As a recruiter you need "social proof" - people in your network who think that you're ace and are prepared to recommend that others work with you. You need candidates telling other candidates, and clients telling other clients:
that recruiter is really trustworthy
that recruiter was really helpful and made sure I was kept in the loop at every stage of the interview process
that recruiter sent me some great candidates - candidates that I could not have found myself
Gold dust!
Getting a recommendation! Easy peasy - getting the right ones that will elevate your LinkedIn profile to the top of searches, get your profile looked at by more of your ideal clients and candidates - that's what this blog is about.
Recruiter! Get Recommended!
You may think you have LinkedIn ‘nailed’ – lots of connections, the odd status update and countless job updates, and lots of time each day trawling for new candidates… sound familiar?
Well, it’s definitely a start but what would REALLY thrust you into the LinkedIn limelight in front of current and prospective connections (candidates and clients)?
Well how about a nice big, fat, juicy recommendation?!
LinkedIn Recommendations v Skills Endorsements
For those that don’t know, a recommendation is not one of those one-click-skills-endorsements. A LinkedIn Recommendation is found in your LinkedIn profile (below your current and previous roles) and is usually written by someone that has had a great experience of working with you – NOT a random work colleague! As nice as it sounds, the image of you sat on a colleague’s lap whilst stroking each other’s hair is all I see when you recommend each other…
A recommendation is social proof ofyou. It is proof that you are a good recruiter and that you deliver on everything that you promise.
Clients are commonly seen as the types of recommendations a recruiter should ask for but let’s not forget about the candidate – you did do a great thing for them too!
Think about the times you have booked a hotel. I bet you almost always go straight to Trip Advisor to see what other people’s experiences are of the hotel. Do you take their opinions into account? A LinkedIn recommendation will have the same affect.
Riddle Me This…
Two recruiters, Bill and Ben, pitch for a client’s business. They have the same experience and can demonstrate industry knowledge. Bill has several client and candidate recommendations. Ben has none. Who will win the business? The stats prove that Bill wins every time.
Recruiters Deserve Recommendations!
I speak with many recruiters who almost feel ashamed to ask for a recommendation! Seriously?!
Recruiters help clients solve a resourcing problem that helps them get their business (and possibly their social life) back on track.
Recruiters help candidates better their prospects, money and social situation. The placement part of placing a candidate with a client is the small part of the bigger picture so why shouldn’t you ask for a recommendation??
Grow a Pair and Ask, Recruiters!
You will find that most clients and candidates will say they will recommend you but then never find the time to actually do it. No problem – you write it!
I am of course not recommending that you blow your own trumpet – the client and candidate need to tell you / remind themselves of how awesome you really are! Ask them for their help (they’ll say yes!) and then ask them these 3 simple questions over the phone when they are in their happy place (normally when they have both accepted each other and have big smiley faces):
Why did you work with me?
How did I help you?
Would you be happy to work with me again?
Draft a very brief 2-3 line paragraph and email it back to the candidate/client via the ‘Ask to be Recommended’ button on their LinkedIn profile.
When they receive the LinkedIn message it will be clear that all they have to do is copy the text, hit ‘Recommend’ button, paste the text and hit ‘Send’. Simples!
Recommendations = MASSIVE Technology Explosion!
As soon as your contact adds the recommendation it is visible in their timeline, waking up the contact database of your contact (and these people are likely to be just like them…)
The recommendation also appears in your timeline (if you remember to accept it when you receive the LinkedIn message). Boom! Your contacts are woken up too! Your profile views will increase
You will have excuses to get back in touch with people, grab a phone call / coffee / job / CV
Your face will be forever on the person who has recommended you LinkedIn profile (and their face on yours!)
So recruiters. Don’t be afraid to ask for a recommendation you deserve it! Promise yourself to ask for a recommendation from the candidate and client on your next placement – just do it! And then rinse and repeat.
My final tip? Timing is key – ask for it straight away!
Our recruitment community loves our Adapt, Bullhorn, Inbound Sales,LinkedIn, Bullhorn, Job Adverts and recruitment training hacks. Click the links to get more, and sign up to ourRecruiter Hacks Newsletterto receive them as they are published.
