They have a willingness to go above and beyond what’s expected.
I wholeheartedly believe that great recruiters have both a willingness and an internal need to go above and beyond for everyone they work with. At Talent Solvers, one of our core competencies is that we are "people first people.” To us, this means that we put relationships first and strive to provide the best possible service to both clients and candidates alike. Our clients expect us to find a candidate to fill a void and our candidates expect us to find them the next step in their career, but we want to do more than that.
Zappos CEO, Tony Hseih says, “in business you must do something that’s above and beyond what’s expected.” For Zappos, that was creating a “customer obsessed” culture. For us, it’s maintaining a “people obsessed” culture. One where we surprise and delight by how much we truly care about the people behind the resumes.
For me, I want to receive calls and texts from candidates after work hours. I always want to make it known that I am here 24/7 to talk about whatever it is they need. Every candidate is special to me in different ways whether they are trying to obtain an entry-level sales role or moving into a Director position from a Manager.
When it comes to the client, of course I always want to send the best talent, but that’s not really above and beyond. I find that picking up on the extra things that clients may not know they need can make a world of a difference. A great recruiter is a true consultant to their clients. They can advise on compensation, retention strategies, market trends or interview best practices. They care about the small details. The little things that separate you from being somebody who helps clients fill a role vs. somebody who is a client’s long-term hiring and growth partner.
One such example I can think of is on a recent search that had proven difficult. We sent over a higher than normal volume of talent but none of them ended up being hired. We decided to send over a report of these efforts including the number of people we’d reached out to, number of candidates pitched on the phone, the number of resumes we had provided, etc.
Ultimately the numbers put things into perspective for the client. The candidates we sent over were certainly qualified and but not exactly what they had envisioned. A discussion of the market conditions and what we learned through our efforts allowed them to see they were already speaking with the most qualified people for the position. While it was more work on our part, it was worth it to help them find the right hire and strengthen our partnership.
Going above and beyond is simply what great recruiters do. The candidates I find usually aren’t actively looking for a new job. And, at Talent Solvers, we don’t post our jobs online praying for the right resumes to come in. Instead, each person we talk to is hand-selected and we work to provide them with the best experience possible.
This applies to our relationships with clients as well. We could send over resumes in mass, which would make our jobs easier, but that wouldn’t gain us their respect or their business. We want to find top talent and present a select few candidates to the client. To me, this is going above and beyond, finding the perfect fit for both the candidate and client, no matter how long it takes.
Great recruiters are in it for the long term and that means creating partnerships, deep partnerships. We hear from our clients all the time that what we do is really not just an extension of their brand, but an extension of their company!
When you have the mindset that you’re not just transactional partners, but critical components of each other’s success, the conversation changes. It goes from “let’s try to close a deal,” to “how can we make sure this person/team has everything they need to be insanely successful.” With that kind of relationship, you always find a way to go the extra mile.