The main mission of any commercial organization (company, enterprise, LLC) or...
Chercher
This manual is designed for young professionals without experience in recruiting.
“It’s socially fashionable”, “I like to understand people and communicate with them”, “I like to help people”, “I want to work in my specialty”... These and many other phrases can be heard from young graduates who send their resumes to the vacancy “ Recruiter". It’s no secret that only a few people choose, but the strongest win, and not even the first time.
I would like to talk about something else: “What did you do to become a recruiter?” This question confuses and makes many candidates nervous.
I propose to break it down in order: how to get a job as a recruiter without work experience? Rule one.
Let's start with studying at the university. Young professionals believe that the best education for this field is “psychology” and “personnel management.” Unfortunately, this is not always true. I’ll tell you a secret: recruiters with a technical education are sometimes valued higher and their candidacies are considered first. Why? Because studying at a technical university is more difficult, you need to make more efforts, show character and willpower. In addition, you will need perseverance, analytical skills, the ability to work with documentation and negotiate at the level of knowledge, not emotions.
Graduate psychologists who believe that recruiting is about helping a candidate find himself, solving his problems, striving to change his life for the better, alas, are wrong. This has nothing to do with professional recruiting, because this is work that faces completely different tasks, more aimed at the client. In the course of working with the candidate, mutually beneficial partnerships are established, rather than psychological consultation being provided. “I was a good student, so I couldn’t devote time to work and attend additional training events.” Recruiting is multitasking, the ability to combine incompatible things, to be on time everywhere, to set priorities correctly, to distribute one’s own and others’ forces and resources. If you don’t feel sorry for yourself and set yourself the goal of getting a decent job not in words, but in deeds, then you need to learn to combine training, part-time work, and additional training. In times of information accessibility, you can watch free webinars taught by professionals, sign up for courses, and find a part-time job for the summer in the recruitment department. In addition, the most basic thing that candidates lack is reading articles, knowledge of basic terminology and the basics of the profession. The sooner you start immersing yourself in the profession, the faster you can get a job, ahead of other competitors.
Third rule. Summary. It's no secret that the first impression of a candidate is based on his resume. For example, on job portals you can find a template or look at the resumes of other candidates and use their example. It is worth recalling that resumes with circles and diagrams, autobiographies of three pages or, conversely, half a page are not considered. And the photos should be businesslike: no dogs, no prom dresses, not on board a yacht or near a car.
Well, that's the best sore spot- language and grammar. Write your resume in the language that you speak most fluently and competently. Regarding grammar: if you don’t have spell check installed on your computer, you can always negotiate with an excellent student for a chocolate bar :).
In addition, your resume should not contain errors or typos. Don't forget that your resume will be judged on how much time and effort you put into creating the document that represents you. Believe me, your resume is worth spending time on! You can immediately imagine yourself in the role of a recruiter who reads a resume and answer the question: “Would I call this candidate?” Play this game with your friends, listen to their opinions - as a result, you will be able to create the optimal resume version.
Fourth rule. How do you evaluate a candidate who needs to call after 11:00 because he sleeps before, or cannot make it to an interview because he is “busy”? I don't think you'll want to work side by side with him.
Learn to take an adult and responsible approach to doing business, don’t be afraid to admit your mistakes and ask for advice - this is all your experience, which is priceless.
Fifth rule. Social media! Tell me who your friend is, I'll tell you who you are. This folk wisdom reflects the work of a recruiter with social networks. The recruiter will look at your profile, photos, pages that interest you, and will also pay attention to grammar and obscene language. It's no secret that social media They have long ceased to be personal, becoming a professional tool for building a reputation. It’s better to have an exemplary profile :)
So, you studied conscientiously, worked part-time and did internships, read additional literature, listened to webinars, made useful contacts, developed necessary qualities for recruiting, created a high-quality resume and entered the labor market. What's next?
Sixth rule. You need to be patient and not reject offers to start small. You are young, you can learn, make mistakes, change your decisions - it’s not for nothing that they say that reality differs from expectations. You won't know until you try!
