Relationship Building for New Recruiters
How do you build a relationship in one phone call? It’s a challenge. My approach is very simple. I fundamentally value the time of the candidate I am calling. I greatly resent wasting people’s time with useless questions and selling tactics. I get straight to the point. Sometimes this makes my calls rather short, other times I can spend10-15 minutes on the phone with the candidate.
So what’s my goal? I want to make the candidate laugh. If the candidate is interested in speaking with me, I might get right into the thick of things or I might talk about the weather. Living in Boston provides me with an incredible array of weather conversation topics. I can usually joke about how bad it is and how much I miss the sunshine. (Even now it’s dark and gloomy outside). I want to make a connection that is natural, I don’t force it. Sometimes I compliment the candidate on their expertise, sometimes I get them to talk to me about their career, but not in a dry chronological manner, more in a philosophical way. I’ve had several people tell me; “You’re funny, not like other recruiters”.
In the world of recruiting consultants building relationships is difficult because if the candidate is on the job board, he has potentially dozens of other recruiters calling him. Building a relationship takes time, while the recruiting cycle of a consulting candidate can be as short as 24 hours. One drawback of this kind of recruiting is that while we speak with thousands of people, we build relationships with a few. National recruiting is even harder because the recruiter never meets the candidate. Passive candidates often want permanent jobs and thus are hard to recruit for contract opportunities.
So just be yourself, don’t pretend to know all the answers. Try not to waste people’s time. Qualify your candidate before you call him. And don’t ask senior people basic questions. Don’t ask a Java architect what OOD is. Don’t ask a Network Engineer if he has experience with TCP/IP. You’ll sound ignorant. It’s hard at first, but know your req before you call to build a relationship.
Good Luck!