HIIT Us, Recruiters!
Our high intensity interval training (Recruitment HIIT) helps recruiters source, convert quicker and develop healthy pipelines. Recruitment HIIT is an exciting recruitment training platform for recruiters to speedily learn skills to be more successful withAdapt,Bullhorn,LinkedIn,Job Adverts,Inbound Sales,DigitalandEmail Marketing. Try Recruitment HIIT for free, or arrange a call with me - press one of the magic buttons below.
TRY RECRUITMENT HIIT FOR FREE
READ ABOUT OUR LINKEDIN FOR RECRUITERS TRAINING
BOOK A CALL TO DISCUSS RECRUITMENT TRAINING
media centre
Read more-
Blog
4 Things to Help Recruiters Bill More Sales During and After Covid
Recruitment Leaders, before Covid, was your tech delivering profit? Or, did you have the feeling that you were over investing in tech? Did you suffer:Too much data, not enough information?Too many applicants, not enough candidates?Too many jobs, not enough placements?Too many systems, not enough process?I recently spoke at Rec2020 and the topic was: Recruitment Technology – The Future and Making it Work for You – and the take away was:you need to seriously accelerate effective tech adoption in your business – now is the time!But with the current climate, frustrations, and "new normal" changing every day, how do you do this? We answered these four questions...1. Recruitment Tech! All The Gear, No Idea?Perhaps, due to:Massively distracting market conditionsStaff returning from furlough, and possible not firing on all cylinders (fair enough!)Recruiters drowning in candidates applying for jobs that they can’t doRecTec supplier invoices needing paying…you now feel that you were “over investing” in recruitment tech. What did it actually do to help you through this period, and what will it do in the coming months?For example, my team reviewed a 25-person recruitment business with a tech stack costing £200k+. (This excluded their Bullhorn CRM, which ironically, they were not using effectively.) The business wanted to be more effective at attracting, sourcing, engaging, converting, retaining. But they had great tech, data, and passionate recruiters…2. The Problem Between the Chair and the Keyboard? (Recruiters?)Did you have PIBKAC before Covid, and do you want it now and in the future?Ask yourself:How was your business performing before Covid? Did you:Have a team of highly trained, super-engaged recruiters, delivering super-happy candidates to clients who couldn’t cope without you?Have a fully monetised set of systems, data, and processesAnd a marketing department generating awesome leads that your sales team could convert?Or were your 3Cs (candidates, clients, colleagues) not being as effective as you’d like, and you seemed to be buying more and more tech just to stay the same?Perhaps you also suffered from a high attrition rate (average before Covid = 43%). Note that 2/3 of people who quit their jobs in 2019 stated “lack of training” as their reason for leaving. Perhaps you’d used up your business growth budget on salaries (who) and tech (what) and neglected the training (how)? Perhaps you thought "automation" would fix everything?3. Is Recruitment Automation the Goal?Recruitment automation has become a real turn on for some in the industry (including myself!) Systems like Herefish are really kicking butt and doing things to the recruitment process that fixes a lot of the issues outlined above. It’s a great time saver and processes speeder-upper!But - in our march to “automate” we’ve forgotten a step...Systems can only automate processes, if the processes (or at least the sentiment) exist.Humans are still pretty viable (understatement) in the recruitment agency world. The key is to understand where and how they deliver their marketing, sales and recruitment, so you can delegate some of it to a system, then leave the recruiter to do the bit only they can do.But in an industry that is drowning in data and systems, it suffers a lack of process. And there is a distinct lack of systems and process training for recruiters which compounds the problem.Look at your processes:Can they be automated? What’s possible (and plausible)?What isn't being done consistently, forgotten, or what would you like to do that will improve candidate/client experience and free up consultant time for more valuable activities?What needs automating so that your staff can work from home, and you can lead / manage them more effectively?How can you create time for recruiters to develop stronger relationships with clients and candidates (hence stronger pipelines)?4. How Do You Generate the Buy-In