There are many tools and resources out there today to teach you how to be a better recruiter. But, you won't find nearly as many focused on how to build a better recruiter brand. In fact, it amazes me how many recruiters haven't had the ah-ha moment yet around how important a strong recruiter brand is to being able to recruit the best talent.
Recruiter brand = your 'street cred'
Every recruiter has a recruiter brand. It's what candidates think of you. The better the recruiter brand, the more trust and respect you get, which translates into more candidates (especially, top talent), answering your emails and taking your phone calls. Let me prove it to you.
Lou Adler, the godfather of recruiting
If any of you got an email or voicemail from Lou Adler today, I guarantee you'd respond. Why? He's a recruiting icon. An industry thought-leader. Those that know of him would rush to connect. For those of you that don't know him, just do an internet search on, "Lou Adler Recruiting" and see what you get. Quickly, you'll understand the power of recruiter brand.
Seven mistakes recruiters are making with respect to their brands
As a recruiter branding specialist, I cringe when I see recruiters making some rookie mistakes with respect to their brand. Here are the worst ones:
1. Self-serving social media profiles. The best talent can see through the hype. When you over-sell yourself and your company on your LinkedIn and Twitter profiles, it screams, "I'm desperate for candidates." Top talent visits your profiles to evaluate your experience as a recruiter.
A survey by my company, CAREEREALISM, shows 76% of job seekers want to research you, the recruiter, to decide if they should respond to you. They look at the skill level you recruit for, the number of placements you've made, your knowledge of their industry, etc. More importantly, they want to see you're focused on screening out talent. You need to look accomplished and discerning.
2. Failure to own and promote the company's Glassdoor page. Top talent knows to head straight to Glassdoor to research an employer. Owning your company's page and keeping it current should be a top priority. Your employment brand is an extension of your recruiter brand. How much respect can job seekers have for you if you work for a company with a non-existent or negative employment brand?
3. A weak internet top-fold. Do a quick Google search on your name and the term "recruiter" and see what comes up. The first five results are what we call the 'top-fold' of your recruiter brand. This is what candidates search on. Besides your LinkedIn profile, what do you see? If there isn't anything tied to your recruiter brand, you aren't seen as an accomplished industry professional. Which leads to number four:
4. No third -party credibility. Experts in any field have things online that validate their expertise. They write articles, get quoted on websites, offer tips, etc. If you want to attract the best candidates, you need to do the same. Getting yourself set up in a recruiter directory and developing sneak peeks into what it's like to work at your company are some of the fastest ways to fix this.
5. A lack of recommendations from happy placements. The candidates you place are customers. If satisfied with their experience with you, they should be happy to write recommendations and post them for you. The more satisfied new hires are with your recruiting process, the more likely potential candidates are to engage with you. Top candidates expect you to be as good at your job as they are at theirs. Prove it to them with a solid list of recommendations from other candidates.
6. A non-existent employment brand. Every company has an employment brand. It already exists. It's your job to reveal it - warts and all. Top talent doesn't expect you to be perfect. Today, they want you to be honest and real. Give them the information they need to understand what it's like to work at your company and they'll be more likely to discuss career opportunities with you. But, fail to give them anything to review and they'll write you off. I always say, "Brand or BE Branded." If you don't have an employment brand, top talent will assume your company is A) not tech-savvy, B) have nothing interesting to share, or worst of all, C) have something to hide.
7. Wordy, unoriginal, over-blown job descriptions. If you can't convey what you need in a candidate in an easy-to-understand and compelling way, you're telling top talent you don't know how to recruit. They expect job descriptions that get them at "hello." Today, job descriptions need to be interesting. If you haven't mastered the art of writing a disruptive job posting, then you are losing top talent.
Like it or not, if you are doing any of the above, you are negatively impacting your recruiter brand, and ultimately, diminishing your ability to get the best talent for your company.
Recruiter branding doesn't have to cost money, but it does require your time
The good news is, it doesn't take money to improve your recruiter brand. You just need to address the areas listed above and focus on presenting yourself as best you can. A little time and education and you can dramatically improve the effectiveness of your recruiter brand. The best part? Most recruiters are too lazy to do it, which means you'll really stand out to the top talent you want to recruit. Trust me when I say that job seekers are more sophisticated than ever. They can spot a good recruiter quickly. So, why shouldn't it be you?
