Working with recruiters every day gives me a whole new perspective on how challenging the position can be. The more I think about what a recruiter does, the more I know it is more than just identifying, sourcing, and submitting resumes. As a conduit between the candidate, client, and company, a successful recruiter needs to sharpen a few skills and remember the many balls they need to juggle. In this war of getting the right talent, using a traditional approach is no longer a solution. So what makes an ace recruiter, one that truly stands out above the rest? I’ve identified these unique roles that the “best of the best” play during the hiring process, including a role as:

Analyst

Data analysis is our new best friend and recruiters need to leverage it to make informed business decisions. They benefit by putting to work a measurement model to enable benchmarking of performance against standard metrics. A top recruiter reviews the data available to them, learns from it, compares & analyzes results over time, and makes data-driven decisions to improve their performance.

Brand Ambassadors

Because a recruiter leads the initial interaction with the candidate, they must deliver a strong first impression of the company. Recruiters must constantly be selling and marketing. It’s their job to communicate exactly why the company is the best option for the candidate. Their verbal or written communication must provide the required perception of the company to the candidate.

Innovator

As quoted by Thomas Edison, “There’s a way to do it better – find it”. In today’s scenario where the same candidate is normally approached by several recruiters, embracing contemporary and innovative hiring methods will help a recruiter to stand out. Statuary warning – just don’t go overboard!

Subject Matter Expert

A recruiter needs to have a background or develop subject-matter expertise in the field they recruit for. This empowers them to have a better understanding of the role, organization expectation, candidate’s profile, better connect, and effective pre-screening. The constantly sharpening expertise of a recruiter acts as a catalyst for an effective hiring strategy.

Quality Assurance Representative

Recruiters build trust with their clients with every candidate presented. The more perfect the candidates, the less work for the client. Once recruiters start to compromise on quality or take short cuts, they lose credibility. It’s imperative that recruiters proactively build candidate pipelines for their clients and are consistent in the quality of candidates they present.

Gymnast

Yeah, you heard me- gymnast. Recruiters need to be able to flex their approach and be agile in their selection, assessment, and screening processes. Maintaining a rich talent pipeline is really important; one that offers a range of potential candidates across relevant skill sets, job levels, and geographies so roles can be filled quickly without compromising quality or cultural fit.

It is easier said than done, with time, dedication, and training, one can create an ace recruiting team. My hat goes off to each one of these Ace Superheros of Recruiting.