for Using Recruitment Technology Effectively?You need buy-in for this for effective rectec adoption. So, gain an understanding of two things (thanks Andy):How will recruitment tech drive an increase in performanceHow will it solve a business-critical issue (eg. Covid) which will enable point 1Often recruiters need more time to manage the sales process. (They likely have enough data and systems). Ask yourself:If I could save each of my recruiters 1 hour a day (hence 30 days a year) how much more could they bill?What could they do with that hour?Through the Bullhorn, Adapt, and other recruitment training my team delivers, we aim to give recruiters back 1 hour a day. Case study:A recruiter who has a £100,000k target.They’re full time and take 20 days hols a year.My team trains them to use their tech more effectively and saves them 1 hour a day.This generates 30 days extra time per year.This equates to a potential pipeline of an extra £12,500You have 10 staff? This means £125,000. What’s the commission for you and your team on that figure?And how much does it cost to train recruiters to generate that level of fee? (not as much!)That’s a simple way of measuring performance improvements and generating buy-in from all levels of the business.Recruitment Leaders, You Need… 1, 2, 3You need to seriously accelerate effective tech adoption in your business – now is the time!Look at your tech stack– is it delivering value to you, or just the people you bought it from?Look at your processes - are they clear enough for remote workers to adopt, managers to manage, and where possible, to automate?Admit that your staff are extremely unlikely to ask for help in the current market. It is too risky to admit a lack of skill? Be the leader and get them trained.If the rest of 2020 is about linking your systems, data, processes and people, imagine what 2021 could be like!Watch the Rec2020 Webinar HereHIIT Us, Recruiters!Could you save an hour a day, and make an extra £18,750 a year (or £187,500 if there are 10 of you?)Our high intensity interval training - Recruitment HIIT - helps recruiters source, convert quicker and develop healthy pipelines with Adapt, Bullhorn, LinkedIn, Job Adverts, Inbound Sales, Digital and Email Marketing. We aim to save every recruiter at least 1 hour per day - more billing time, more fees!TRY RECRUITMENT HIITREAD ABOUT OUR RECRUITMENT TRAININGBOOK A CALL TO DISCUSS RECRUITMENT TRAINING
-
Blog
Bullhorn Sourcing Tip for the Best Located Candidates
Recruiters! It’s frustrating spending 13 hours a week sourcing! (UK Average!) Plus, then thinking you’ve found the perfect candidate, only to realise that they live on the wrong side of the Thames or they’d need to take a literal ferry across the Mersey to make it to work every day.This Bullhorn sourcing tip is for recruiters who need an alternative to the radius search, and a speedier approach for the 73% of you who tell me that you're suffering a candidate shortage!Recruiters! Reduce Your Sourcing Time With this Bullhorn TipWe run the best Bullhorn Training, and create monthly Bullhorn tips to improve your speed and ROI. And we're almost about to launch our Bullhorn HIIT OnDemand training.The recruiters I train on Bullhorn love how this tip will help you get more localised results for those hard to fill jobs and ultimately help you to source and place quicker! Do you recruit for jobs in areas that render radius searching useless? Are your candidates declining roles due to distance or commute times? Do you need more time? This Bullhorn sourcing hack will show you how to: Generate a more localised candidate search Quickly rule out irrelevant candidates. Improve your sourcing time (and give you more time on the phone)!Watch this 1-Minute Bullhorn Sourcing TipOur recruitment community loves our Adapt, Bullhorn, Inbound Sales, LinkedIn, Job Adverts and recruitment training hacks. Click the links to get more, and sign up to our Recruiter Hacks Newsletter to receive them as they are published.Talking of Recruiters Saving Time...Could you save your recruiters an hour a day, and make an extra £18,750 a year (or £187,500 if there are 10 of you?)Our high intensity interval training - Recruitment HIIT- helps recruiters source, convert quicker and develop healthy pipelines with Adapt, Bullhorn, LinkedIn, Job Adverts, Inbound Sales, Digitaland Email Marketing. We aim to save every recruiter at least 1 hour per day - more billing time, more fees!TRY RECRUITMENT HIIT FOR FREEREAD ABOUT OUR BULLHORN TRAININGBOOK A CALL TO DISCUSS BULLHORN TRAINING
-
Downloads
The Adapt Playbook