In many ways, recruitment is a lot like sales. Success in both areas comes from identifying needs, building rapport, and communicating value. One way you can be more effective in your recruitment practices and actually attract top talent is through adopting traditional sales techniques in your recruitment arsenal.
In our latest post, you’ll learn how to build rapport, discern a candidate’s needs, present job opportunities in such a way that job seekers come to you, and improve persuasive communication in recruitment.
Transposing Conventional Sales Techniques into Recruitment
Building rapport underpins sales and recruitment processes. The first thought of a great salesperson is that they need to get along with the prospect to get the sale. Equally, building trust with your candidates is critical to being an effective recruiter. This starts with effective communication and active listening. They can make a positive first impression and lay a foundation of trust with candidates if they express real interest in their backgrounds, aspirations, and concerns by:
- Active listening: Listen carefully to what the candidate is saying and respond thoughtfully. This shows respect and genuine interest.
- Personal connection: Find common ground or shared interests to create a personal connection.
- Consistent communication: Keep candidates posted at each stage in the recruitment process to establish reliability and trust.
Understanding Candidates’ Needs
Understanding the needs and motivations of candidates is akin to identifying the pain points of potential customers. This involves asking the right questions and paying attention to both verbal and non-verbal cues. The ability to bring out what motivates a candidate can give you the insight to discover job opportunities that meet the candidate’s expectations.
Here are some examples:
- Behavioral interviews: Asking candidates behavioral questions can uncover their motivations and work preferences.
- Feedback loops: Ask candidates to offer feedback on the recruitment process so you can understand their priorities, what went well, and pain points that you can work on.
- Market research: Keep track of industry trends and salary benchmarks so you can answer any questions candidates have.
Highlight Roles Candidates Are Genuinely Interested In
In sales, it’s important to present product benefits effectively. Similarly, when looking for talent, recruiters need to be able to pitch a job opportunity to potential candidates. A dry run-through of duties and expectations won’t suffice — instead, you need to build a story that illustrates how a position fits what the candidate is looking for. How might it contribute to their career goals? How is that company’s culture just what the candidate is looking for?
Strategies you can use include:
- Solution selling: Focus on how the job opportunity solves specific problems or fulfills the candidate’s career aspirations.
- FAB technique: Highlight the role’s Features, Advantages, and Benefits (FAB). For example, describe the job duties and benefits, such as career growth, company culture, and work-life balance.
- Employer branding: Describe the mission, values, and culture of the company in a way that makes the opportunity more attractive to job seekers without being misleading.
Development of Persuasive Communication Skills
Persuasive communication is part of recruitment. A good recruiter can persuasively describe the value of a position to relevant job seekers.
Developing Soft Skills
Soft skills like empathy, active listening, and effective communication are vital when creating and establishing rapport with a candidate. These help a recruiter reach out to candidates personally and understand what they need.
Here’s how these soft skills apply in recruitment:
- Empathy: Displaying understanding and concern for career objective of candidates.
- Communication training: Investing in training programs that harness verbal and non-verbal communication skills.
- Role-playing: Practicing some typical recruitment situations fosters communication skills and helps recruiters arrive at valuable responses.
Applicability of Consultative Selling Techniques
Consultative selling is different from the traditional role of a salesperson. This type of sales technique has an advisory tone. In terms of recruiting and hiring, consultative sales is leading the candidate with insights and addressing common questions and issues.
It involves:
- Asking power questions, such as “What do you want to find in your next employer?”
- Clearly stating your industry knowledge, so you can be regarded as an intuitive career advisor and consulting resource.
- Thinking long-term instead of just making a candidate placement. It may yield more effective hires and better retention rates.
Technology and Data
Modern recruitment leans towards technology in creating streamlined processes and making data-based decisions. For this, the tools of Applicant Tracking Systems and AI can help a recruiter manage candidate information and identify the best match efficiently by rapidly screening resumes and short-listing those candidates with top matches using AI.
- Recruitment platforms: Specialized hiring through recruitment platforms to get a diverse group of candidates and ease communications.
- Candidate experience: Candidate experience can be enhanced through technology that keeps them engaged and informed about the process.
The Art of Persuasion in Recruitment
It’s important to build rapport with candidates. You can do this by showing you genuinely understand their needs, which can help you present potential roles in a compelling light. Improving your persuasive, human-centered communication skills helps foster real connections and makes recruiting in this technological age possible. Contact an MRINetwork office near you to see how we can help or call us at (866) 836-9890.