To be a successful recruiter, you need to learn how to market yourself. It can be through your website, emails you send to clients or candidates, or directly marketing the candidate to the client. It’s a sales game, and one that you need to understand. Marketing does matter. There is an art to it, and there are hard numbers and results that you will achieve by doing it properly.
The basics
Whether you’ve been a recruiter for years or you’re just coming into this world, you have to be professional. Look professional, speak professionally, and dress professionally. Don’t chat to your clients or candidates like friends. Yes, that comes later, but early on in the business relationship, potential clients are getting to know you, and they will need to trust and respect you in order to do business with you.
Professional brand
Your professionalism will come through in your phone conversations and emails, but you also need a professional email signature, logo, business cards, and even a website. These are easier than ever to create. Back in the day, it took lots of meetings, but so many things can be outsourced through the internet now. You can find people to help you online.
Get your feet wet
Now that you have the materials and professionalism nailed down, jump in, and get your feet wet. You can figure a lot of the marketing out as you go, and as you discover ways of finding new clients, you can add that to your marketing mix.
The best marketing is done when you are calling or emailing when searching for a candidate. When you are hiring managers and executive level candidates, you may often find that they are not interested in the job. I found this out by accident early on, and used it to my advantage for years, uncovering new clients, while calling in search of candidates.
Market research
Today, more than ever, you can find companies posting jobs not only on their websites, but also on job boards, as well as LinkedIn, and even Facebook. Do the research to uncover the open positions so you can go into the cold calls with information that will speed up the process.
In person marketing
Although most of the marketing you’ll do in the beginning is through the phone or web, there may come a time where you must market yourself in person. Conferences and trade shows are a big part of marketing yourself and your business. I used to attend these events back in my healthcare and medical days mainly to find candidates. This is especially true in the sales market, because companies usually man their booths with their best sales people.
What other marketing techniques do you use as a recruiter? Shares your ideas in the comments.
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This article was syndicated from Business 2 Community: Recruiter Tips: How To Market Yourself
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