Remember: the job of a recruiter is not to evaluate personnel, but initially to find someone who needs to be evaluated! This is not an easy job, but once you find yourself in this area, you will not be able to get out: it is so absorbing that you will fall in love with it seriously and for a long time. You will have information, a lot of useful contacts, have a schedule in which moments of spontaneity are always possible, so you will never get bored and lonely! It's great when your profession is your life, it's worth fighting for!
Katerina Skibskaya,
CEO DOPOMOGA Ukraine
, General Director of the Career agencyNowadays they talk a lot about success, many books have been written, a huge number of trainings are held, many conferences, we often hear all sorts of (most often American) businessmen, trainers, etc. talking about success.
Everyone understands that a company must be successful, or in economic terms, profitable. No financial success- no development, no future. This cannot be allowed, and as a result, every manager is forced to deal with the success of his company and, accordingly, the success of his employees.
As the head of a recruiting agency over the past almost 19 years, I had to constantly put this inevitable indicator of activity at the forefront and, as a result, organize the entire internal corporate management in such a way that everything was literally permeated through and through with success.
I believe that an agency employee, and naturally a consultant, will be successful when the environment in which he works creates conditions for development, when the manager himself is concerned with his own success and the success of the entire company and all its employees. Of course, this is not easy to achieve and requires a lot of expense, but practice shows that otherwise it will be impossible to develop.
Moving from the environment to the recruiter himself, I would like to focus on the very concept of success.
What is success? Many people associate the meaning of the concept with the word - To be in time. Agree that in recruiting this is very important indicator activities. I was in time - I got a client, I was in time - I found the right candidate, I was in time - I received a fee.
Everyone present here can give a huge number of examples when - he hesitated, maybe even for a few minutes, and that's it - either the client or the candidate was taken away. And here the conclusion seems to suggest itself, they say, you need to move faster, run, maybe even fly around the office.
Of course, the consultant’s reaction speed must be high, but as everyone understands, speed alone is not enough. I like what many recruiters call, for example, working in a tender with several competitors: “greyhound racing”. Not a very flattering comparison for you and me. Although of course we have to run.
Everyone understands that you always need to run for some purpose, in other words, you need to not only try to be on time, try to overtake someone, but you need to achieve something. For example, conduct high-quality interviews with candidates, fulfill a monthly sales plan, or, for example, win a tender. And, as you know, successful man always has some achievements and the more of these desired achievements, the more successful the person is.
Today I would not like to talk about that standard list of characteristics or criteria for assessing the success of a recruiter, which is known to most consultants working in recruitment agencies.
We can safely take about a dozen there personal qualities, as well as the competencies, skills and abilities required from the recruiter. For example: organization, communication skills, education, determination, stress resistance, entrepreneurship, understanding of the basics of business organization and much, much more. From my point of view, today it makes sense to dwell on the more fundamental qualities that a recruiter, a successful recruiter, should have.
We all want something, always, every day. Of course it's food, drink, shelter, safety. Naturally, we want satisfaction of a higher level of needs. And we know very well what Maslow’s pyramid is. However, practice shows that in our field of activity it is precisely those who are determined to satisfy these higher needs who achieve success.
We have been told since childhood - you must be the best, you must try to be the first, don’t lag behind. They say it's a shame to be the worst, it's a shame to be the last. If you are the first to come running in physical education, you are honored; in competitions, you receive a diploma; if you finish the quarter better than the rest, you are praised. It's the same at the institute.
Came to work, even cooler. All sorts of competitions, reporting. As a result - bonuses or deprivation of bonuses, thanks, bonuses, etc. etc. Moreover, the entire business world is structured this way - you or your company, where you work, must be the best, must be richer, more promoted, famous, etc. Everyone understands that there is no other way - you will be left behind, left with nothing.
I like the statement that business is war and sport. Indeed, we all have to fight. As you know, we fight our enemies in order to kill and destroy.
In our case, of course, we literally do not kill, and our enemies are competitors. It's great that we do this in a civilized manner and we have rules, we have the opportunity to negotiate. But this does not change the essence. In an effort to be a winner, we try to make others losers. That is, if I won, then the rest of the event participants definitely lost. And so throughout our lives - trying to be the best, trying to win, we try to make others losers. Stephen Covey wrote about this very well in his famous work “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.” He called this philosophy: “Win/Lose.”
