It’s no secret: recruiters meet lots and lots of people for a living and put them in touch with job opportunities. For some, completing the daily activities of the position can feel like routine and it can loose its appeal over the years. That’s why recruiters need to start considering ways to spice up their different tasks, starting with networking. Keep reading to find out how to turn work into a social party and never feel like you’re working again!
What networking and recruiting have in common
In some ways, networking is already a lot like recruitment. In networking, it’s all about interacting with others to exchange information and develop professional or social contacts. The only difference with recruitment is that you’re doing it for someone else and not for yourself. Where others find that every second conversation is irrelevant for their future, a recruiter will almost certainly always have a profile in mind for any encounter. Meet a big company CEO looking for an engineer? You’ll have a profile for that. Meet a start-up founder seeking a software developer? You’ve got this convered!
The other advantage of networking is that you can think about yourself. If you do find opportunities which appeal to you, you can give out your own business card too. The fine line leaves a lot of room for flexibility and future prospects.
How you can network
Attending others events
For most people, finding the right event can be tricky. In fact, finding an event at all can be a part of the mystery! In an age of technology and apps, it’s actually much easier than you might think. Eventbrite, for instance, lets companies, associations and all kinds of people organise their get-togethers. These can be online or in person and they can be on any kind of topic or for any occasion.
As a recruiter, you have clients in your contact list and you have an easy pitch into meeting more. All you need to do is explain how much value you can bring to the company! So, research the events on their calendar and ask for your well-deserved invite. You can also encourage companies to create events, if the idea doesn’t occur to them, so that you can bring in fresh talent and meet some more.
Finally, there are more and more recruitment night events, just for people like you!
Creating your own
And when all else fails, there’s really no reason for you not to organise your very own networking event! As we said before, the online option could be a way to start since you don’t need a hall or privatised bar. Then, as you gain confidence and a reputation, you can set up social business shindigs all over town! As you discover talent and job opportunities for your clients, you can also discover all the hot places around your city.
Who you can meet
Network with jobseekers
We have touched on the kind of people you can hope to meet but let us tell you a bit more about each category. As a recruiter, you have to have a very big database of people looking for work or looking for better work. At networking events, you can meet both people who know they want a new job as well as those who haven’t thought of it… yet. Maybe they don’t have all the right perks or the right salary and you can be the one to open their eyes to that. Not only is it advantage for you to tap into undiscovered talent, but it’s really rewarding to know you’ve made someone’s life better before they became unhappy in their current situation.
Network with companies
Much like jobseekers, companies can also have needs they haven’t realised. When you attend a networking event for a specific company, try to figure out what positions they have, what positions they could create and you can even see if there are some unsatisfied employees. With the information you gain from the event, you can bring advice (and candidates) to the company at a later date.
For companies that do know they have positions to fill, you might actually be able to find out about the openings before they’ve been structured in writing or put online.
Network with other recruiters
Finally, networking events are also there for you to meet other great recruiters, like yourself. By expanding your recruiter network, you can have access to an even bigger jobseeker database. You can learn from other recruiters’ tricks and you might even hear about other business opportunities from recruiters who can’t take on the extra work. When you’re collaborating with people in the same industry, there is a real “you scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours” dynamic. This can translate into filling positions faster, making more of a profit and having more time to relax.
So, what are you waiting for? START NETWORKING!
Author: Ali Neill
As the job board tester and blog editor for the Jobboard Finder, Ali works on job boards from all around the world and keeps a close eye on the recruitment trends thanks to a number of sources, including the website’s social media pages.
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