How to Help your Recruiter Get the Results You Want

Most companies hire staffing agencies because they need short-term access to specific skills. If all you want is a list of applicants with a particular skill set, your recruiting application will handle that for you. But you don’t have time for that.

If you want talented candidates who will help you drive results, you need to forge a partnership with a recruiter who understands the role, your project, your culture, and your business – and who goes all-out to find candidates who will succeed.

Hiring managers tend to hire qualifications, not talent. It’s the safe route—no one gets fired for hiring people who meet the requirements in the job description. If you want to strive for better results, the job description is the place to start. You can build your higher aspirations into the JD.

Job Descriptions

Most job descriptions are a boring list of duties, responsibilities, and requirements. That kind of job description gets you people who meet the minimum requirements. It doesn’t help you get the most talented candidates.

The first thing a candidate should see when they look at a job description is what they will be expected to accomplish. Work with your recruiter that can help you write a message that will attract people who want to make a difference. The statement will include these descriptions:

• The culture of the work team. Not the slogans on the wall, but how they work together.
• The “big picture” – what organization objectives your project or initiative supports and how.
• The job’s role in the project or initiative in terms of its purpose and what the work is intended to accomplish.
• The impact of a successful outcome.

This kind of statement will make an emotional connection with people who like to strive for excellence and accomplish their goals. The right candidate will react by thinking Yes! I want to do that.

Then, you can list the duties, responsibilities, and qualifications (if you must).

If you don’t have your new job description ready yet, work with your recruiter to build it. You can do it together as you work through what the recruiter needs to know to get you the best possible candidates.

What Your Recruiter Needs to Know

In forging the relationship with your recruiter, the most important thing for you to do is help the recruiter understand the role, your project, and your culture. Your new job description will help, but your discussion should go beyond that to develop a story that will sell the job to top talent.

• Start with an in-depth evaluation of the job itself. Purpose and goals are a starting point, but you need to get down to the details of qualifications and the daily work routine.
• Help the recruiter understand the work team culture. If the role is part of a matrix organization, outline the relationships.
• Describe interactions of the role with other people. Will the worker interact with people in different functions or outside the organization? Explain the rules of engagement with people outside the work team.
• If the role supervises a team, give the recruiter complete information about the organization and its objectives.
• Tell the recruiter about your management style and how you help your people succeed.

The Foundation for a Successful Recruiting Effort

One of the most significant results of these discussions is that it will remove uncertainty on the part of the recruiter. The more your recruiter knows about you, your culture, and the role, the better the service will be. You will build a foundation of trust that will improve the quality of candidates you hire.

Pixentia is a full-service technology company dedicated to helping clients solve business problems, improve the capability of their people, and achieve better results.