Today we are talking about a recruiter. Let's see who he interacts with in his activities:
- Applicant;
- Client;
- Agency colleague;
- Agency management;
- System.
If you look closely at the work of a recruiter, then, unfortunately, very often some of them use the Win/Lose principle in their activities.
Example #1: the recruiter has found a candidate - he can be “sold” for the position that this recruiter is leading. I invited him for an interview - everything was fine. The person matches the data, he likes the offer and really wants to go to this new place. But, for example, the recruiter finds out that the candidate cannot leave his current work within a month, because, say, he will lose his annual bonus or let his colleagues down. And the recruiter needs to close the position in 2 weeks. And in order to achieve success, he does everything so that the candidate gives up everything and moves to a new place. If desired, an experienced recruiter can persuade, manipulate, etc.: “Colleagues will get by” or “the bonus is nonsense, in a new place you will get more as a result, the main thing is to get there in time.” Is the recruiter's goal to win?
Example No. 2: The recruiter has selected a candidate for the client, but he knows that in the agency’s database there are definitely other real candidates who are more suitable and more motivated. But the client is in such a state that he will take anyone with him if only he can get to work as soon as possible. The recruiter does not want to miss such a chance, and he quickly does everything so that this particular candidate gets to work faster. The client does not know that the agency can select a more suitable candidate. “Why make additional efforts, the placement will take place anyway and the agency will receive the money.” Is the recruiter's goal to win?
Example No. 3: The recruiter knows a candidate that another agency recruiter, a work colleague, is strenuously trying to find. And taking advantage of the fact that the colleague does not ask to tell him whether he knows anyone suitable, he does not show initiative, he remains silent. There are no complaints about him. Everything is fine, everyone is working actively and achieving their goals, fulfilling their plan. Is the recruiter's goal to win?
Example No. 4: The recruiter sends the client several selected resumes. The client says that the candidates are not suitable, clearly arguing their position. The recruiter, knowing that the client is right, using his charm, perseverance and tenacity, does everything to ensure that the submitted candidates are still considered and that one of them is hired. And he says that the agency has already completed the work in full. In addition to his persistence, the recruiter uses facts and information about high quality services usually provided by the agency, about its professionalism, work experience, makes reference to previous positive reviews other clients. In general, he “sniffs” the candidate. Is the recruiter's goal to win?
In the examples presented, the recruiter really won; he really did everything to achieve success. He was taught this since childhood, he was always told that you must win. But this approach has a big disadvantage - everyone with whom the recruiter interacted lost. They were overtaken, they were ahead of them and everything was done to make them losers.
I am sure that when interacting at work, you need to make sure that all parties benefit. Moreover, this is real, it makes the job more attractive, it develops everyone, and makes the recruiter himself truly successful!
In our company, Career Agency, the following formulation was chosen as the mission many years ago: “We promote business success.” We use Stephen Covey's Win/Win philosophy.
Practice has shown that we were not mistaken. We really try to help each other, to act, that is, to act together. Co-act! And all management is built in accordance with our mission. We cooperate not only with work colleagues, but also with clients, and with applicants, and with everyone who is interested in interacting with us. When one side wins, it does everything to ensure that the other side also wins.
All this helps us build a customer-oriented management system.
As part of our company development activities, we especially Lately We pay a lot of attention to such concepts as efficiency, personal effectiveness, productivity. As I already said, we should talk about the company as a whole and each employee. Again, I have to analyze who is achieving more success, what kind of employees we should hire, in whom we should invest!
Naturally, first of all, a person needs to be educated, charming and willing to grow and improve. But I attach great importance to emotionality. Of course, it’s great when a person is just like that, it’s much more interesting to work with him and easier to interact with.
There is such a concept - emotional intelligence (EQ). I believe that a person with a high level of Emotional Intelligence achieves greater success. Maybe he doesn’t even really need to have a high IQ. What is EQ? This is a skill, the ability to understand your emotions, feelings, motives. Especially it concerns effective interaction with the outside world.
