What I Wish I’d known As A Hiring Manager……….

It’s been almost a year since I joined 20:20 Selection Ltd as a Recruitment Consultant; and as we approach the shortest day and start the wind down for Christmas, I feel that it’s a good time to reflect on what I’ve learned over the last twelve months.

Firstly, I’ve realised that in the world of recruitment there isn’t a wind down for Christmas at all! In fact, at 20:20 Selection Limited we are still flat out busy, working on new vacancies as well as existing ones, for our clients who want jobs offered and filled over the next two weeks, in time for ITC’s on 4^th January. I had naively thought that we would be starting on the mince pies and sherry by now, but in fact I suspect that the Season’s merriments won’t begin until 4pm on Friday 24^th December.

When I was a hiring manager, both as a Regional Business Manager, and as a National Manager, I thought I knew quite a bit about recruitment. I thought I knew how to spot an outstanding candidate from an average one. I thought I knew how to really dig down deep to get to know the ‘face behind the mask’, so that I could recruit the best of the best; the gem who would fit into the team quickly and would add value from day one.

What I’ve now realised, is just how little I actually knew about recruitment when I was a hiring manager.

If only I’d known that:

• An awful lot of work goes on behind the scenes, long before a manager receives CV’s to review.

 

• For every strong potential candidate, the best agencies reject another hundred CV’s from the ‘Average Joe’.

 

• The recruitment industry is incredibly competitive, with most clients now choosing a multi agency Preferred Supplier List.

 

• Achieving exclusivity with a client, is worth it’s weight in gold, as it gives the agency the luxury of time to really match the best candidates to every role, and to deliver all the KPI’s, without being pulled into the ‘bun fight’ of trying to speak to candidates about a job first before the other agencies get to them.

 

• Candidate loyalty only comes from delivering outstanding service. If people are registered with too many recruitment agencies, it is actually much more difficult to find them a job.

 

• Not all agencies are ethical and professional, and some still work on a volume principle, sending far too many CV’s out for a vacancy, rather than only selecting candidate’s who really fit the brief.

 

• We’re all fishing from the same candidate pool, and only the most skilled and experienced recruitment consultants know which bait to use to attract the most suitable, highest calibre people.

 

• The world of recruitment is full of highs and lows. Nothing beats the feeling of placing a candidate in their perfect job. Equally, nothing matches the heart sink feeling when your super prepped candidate gets down to the last two, and gets beaten by a whisker.

 

• It is extremely hard work, energy draining and soul destroying at times. It is also the most fulfilling, satisfying, people focused job I’ve ever done.

 

• The role of the recruitment consultant is the ultimate selling role. You need to sell to clients to win the business in the first place, sell the job and the company culture to candidates and to sell candidates’ to hiring managers to encourage them to shortlist your people.

 

• The term KAM is overused, and means so many different things to different companies and different people.

 

• The pharmaceutical market place is very still unstable. Candidates seem to have very high expectations about their employability, and so a key part of the recruitment consultant’s job is to manage expectations and to really explore motivation in a very competitive environment.

 

• As more and more companies choose to install electronic CV logging systems, it becomes increasingly difficult to ‘sell’ the candidates into hiring managers. Therefore, it is even more critical for a candidate’s CV to be absolutely outstanding, to differentiate them from the rest of the crowd, and to be as clear and as achievement focused as it can possibly be.

 

So, one year ends and another is just around the corner. I have learned a huge amount over the last 12 months, both about my job as a Recruitment Consultant, and also about myself, my own motivation and what makes me smile. I’d forgotten the buzz that is to be had from working in the toughest sales arenas, and I’d forgotten just how much I still want to win and to succeed. Every day is different, every day is action packed, and every day I live on my wits, and I’m ready to deal with anything that comes my way. I’m looking forward to the Christmas break, but I’m also optimistic and hopeful that 2011 will be a very fruitful year for 20:20 Selection Limited and for our selected candidates.

by Sam Harrison