By GSR2R Admin | 17th September 2021

Keep your recruiters engaged and productive

The recruitment awakening, post Freedom Day, has signalled the sharp and significant demand to fill job vacancies by organisations across the UK. Recruiters are working at warp speed to meet this demand and fulfil recruitment needs in a fast-moving, candidate driven market, not seen in some time.

Remote working has increased opportunities for recruiters to consider a career with organisations previously out of there reach because of locational and situational limitations. Whilst we’re not denying the benefits of flexible working, we can’t ignore that this hybrid environment comes with its own challenges, adding additional pressures to recruiters working tirelessly to recruit great candidates quickly, and to recruitment managers working equally hard to keep their teams, often remote, engaged.

Are recruitment managers feeling the pinch?

As a recruitment manager, it’s vital to your job to support your team, and get the best out of them, in this challenging environment. We all know the line, people don’t leave their jobs, they leave their managers. According to statistics from DDI, 57% of employees quit their jobs because of their managers.

How do you, as a recruitment manager, balance the pressure of recruitment and people management to engage and retain your recruiters?

5 top tips and leadership techniques for recruitment managers.

1.      Onboarding new recruiters

Many recruitment agencies have their own screening and recruitment strategy for onboarding recruiters that is usually on-site. With the remote onboarding process, how do these translate to remote onboarding?

If your new employees are on a one-month notice period, that means you have a four-week window to engage your newest team member.

You can leverage the touch points between hiring and starting by:

• sending pics or videos of your office
• having virtual team lunches
• sending fun facts about their new team members or
• inviting new starters to join your team meetings.

As a recruitment manager, you need to understand the problem and stress faced by your new recruiters. You can engage with them by:

• talking to them about their work issues and the possible ways to solve them
• have regular team meeting so that they feel connected to the team, as well as
• the all-important 1-2-1’s with you.

2.      Empathy 

Positive employee engagement starts with compassion and empathy.

For remote working, it is important, as a recruitment manager, that you are aware of your recruiter’s needs, and be able to understand and support them with compassion.

Recruiters want to feel that they are being heard and understood.

Here’s how to take care of your recruiters’ well-being and work as a perfect team.

• Check in regularly with them so they feel heard and valued.
• Make everyone feel like a team to boost productivity, morale and loyalty.
• Develop a closer relationship with your recruiters to gain their trust.

3.      Career progression 

Key to a recruiter wanting to progress their career with your company is clarity on where they’re going.

Defining a clear progression and development plan not only motivates them to excel but also leaves no room for misunderstanding.

Career paths are no longer static, and recruiters want to feel they are learning and developing their skills therefore discuss how you can support them achieve this.

People want to feel invested in and confident that they are working towards increasing their experience and skills and are supported in developing their career within your team and your organisation.

TOP TIP: Talk to them about the company goals, why they are important and how your teams’ collective contributions will make a difference.

4.      Communication

A study suggests that employees with a stable office environment can increase employee productivity by up to 25%.

Your recruiters, when working remotely, can face challenges that are exacerbated by not having them team across a desk.

According to a survey, ineffective communication caused stress for 80% of employees. As mentioned earlier, good communication is the combination of one-on-one engagement and team engagement.

The best way to boost their productivity is by taking the time to maintain consistent communication. This is not a check box exercise but really showing that you care by dedicating your time to keeping in touch and keeping distractions out of the equation. This provides clarity of their expectations and yours, keeps your recruiters on track, and makes them productive.

5.      Have purpose

It’s easy to forget about your company’s purpose and mission when the market is so unprecedented.

The tip is don’t. Without purpose, your teammates can lose their way of work and feel demotivated.

Culture is important to employees.

The productivity of the teammates increases with the strong culture and positive values. By constantly discussing your organisations’ purpose and tying it back to your actions, you can provide your teammates with the reassurance that they are contributing to something bigger and working towards a collective goal.

People are bought into a company’s purpose and values and want it to align with their own beliefs. It will keep them engaged and productive in their work.

The Final Word

Great leaders make management look easy. It’s not. Effective and positive recruitment management takes time, practice, and plenty of skills to thrive. It is up to recruiting managers to build and maintain an effective recruiting workforce.

We’ve got some amazing recruitment jobs at all levels, with forward-thinking and diverse organisation waiting for you. Even if you’re not looking to move now, we regularly share the best recruitment tips & practices to keep you developing as a recruitment manager.

Until next time,

Cheryl