In our work, emotions often come first. We work not with technology, numbers and nature, but with people. This is a very complex substance, and the most difficult thing is its emotional and sensory sphere. How a person emotions, and why some action or information evokes a particular emotion is very important data for us. We must be able to understand this.
If a recruiter cannot control his emotions, then most often he, as we say, burns out emotionally. There are a lot of such cases in recruiting. But if a person understands his feelings, motives, intentions, constantly learns to manage his condition, time, motivates himself, then he will be able to interact more effectively with people, his mood will not change dramatically and he will achieve success.
A person who develops his EQ is less susceptible to doubts, fears, and stress; he better understands the motives of other people and evaluates them more easily and calmly. And for a recruiter this is a very important quality.
I said at the beginning that we have to run a lot and quickly, everyone understands that in fact, our thoughts and our emotions run first. And there are people who cannot control their thoughts and emotions, which rush inside us at great speed.
The recruiter should always calmly work as a kind of dispatcher of his feelings and emotions. Everyone knows that this “dispatching” has to be done not only in work time, but even in the evenings and on weekends. Basically, all the time. If this entire area is used correctly, nothing will burn out and everything will work calmly and reliably.
An emotionally developed person attracts developed people in exactly the same way. Like attracts like. And these are ours potential clients, these are our potential star candidates. The benefits are obvious!
The most useful emotion, the main feeling a recruiter should live with is Love!
To yourself, to people (to all people), to your agency, to clients, to applicants, to your friends and colleagues, to recruiting!
Everyone knows that any feeling must be supported by the person himself. It is known that if you do not meet with a friend for a long time, and do not invest in this friendship, then you will lose your friend. And everyone knows that with age a person has fewer friends. It’s just that a person can no longer fully invest in many areas, and he concentrates his energy, his feelings on the people closest to him, not necessarily just on relatives.
If you want to live a full life, you want to have around you large quantity friends, loved ones - invest in relationships! Useful emotions!
Success must always be shared with someone! And only in this case is it a success!
As a professor at a major business school, I have often been asked, “What is the most exciting and influential job in the world?” Different people answer differently, but for me the most exciting and impressive job is without a doubt recruitment.
It's really exciting because every day a recruiter is in a tough competition to attract the best talent, and fortunately, within 90 days you can know for sure whether you have won this battle. A recruiter's contribution can be measured in two ways: first, you can literally change a person's life by helping them find their dream job, and second, you can actually change the direction and influence the success of a company with one new top-notch employee in a key position. (i.e. get Leborgne on your NBA team).
Therefore, if you are a student ready to choose a profession, or you are simply considering a change professional activity, then for you I have compiled a list of reasons why you should consider such a profession as a recruiter.
Even if you're not interested in considering becoming a professional recruiter, studying this list will help you understand why the recruiters you deal with are so passionate about what they do.
20 reasons why you should consider a career in recruiting
The reasons are divided into 3 various categories: influence factor, excitement factor and factor career growth.
Reasons related to the influence:
If you're interested in high-impact work, below are 5 reasons to consider becoming a recruiter.
1. You literally change people's lives.
Few events in life have such a huge impact on a person and his family as, for example, getting married or buying a new home and ... a great new job or losing it. Because of this enormous influence, most recruiters find it easy to maintain a high level of passion and commitment to excellence. Moreover, even though it is impossible to hire everyone, a recruiter can definitely help improve the chances of each candidate by identifying their hidden abilities, answering their questions, giving useful information. Candidates calm down and feel comfortable, they are ready for the next stage of approvals. Recruiters can influence even those who were not suitable for the vacancy this time, informing them in which direction it is better to develop in order to have a better chance of being suitable for the vacancy next time.
2. Recruitment is the No. 1 function in influencing business.
The study showed that in terms of impact on profit and revenue, personnel selection was in first place for businesses among all HR functions. Everything here is the same as in sports, the difference is obvious when an organization hires a first-class specialist. New Product will reach the market faster, the project will be completed on time. This is all because you don't let underperforming employees become a barrier to business success. In some cases, one new employee The person you bring into the company can create most of the innovations and new products that are worth millions. If you have a good skill set, you can fine-tune your own recruiting techniques to successfully select a variety of high-value employees and innovators.
