What To Think About When Recruiting Recruiters

We offer an array of hiring services, and because of that, we often recruit recruiters to service our clients. When hiring recruiters, however, there is a lot to ponder. A lot has changed since my earlier career as a recruiter, and to prove that I looked at a 2010 job description for a recruiter and speculated on what could be automated and what new duties should be added. I found the old job description via a Google search for “recruiter jobs” and restricted the results to the year 2010. I found a classic Monster job description template for a recruiter and made an analysis, keeping in mind a recent SHRM article that said this.  

“Recruiters are using automation and artificial intelligence software to source, screen, schedule and chat with candidates more so than the previous year.”  

 Hmm... I read somewhere that successful recruiting two years into the pandemic absolutely involves using automation tools such as Paradox’s conversational AI recruiting assistant, Olivia. Such tools not only significantly impact candidate experience, but they also influence recruiter retention. According to a 2021 Aptitude Research report...  

“72% of recruiters are more likely to stay at their current job with the use of conversational AI, largely because time spent on repetitive administrative tasks is reduced by 50%.” 

In today’s “Great Resignation” era, automation can have a resounding impact on retaining your recruiters. It is pretty much an open secret that critical administrative work slows recruiters down and burns them out. But when routine activities such as scheduling and rescheduling interviews, collecting feedback after every interview, sending offers, and sharing onboarding paperwork are taken care of, recruiters can focus their energies on the human tasks that help them find great talent. But I digress.  

When you are planning to hire recruiters, consider what can be automated — in whole or in part. Here are some 2010 recruiter duties that could be serviced by technology rather than human input.  

• Builds applicant sources by researching and contacting community services, colleges, employment agencies, recruiters, media, and internet sites; provides organization information, opportunities, and benefits; makes presentations; maintains rapport. [i.e., sourcing tools
• Determines applicant requirements by studying job description and job qualifications. [i.e., online assessment tools]
• Attracts applicants by placing job advertisements; contacts recruiters using newsgroups and job sites. [i.e., programmatic job advertising]  
• Arranges management interviews by coordinating schedules [i.e., Olivia]  
• Prescreens applicants on consistent set of qualifications [i.e., chatbots] 
• Compares qualifications to job requirements [i.e., resume ranking in ATS] 

I believe these duties could be added to the automation list as well: 

• Creates offers 
• Parses resumes 
• Dedupes databases 
• Updates the ATS  
• Assesses personality and skills [i.e., Predictive Index]  

And in my opinion, some of the duties described in the 2010 recruiter job description would be better handled by a recruiter coordinator. For example: 

• Arranges travel, lodging, and meals; escorts applicants to interviews; arranges community tours. 
• Manages new employee relocation by determining new employee requirements; negotiates with movers; arranges temporary housing; provides community introductions. 

In addition to regarding technology when recruiting recruiters, you should also judge the intangible parts of the recruitment process and the ability to execute them. For instance, these activities from the 2010 recruiter job description require soft skills.  

• Establishes recruiting requirements by studying organization plans and objectives; meets with managers to discuss needs. 
• Determines applicant qualifications by interviewing applicants; analyzes responses; verifies references 
• Evaluates applicants by discussing job requirements and applicant qualifications with managers, interviews applicants on consistent set of qualifications. 
• Improves organization attractiveness by recommending new policies and practices; monitors job offers and compensation practices; emphasizes benefits and perks. 
• Updates job knowledge by participating in educational opportunities; reads professional publications; maintains personal networks; participates in professional organizations. 
• Avoids legal challenges by understanding illegal interview questions and adhering to fair hiring practices; enforces regulations with managers; recommends new procedures; conducts training.  

When recruiting recruiters, providing advanced tools that make their routine tasks easier is important as it will help you retain them. Evaluating recruiters on how well they can perform the intangible parts of the process should not be overlooked either. For that matter, neither should you disregard the basic skills and qualifications associated with being a modern recruiter.  

• Recruiters are relationship managers, negotiating with hiring managers over candidate requirements and what the talent supply allows. They also persuade candidates to consider opportunities when they are already gainfully employed and/or when they are unfamiliar with the company the recruiter represents. Ultimately, recruiters are “closers,” adept at managing a shifting landscape driven by economic realities, company mandates, and expectations from all concerns that may or may not be realistic.  

• Recruiters are brand agents, monitoring what is said about the employer they represent and responding to feedback online and during the interview process. They are also careful to represent themselves as company advocates, showcasing their involvement in company events and community involvement on their social media for potential candidates to find. 
   
• Recruiters have an instinctive eye for talent and can read between the lines of a resume and make reasonable assumptions of cultural fit and unique opportunities for placing someone who might be open to changing careers by utilizing their skillsets in a new industry.  
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• Recruiters are also optimal time managers who discern from hiring manager responses which jobs should take priority in their efforts. If they can reasonably detect that a requisition is not a hot priority, then they can allocate more efforts in things such as community building and developing a referral pipeline from candidates who they interviewed in the past. 

All to say, a recruiter in 2022 has a bit of an advantage over recruiters in 2010 partly because of the technology at their disposal. The technology does not remove the human element needed to perform such tasks as candidate engagement, relationship management, and exercising judgement. It does, however, free up the recruiter’s time to do more of it and thus make hires quicker and more efficiently. The next recruiter you hire should be able to manage people, technology, and themselves to meet your hiring goals. In the interim, perhaps we can be of assistance? Click here to discuss our hiring services.  

In closing, I am curious. Are there any duties and responsibilities of a modern recruiter I have not included? If so, what are they? Better still, what else about a recruiter's role should be automated? Let me know in the comments below.