we move on I just wanted to thank those of you have commented publicly on this series. Most have agreed with the concepts we have talked about and a few haven't. I like when people disagree with me. I am not under the delusion that I know everything about recruiting. While I do think my past performance in both third party recruiting and leading corporate recruiting teams to distinguishable and well documented success puts me in a unique and blessed position to offer consulting expertise in most things talent acquisition and talent management related; I also know that I am always learning and evolving. Good debate, a constructive and meaningful battle of ideas and respectful discourse on things all combine to drive our profession and industry forward. So, if you haven't publicly commented because you disagree with me, please feel free to get engaged. I also hope that those of you who do agree or just want to add a general comment will also get engaged. I want to hear from you and I value what you think.
By the way, did you know that if you are a regular reader of this blog you are considered a Bleader? Not a fun word really but apparently, not known to me until a recent blog post by one of my favorite wine critics and Senior Editor at Wine Spectator James Laube, this is what blog readers are coming to be called. That was the fun tidbit of information for the day. I know, I digress and it is time to move on. Sorry.
Now, on to part 5 of How To Hire A Great Recruiter where we will talk about the 5th behavioral competency for success in recruiting, Creativity.
Creativity: The ideal recruiter is able to develop unique and novel solutions to obstacles or challenges. He or she uses intuition and a new way of thinking to give birth to new ideas and presents information in a way that gets attention and holds others interest.
This really shouldn't surprise anyone. I scarcely know of any great recruiter who isn't creative at their very core. There is far too much fluctuation in our profession to allow for too much rigidity and the very best innovate, create and dream up great ideas. Perhaps more importantly they aren't too risk averse to try out what they dream up.
Every obstacle or challenge that shows up in front of a great recruiter is met with part analysis, part evaluation and then the creative juices let loose. I guess this leads to something John F. Kennedy once said:
There are those that look at things the way they are, and ask why? I dream of things that never were, and ask why not?
Great recruiters think and behave this way. They look at situations in their recruiting experience that are obstacles and dream up "why not" type of solutions. Instead of heeding the warning "we don't do things that way" or "this is how we have always done it" or "we always post jobs on the same crappy job boards and get the same crappy results but we keep doing it because we are insane" (oops, sorry, I got a bit excited there) they strike out against the norm and create novel solutions. They ask why not?
Whether it is name generation, networking, recruiting calls or relationship management, great recruiters are quick to get out of normal thought patterns and traditional recruiting tactics. They are risk takers. They have the courage to keep trying new things. Using their previous experiences and intuition, they give birth to new ideas in the recruiting space and aren't afraid to execute them.
Great recruiters also know how to articulate their creativity and outside-the-box thinking in clear and exciting ways. When talking to a prospect or candidate, they know how to inspire candidates and hold their interest throughout the recruiting life cycle.
Stay tuned for part 6 where we will tackle the behavioral competency that, in my humble opinion, may be one of the most important for a great recruiter to have. Tolerance of Ambiguity.
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