3. You will be the face of the company.
You will be the company's first, and in some cases only, point of contact for candidates. As a result, you will have a unique opportunity to represent the company, maintain its image, and treat them like clients. As a Brand Ambassador, you are responsible for spreading the word on social media about all the things that make your company a great place to work.
4. Employees and managers will thank you.
With the number of successfully filled vacancies, the number of employees grateful for the help increases. Executive recruiting is also rewarding because you help improve team productivity by finding the best talent. As a result, most recruiters have a huge number of grateful employees and managers who will be able to do some kind of favor in return or will be happy to offer their help in recruiting additional new talent.
5. By taking the initiative, you can introduce new recruiting technologies.
In some organizations, recruiters are faced with high requirements, concentration on tactical tasks, this leads to the fact that they simply do not have time to take the initiative. But if you personally have taken the time to study and create new selection technologies and assessment approaches, you may be given the opportunity to develop and implement them, even if you are not yet senior in position.
Reasons related to excitement
If you're looking for an exciting new experience, here are 8 reasons to consider becoming a recruiter.
1. Competition is exciting.
If you are a competitive recruiter, you realize that filling every opening is a fierce competition that is exciting. Every time you compete with recruiters who represent such influential companies as Google, Apple and IBM. Many hiring managers consider the process of persuasion best candidates For those who are considering several job offers at the same time, making a choice in favor of their company is no less exciting than identifying the hidden talents of candidates. Globalization in corporate recruiting brings its own challenges and excitement.
2. The winner is obvious.
Unlike many areas, the selection of specialists for a specific vacancy has a clear starting and ending point. After the top candidate has made his choice, there is still some uncertainty as to who won the competition. It won't take you long to figure out if you've won because in most cases, you'll know within 90 days. And even if you lose this competition, it won't take long to get back into the game because another opportunity to participate in the competition will open up almost immediately.
3. The opportunity to meet the best.
If you enjoy meeting and interacting with passionate people, recruitment will allow you to meet and get to know hundreds of great people and innovators every month. In many cases, you will get to know these people quite deeply because this is necessary to fully understand his needs and to successfully present to his manager.
4. Opportunity to interact with company management.
Recruiters have the opportunity to interact with managers at all levels of the organization on a daily basis. As a result, not only will you know them well, but they will also see the quality of your work personally.
5. Everyone wants to be your friend.
Most people are looking new job several times in their life, almost everyone understands how valuable it is to stay in touch with a recruiter. As a result, many people you meet will want to maintain relationships, both personal and business sphere, with the hope that someday you will help me find a job. They will also hope that sometimes you can help them write a resume or find a job opening. And since constantly looking out for new talent and building your network of contacts is part of your job, the time spent building professional connections is considered working time.
6. Constantly changing tasks.
Most corporate recruiters process various vacancies, every time a new vacancy opens, they are faced with a new difficult task. This variety can be a challenge for you, but at the same time keeps you interested in your work.
7. Freedom and control.
Filling each vacancy is a real challenge, and the work of most recruiters is monitored. This usually means guidance from the HR manager, but rarely does it require you to follow a strict routine. Therefore, most recruiters have a high level of freedom to decide “what and when” to do on a daily basis, since they expect results from the recruiter. In many cases, remote and contract work is possible. In most cases, your degree of independence will increase along with the excellent results you bring to the company.
8. Recruitment tools are constantly evolving.
If you like to constantly learn, recruiting should be right up your alley because it is perhaps the fastest-changing field in the HR industry. Because of high speed change, you will constantly learn how to use new technologies and new approaches. This is partly true because you simply cannot recruit successfully without using those modern methods, which your top candidates already know. As a recruiter, you can't stand still, but you won't want to because you'll be finding new ways to search to be a great, engaged employee. And luckily, you won't have to go back to school to update your recruiting knowledge because the best recruiters learn constantly, informally, through social media and the Internet.
