When I first started my recruiting career in the staffing industry, I was overwhelmed at the thought of learning enough about a variety of different roles, clients, and industries to successfully fill open roles. At this point, I can confidently say I figured out the secret formula!
In college, I majored in Spanish Literature and Language with a concentration in K-12 education. Through that program, I was immersed in a variety of behavioral psychology courses. I have realized throughout my HR and recruiting career that those courses were some of the most valuable experiences I had during my undergraduate education, and they have shaped the professional I am today. When I was starting to formulate my personal recruiting philosophy, I established a few key operating principles.
- Acknowledge that people regardless of role, industry, or seniority, have unique important factors that help them determine what is a good fit for them.
- Define what I believe my role is as a recruiter. Spoiler alert: it is not just to fill roles and please the client. I believe my role as a recruiter is to be the mediator to:
- Hear the needs and wants of the client
- Understand the goals and non-negotiables of the candidate
- Facilitate honest information sharing between both sides and enable everyone to have the full picture to make a confident decision in the hiring process.
I believe that as much as a client must choose the candidate, the candidate must also choose the client, and the best hires are mutual win-win situations.
- Prioritize asking the hard questions and sharing the candid information about the reality of a role and the truth about a candidate. It can be so tempting as a recruiter to see that on paper a candidate looks like a perfect fit, and in turn ignore the yellow flags they present throughout the process. It is also all too easy to not authentically share challenges that companies are facing, for fear of scaring off a truly perfect candidate. I learned quickly that your reputation is not about just the number of roles filled but also the stickiness of your hires and the value they bring to their team. I became confident and comfortable saying no when I needed to and having these transparent conversations. The best matches are created when both company and candidate are eyes-wide-open and are committed to saying yes, together!
Now fast forward 12 years and a few refining iterations of that philosophy later. When I joined Compass, I applied this same methodology to building out the talent strategy service offering and recruitment team. I train everyone touching recruitment at Compass to understand the role they are hiring for, to do their best to protect the culture of the client, and to truly listen objectively to the needs of both parties. When we do that, we really calibrate on what success looks like and set everyone up for the best possible outcome.
Whether you are outsourcing one role, a whole talent acquisition department, or somewhere in between with Compass, we are in your corner. Recruiting creatively and customizing our approach to you within our very successful Culture Starts with Recruiting framework is our passion. Reach out to samantha@wearecompass.com to take your talent strategy to the next level.
