Being as fantastic an employee as possible in virtually any role simply comes down to maintaining a sharpened triple edged sword in the areas of skills, habits, and qualities. If you can do the job at the required industry pace and to the required industry standard, you have the skills. If your working process leaves you feeling like you have a smooth and productive method of producing the work, such that you do not feel like an outsider and potentially like you should be looking to leave the profession, you have the habits. And qualities? Well, that comes down to personality traits that blend well with the demands of the industry (no point in being a chef if you can’t stand the heat in the kitchen, etc.).

If you already know the basics, such as how to put together a networking email that gets results, and the difference between recruiter and headhunter, and how to use social media to your advantage as a recruiter, you may now be looking for ways to improve your overall methodology to develop an even more robust and pragmatic approach.

Sales skills and personability

As part and parcel of most career paths, people have to convince one person or group or entity of a job well done in order to get paid (the hotelier must impress the guest, for example). Recruiters face a double-whammy. As a recruiter, you must impress both the candidate and the hiring manager, balancing expectations and timelines on both sides until an eventual deal can be struck. Not easy. That’s why improving your people skills and sales skills can be of infinite benefit in improving your placement process. Books, online courses, and a willingness to model the approach from other successful recruiters can boost your effectiveness (think about expanding your humour and vocabulary to include friendly greetings,  a conversational and approachable tone, and a sign off that includes mapping out next steps – everyone likes to feel listened to, understood, and appreciated).

Recruiter marketing

This is a huge topic, and one far too broad to cover here in detail. What is recruiter marketing? Well, at the start of your recruitment journey, you may have asked yourself how recruiters locate clients on a regular basis. The answer is recruiter marketing. Things like developing a unique and memorable outreach email to hiring managers, learning to conduct robust reference checks, and developing a network of recruiters who can support each other and share clients to widen each other’s nets are all part of recruiter marketing.