Career-related reasons
If you're interested in considering recruiting as a new direction for yourself, below are seven reasons that make it a desirable choice:
1. Low requirements for entering the profession.
Starting to work as a recruiter is not difficult, because there are no strict requirements for education and an academic degree. Different recruiters come to the profession with completely different previous work experience, because the main thing when selecting a candidate for a recruiter position is his skills. If you have the right skills, you can find a job relatively quickly and “sell yourself” on your resume and during your interview with the hiring manager. For recent graduates, it is easier to start working in the department for work with educational institutions and attract students. Graduates know how students look for work, moreover, they understand the expectations of these candidates and feel sympathy for them.
2. Good pay and job opportunities.
As in any profession, wages vary depending on different companies and regions, but the average pay for the average level corporate recruiter is about $70,000 per year, and technical recruiters can earn much more. Corporate recruiters are often paid well, around $100 per hour, and external direct search specialists can earn hundreds of thousands of dollars per year. In addition, recruiters are needed in all industries, so when you search, you have a better chance of finding an interesting position.
3. You will have better tools.
If you are a successful employee, you will inevitably have the latest equipment (smartphones, tablets), and you will be paid for coffee and lunch with candidates. If you have been sent to look for talent at professional conferences, or educational establishments, recruiting can also provide opportunities for travel.
4. Fast career growth.
Despite the fact that recruiting is very exciting work, many HR specialists prefer more predictable functionality: training, personnel development, organizational development.
As a result of these preferences, recruiting has a good “end-to-end” rate. So if you stick to recruiting like a professional, it will take you less time to advance in your career to become a manager than in other areas of HR.
5. As a recruiter, you will develop excellent job search skills.
Your knowledge of the intricacies of the job search process will virtually guarantee that if you need to look for a new job as a recruiter or in another field, you will have a great resume, extensive contacts, and exceptional job search skills. You will be confident of success. These skills will also come in handy if you become an HR director in the future.
6. Recruiting is easier in top companies.
If you are lucky enough to work in a top company with good brand employer like Google or P&G, you will be faced with a strong applicant pool and the selection process will largely become a screening process. If the company has a program for selecting and evaluating candidates, then it turns out that your employees will do about half of the work for you. In addition, in top companies the recruitment process is so improved that it will lead to success even for specialists with little experience.
7. You will quickly understand if recruitment is not your thing.
Unlike other fields, you don't need to spend years of practice to become a competent recruiter. And because success is obvious, within months you will know whether you have the qualities needed to become a good recruiter.
Finally
Although in my article I wanted to talk about why the recruiting profession is so exciting and influential, it is still worth mentioning that it also has some disadvantages. The most serious disadvantage is that recruitment works in spurts, and sometimes there are periods where recruitment experiences stagnation and specialists are fired. However, even in tough times, the best recruiters are kept on board, especially those top recruiters who have strong secondary skills, such as internal staffing, attrition, and technical recruiting.
In some organizations, requirements may be very strict during growth periods, but this is a factor you can measure before you sign the contract. If after reading 20 arguments in favor, you still doubt whether you want to be a recruiter, you can meet the best recruiters at a conference. Once you chat with top recruiters over a cup of coffee, you will realize that almost all of them are the friendliest, most engaged, smart and progressive people you have ever met. They universally love their work and the impact it has. They are proud of their profession, and if you become a recruiter, you will be proud of it too.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without the written permission of the copyright holder.
© Malysheva O., 2017
● Julius Caesar signed a decree in 55 BC to pay 300 Roman coins to every soldier who brought one more soldier into the Roman army.
● In ancient Egypt, when selecting warriors from representatives of local tribes, a well-organized system of selecting and training recruits was used. Special people were appointed responsible for each stage and, in fact, represented the prototype of the structure of a modern personnel selection and training department.
● The small Hellenic state (Ancient Greece) was forced to replenish the ranks of its ever-warring army at the expense neighboring countries. Moreover, recruiters even then were able to identify target groups of potential candidates, for example, the male population of isolated and poor settlements. They motivated future warriors with fairly high rewards.
