The Next Time Somebody Tells You 'Recruiting Is Easy,' Take a Deep Breath and Read This

Paige Carder is a talent acquisition partner at Renewal by Andersen, where one of her responsibilities is to recruit more recruiters. Recently, she was taken aback by a candidate who said she was interested in the field because it was “easy.” 

It wasn’t the first time someone had told Paige that recruiting was easy — and she knew it probably wouldn’t be the last.

But Paige’s experience in the field has been anything but easy. In response, she sparked a conversation with a LinkedIn post inspired by the interaction. Paige explained that recruiters often make the complex job look simple, but people are missing most of what a recruiter actually does.

“They don't see the thousands of applications reviewed,” Paige wrote, “the hundreds of phone calls, and the dozens of interviews it takes to fill one role. They don't see how competitive the current job market is.”

Her post resonated with other recruiters, amassing nearly 14,000 reactions and some 900 comments. 

Just sourcing candidates with the right skills can take endless hours. But recruiters do so much that goes unseen, including managing hiring manager expectations during the Great Reshuffle, a global pandemic, and an accelerated push toward automation and digitization. The widespread adoption of remote work has freed some recruiters to look for talent anywhere in the world — a two-edged sword that means your talent brand has to be as global as your talent pool. 

In short, recruiters are absolutely essential — nimbly and strategically helping companies reach their goals, all while making it look, well, easy.

The comments on Paige’s post echo this sentiment. 

One fan noted that recruiting goes far beyond simply hiring people and includes elements of psychology, counseling, law, marketing, DEI, project management, and more, all at once. 

Another supporter wrote: “The only thing I find easy about my job is my ability to talk to people, although that’s something that comes naturally to me. Everything else is no walk in the park.”

Many commenters agreed with Paige, saying in essence, “Good recruiters make the job look easy.”

The future of work is here and you are at the heart of it. You are shaping the fortunes of your company by finding the talent — from all sorts of backgrounds, across multiple generations, and sometimes without regard for geography — that will drive your business to success.

“So here's to the recruiters across the globe making talent acquisition look easy,” Paige wrote, “because it is anything but!”

Clearly, 2022 is your year. Go get ’em!

*Photo by Max van den Oetelaar on Unsplash

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