James MeinckeWhen you begin a career in sales recruiting, you can actually start to succeed relatively quickly. If you’re enthusiastic and willing to learn, you don’t even need a background in HR – recruiting can be a “learn on the job” opportunity.
But even so, modern sales recruiters face a lot of challenges. Often these are related to things like:
- Greater demand for high-performing sales talent;
- Building rapport with hiring managers;
- Targeting millennials (and now Gen Z);
- Enticing candidates who have multiple offers from different organizations; and
- Effectively using social media.
But alongside these very specific things, sales recruiters also need to maintain a personal touch with individual candidates while screening many, staying organized, and improve the efficiency with which they work.
In the face of a wide variety of challenges such as these, how can you set yourself up for success? Well, effective sales recruiters know the importance of developing good habits – habits that allow them to stay on top of their workload, efficiently communicate with candidates, and improve their own skills.
Luckily, these habits can be learned.
The 8 habits of effective sales recruiters
1. They’re organized – they keep a calendar
Being organized is a must for every recruiter. Effective recruiters keep a calendar so they can track their daily tasks, interviews, phone calls, and meetings. Plus, you’re often handling several open positions at once, so you need to be able to juggle all the balls you have in the air: position details, hiring managers, candidates, etc.
Keeping a calendar allows you to prioritize and give attention to the right tasks each day. The more organized you are, the more effective you can be.
2. They prioritize
As alluded to already, effective sales recruiters are organized (#2), which allows them to prioritize. But they do so analytically – not all opportunities are equal. This also returns to tracking metrics (#6). Rather than relying on instinct or your “gut” to decide what needs to be a priority, effective recruiters use their metrics to do so.
What’s going to give the most ROI? The candidate from a proven high-quality source, or the one from a less-reputable (or worse, proven poor quality) source?
3. They use data to track their labor
Highly effective sales recruiters take a data-driven approach to their work. They track everything: the source that a candidate comes from, the information they’re provided, the stage in the hiring process that the candidate reaches, etc.
Tracking everything related to your candidates can tell you from where you get the highest-quality ones, as well as make sure no one gets forgotten and drops off.
4. They stay focused on the candidates
Candidate experience is #1, especially in the modern climate. Modern tech makes it easier than ever to connect with literally almost anyone around the globe, but if you don’t properly take care of your candidates once you do, they can be gone just as fast. Highly effective sales recruiters concentrate on candidate needs throughout the recruiting process, striving to make a positive candidate experience.
5. They always answer/return “that call”
It really doesn’t matter what industry or career path you’re on – there’s always a time where you check your caller ID or notice emails from a certain individual, and you want to ignore it. It’s the same in sales recruiting. The difference between highly effective sales recruiters and less-effective ones, though?
Highly effective recruiters pick up the phone. If they can’t immediately, they make a note and return the call later. They always call back, because it’s part of their job. Even if it wasn’t, it’s just good manners and will only do good things for your reputation.
6. They watch their/their organization’s reputation
Reputation is just about everything. If your organization has bad reviews or a poor reputation, it may hurt the quality of your candidates. Effective recruiters check review sites (Indeed, Glassdoor, etc.) to keep an eye on company reputation online. Then they work to resolve any negative issues that arise.
Highly effective recruiters make a habit of carefully maintaining their own reputation, too. They avoid saying or doing things today that will hurt their reputation tomorrow.
7. They keep things personal
Regardless of whether you’re sorting through applicants or if you’re after passive candidates, you’re creating a connection. If you copy and paste into your emails, texts, etc., you’re not going to attract the best talent. You want all communication to feel personal.
Include the candidate’s name, details from their resume or cover letter, and if you’ve already spoken, anything unique from your conversations.
Beyond that, effective sales recruiters take the time to get to know their candidates. Not only does this help with a personal connection, but it also provides more material for you to make a decision as to whether the candidate is a good fit for the role.
8. They shut off notifications
Last but not least, highly effective sales recruiters do something so simple, you may not have even thought of it: they shut off notifications from every source when they’re working: email, phone, text, etc.
How can you be productive if you’re constantly being interrupted by pinging or buzzing notifications? Instead, effective recruiters simply make some time to check their email and messaging at a specific time during the day.
Recruiting – a great place to start your sales career
Going into sales recruiting can be a fantastic way to jumpstart a career in sales. We think so so much that we’ve written an entire article on just that. But for the highlights, here’s why we think so:
- Recruiting is sales;
- It helps you develop essential sales skills, like communicating, time management, and problem-solving;
- You don’t need any experience to get started;
- You become resilient and target-driven.
All of which are things you’ll need to succeed in sales. Plus, by recruiting salespeople as a sales recruiter, you can see what top-performing salespeople look like, giving you powerful examples to aim to become.
Hiring vetted sales talent? Connect here.