● The first tests were carried out in Ancient China upon admission to public service. The procedure was so complex that as a result, not only the smartest and most talented, but also the most moral sons of the fatherland won!
● In the Middle Ages, after a plague epidemic that claimed millions of lives, there was an acute demand for labor. Hiring a good employee has become difficult, and the reward for quality work has increased sharply. Mercenaries also began to form a significant part of any army. The recruiting service became increasingly popular.
● Peter I is rightly called the first Russian recruiter, on whose initiative more than a thousand high-class shipbuilders, engineering specialists, and financiers were attracted to Russia from Europe.
As a result of industrial development, the emergence of new machines and mechanisms, the need for qualified specialists began to increase. In the middle of the 19th century, specialized firms began to appear that hired personnel for a fee. This marked the beginning of the staffing industry.
Conventionally, the formation of the personnel search and selection industry is divided into three main stages:
● pre-scientific;
● classic;
● modern.
Pre-scientific stage begins in the 4th–5th millennium AD, when slave states began to form in the Ancient East (Sumer, Egypt, Arcade).
The highest achievement of the pre-scientific stage is considered to be the period of rapid development of Ancient Greece, when the number of artisans, sailors, warriors increased, and there was a need to tighten professional selection. It is known that when systematizing the criteria for the quality of craftsmanship for artisans, warriors and sailors, the works of ancient Greek thinkers (Aristotle, Plato, etc.) were used.
In the Middle Ages, attempts were made to create a holistic personnel selection system. However, there is very little reliable information from available sources.
The beginning classical stage considered the great industrial revolution of the 18th – 19th centuries, which stimulated the development of capitalism. Changing working conditions, the spread of machines and mechanisms, an increase in the gap between workers and owners, all these factors provoked the emergence of a new type of employee who took on intermediary functions between workers and owners. New employees, and sometimes entire structures, were involved in issues of interaction with personnel. The main function of these structures was to mediate between the administration and the worker. Secretaries, who monitored the welfare of workers, advised managers on how to deal with workers in order to achieve better results.
I will not delve into the jungle of the classical period, but will only name scientists and psychologists who made a significant contribution to the history of the field of personnel management.
American scientist F. Parsons and famous German psychologist G. Munsterberg were among the first to decide to scientifically substantiate the issues of personnel selection in line with the young science of psychotechnics.
F. Taylor and his teaching about scientific organization labor in the field personnel policy allowed us to develop special system search and selection of personnel based on scientifically established characteristics. And also build a system for evaluating the performance of managers in accordance with their position.
In the early 1920s, a global survey of company executives was conducted in Germany, based on which the Institute of Applied Psychology in Berlin developed a questionnaire containing 151 questions. As a result of the survey, professional psychograms of some professions in demand at that time were created: driver, typesetter, carriage driver, clerk, telephone operator. Psychograms were an integral part of professiograms, which are still used to develop job descriptions and a list of requirements for the candidate in the recruitment and selection process.
Nowadays they talk a lot about success, many books have been written, a huge number of trainings are held, many conferences, we often hear all sorts of (most often American) businessmen, trainers, etc. talking about success.
Everyone understands that a company must be successful, or in economic terms, profitable. No financial success - no development, no future. This cannot be allowed, and as a result, every manager is forced to deal with the success of his company and, accordingly, the success of his employees.
As the head of a recruiting agency over the past almost 20 years, I had to constantly put this inevitable indicator of activity at the forefront and, as a result, organize the entire internal corporate management in such a way that everything was literally permeated through and through with success.
I believe that an agency employee, and naturally a consultant, will be successful when the environment in which he works creates conditions for development, when the manager himself is concerned with his own success and the success of the entire company and all its employees. Of course, this is not easy to achieve and requires a lot of expense, but practice shows that otherwise it will be impossible to develop.
Moving from the environment to the recruiter himself, I would like to focus on the very concept of success.
What is success? Many people associate the meaning of the concept with the word - To be in time. Agree that in recruiting this is a very important performance indicator. I was in time - I got a client, I was in time - I found the right candidate, I was in time - I received a fee.
