Within an industry that thrives on urgency and immediate results, reactive recruitment is normal and expected. However, recruiters who recognize this trend and its limitations can get ahead of the curve by engaging in proactive recruitment. To be a proactive recruiter, you have to be able to see the big picture. You need to adapt your strategy from filling your open positions, to recognizing trends and thinking about who your clients will want to hire in the future. Shifting to this mindset allows you to use long-term strategy to pipeline talent, which can result in stronger relationships and a thorough understanding of the industry you are recruiting for.
Recruiters can benefit from building a talent pipeline in various ways. You are given the opportunity to take a deeper dive into the company culture of your clients to arm yourself with the knowledge you need to attract passive talent. Beyond that, you can gain a clear understanding of the competition in that market to better leverage your opportunities. Pipelining is a great way to gain respect and create long-lasting, mutually beneficial relationships with your clients.
Pipelining can also enhance the recruiter-candidate relationship. When you are recruiting for future opportunities, you have to work that much harder to build trust with potential candidates. You are engaging in more meaningful conversations to gain perspective on the career goals of the talent in that industry. By getting to know the talent in advance, you can gage whether or not this person is a cultural fit for your client. Creating this long-term, trustworthy relationship can result in quality referrals and shorten the time to fill for your open positions.
Engaging in proactive recruitment is also a great change of pace for those of us who are used to producing in a high volume, time sensitive environment. By investing your time getting to know the talent of the industry, you’re educating yourself on the key components and attractors that are needed to consider making a career move. Use this knowledge to your advantage by educating your hiring managers on the talent trends in their industry. This information can enhance their confidence in hiring decisions moving forward, and in turn, enhance your relationship.
Recruiting will always be an ongoing effort, which is part of the reason why our industry is so reactive in strategy. If you pipeline, you are not only prepared with a talent pool that is perfect for the future opportunities of your clients, you are also increasing customer satisfaction.
By Danielle East | People Science Team Lead