Everyone present here can give a huge number of examples when - he hesitated, maybe even for a few minutes, and that's it - either the client or the candidate was taken away. And here the conclusion seems to suggest itself, they say, you need to move faster, run, maybe even fly around the office.
Of course, the consultant’s reaction speed must be high, but as everyone understands, speed alone is not enough. I like what many recruiters call, for example, working in a tender with several competitors: “greyhound racing”. Not a very flattering comparison for you and me. Although of course we have to run.
Everyone understands that you always need to run for some purpose, in other words, you need to not only try to be on time, try to overtake someone, but you need to achieve something. For example, conduct high-quality interviews with candidates, fulfill a monthly sales plan, or, for example, win a tender. And, as you know, a successful person always has some achievements and the more of these desired achievements, the more successful the person is.
Today I would not like to talk about that standard list of characteristics or criteria for assessing the success of a recruiter, which is known to most consultants working in recruitment agencies.
We can safely include a dozen personal qualities there, as well as competencies, skills and abilities required from a recruiter. For example: organization, communication skills, education, determination, stress resistance, entrepreneurship, understanding of the basics of business organization and much, much more. From my point of view, today it makes sense to dwell on the more fundamental qualities that a recruiter, a successful recruiter, should have.
We all want something, always, every day. Of course it's food, drink, shelter, safety. Naturally, we want satisfaction of a higher level of needs. And we know very well what Maslow’s pyramid is. However, practice shows that in our field of activity it is precisely those who are determined to satisfy these higher needs who achieve success.
We have been told since childhood - you must be the best, you must try to be the first, don’t lag behind. They say it's a shame to be the worst, it's a shame to be the last. If you are the first to come running in physical education, you are honored; in competitions, you receive a diploma; if you finish the quarter better than the others, you are praised. It's the same at the institute.
Came to work, even cooler. All sorts of competitions, reporting. As a consequence - bonuses or deprivation of bonuses, gratitude, bonuses, etc. etc. Moreover, the entire business world is structured this way - you or your company, where you work, must be the best, must be richer, more promoted, famous, etc. Everyone understands that there is no other way - you will be left behind, left with nothing.
I like the statement that business is war and sport. Indeed, we all have to fight. As you know, we fight our enemies in order to kill and destroy.
In our case, of course, we literally do not kill, and our enemies are competitors. It's great that we do this in a civilized manner and we have rules, we have the opportunity to negotiate. But this does not change the essence. In an effort to be a winner, we try to make others losers. That is, if I won, then the rest of the event participants definitely lost. And so throughout our lives - trying to be the best, trying to win, we try to make others losers. Stephen Covey wrote about this very well in his famous work “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.” He called this philosophy: “Win/Lose.”
Today we are talking about a recruiter. Let's see who he interacts with in his activities:
- Applicant;
- Client;
- Agency colleague;
- Agency management;
- System.
In our work, emotions often come first. We work not with technology, numbers and nature, but with people. This is a very complex substance, and the most difficult thing is its emotional and sensory sphere. How a person emotions, and why some action or information evokes a particular emotion is very important data for us. We must be able to understand this.
If a recruiter cannot control his emotions, then most often he, as we say, burns out emotionally. There are a lot of such cases in recruiting. But if a person understands his feelings, motives, intentions, constantly learns to manage his condition, time, motivates himself, then he will be able to interact more effectively with people, his mood will not change dramatically and he will achieve success.
A person who develops his EQ is less susceptible to doubts, fears, and stress; he better understands the motives of other people and evaluates them more easily and calmly. And for a recruiter this is a very important quality.
I said at the beginning that we have to run a lot and quickly, everyone understands that in fact, our thoughts and our emotions run first. And there are people who cannot control their thoughts and emotions, which rush inside us at great speed.
The recruiter should always calmly work as a kind of dispatcher of his feelings and emotions. Everyone knows that this “dispatching” has to be done not only during working hours, but even in the evenings and on weekends. Basically, all the time. If this entire area is used correctly, nothing will burn out and everything will work calmly and reliably.
An emotionally developed person attracts developed people in exactly the same way. Like attracts like. And these are our potential clients, these are our potential star candidates. The benefits are obvious!
