What do you need to do to become a world-class 360 recruiter? | Part 2 of 3

Welcome back to part two of our three-part series on how to become a world-class 360 recruiter.

In our last edition we spoke all about the technical elements that you need to master, here’s a quick recap if you missed it:

• Work on your business development

• Make your introduction short, sharp and personal

• Create a “hook” in the conversation

• Look at your time management and prioritisation

• Have a plan when mapping your market

• And finally, make sure that you’re building your online brand (using LinkedIn).

This week, we are focussed all on mindset.

Long-term subscribers of this newsletter will know how much we love to talk about mindset, and how it plays such a huge part in your success as a recruiter.

Let’s start off with how you approach 360 recruitment internally

Too often when we think of 360 recruitment, we think about how you approach it from an external perspective.

How you build lists, how you present yourself to prospective clients and how you win those first few roles.

However, if you only shift your mindset towards BD externally, you’re missing out on a ton of opportunity and low-hanging fruit internally.

Internal stakeholder management is crucial for your business development for three key reasons:

It shows that you’re thinking about the business. 

Internal stakeholders have a lot of say in how the business progresses and performs, and interacting with stakeholders and talking to them about business development shows that you’re looking through a team lens rather than a personal lens.

Although business development is personal, and ultimately, you’re doing it to impact you, you want to be clever about how you approach business development and also ensure that it’s a win for the business not just a win for you.

It enables you to showcase your strategic thinking. 

Not every single account will enable you to win the best terms.

So, if you need a senior stakeholder to sign off your terms - then you need to start thinking like a stakeholder and showcase your strategic thinking.

If you’ve already started to build good relationships with them, you can then begin to build valuable business case studies which will enable you to win more business as a by-product.

It creates a strong internal brand for you. 

Don’t be that recruiter that just sits behind their desk and isn’t involved with senior leaders in the business (who can help you to get a foot in the door for those first few clients).

Ask questions, show interest, and build an internal brand for you whereby people know your passion for business development.

Cross-selling

Most recruitment companies nowadays have rigorous commission structures that encourage cross-selling, and it can be an excellent way to boost your business development and get your foot in the door with clients.

Even if you aren’t placing someone for your vertical just yet.

Cross-selling also feeds into the earlier point about stakeholder management and having a strong internal brand.

If people see you as someone who is a team player (who would have thought it in recruitment!) then they’re going to want to work with you, they’re going to trust you, and they’re also going to want to see you win.

This opens up more opportunities for business but also more opportunities for meetings. Business development shouldn’t be seen as a “lone wolf” activity.

Instead, it should be seen as a team effort to ensure that multiple people in the business can benefit.

No one can manage a huge account on their own - so start cross-selling and creating great internal relationships where you support each other.

Now, let’s look at the external mindset shift you need to adopt…

Aside from the obvious - which is that your clients are candidates and your candidates are clients, there is one singular mindset shift that you can make, which will enable the transition from 180 to 360 to become much easier over time.

It’s what we call being a consultant.

Although the bottom line is that you’re a recruiter - this definition can bring limitations for those trying to break free from a 180 mindset.

A 180 mindset is excellent for those who are in resourcing roles - as by and large - you are a recruiter!

You’re searching for individuals for roles.

However, becoming a 360 recruiter sometimes makes us see it as two separate things.

BD and candidate sourcing, when the reality is that you are, in essence, a business consultant.

You solve problems for both parties and you must create a connection between the two to have success.

If you see business development and candidate sourcing as two separate activities and entities, then it can be difficult for you to kick-start your desk and also become a trusted advisor to clients.

Zooming out and seeing the bigger picture is what a true consultant can do - so try to shift your mindset and think of yourself as a consultative problem solver rather than a 360 recruiter.

For example, let’s say the client is struggling to find two specialist engineers.

A 360 Recruiter would say “OK” and go to market, find those two candidates and fill the role.

There’s nothing wrong with this, but it’s transactional, and it’s not consultative or really solving the problem.

A Consultant would say “OK” and go to market, find the two candidates and fill the role.

But, they would also dive deep into why that client found it so hard to find that talent and they may even ask what other areas of the business are struggling and why.

A consultant would go into the office to get a feel for the culture and organisational structure, as well as meet with more than just the hiring manager to embed themselves within the organisation and make a difference.

A consultant would also provide resources and advice as a follow-up to ensure that the client would want to use them again in the future.

The mindset of a 360 consultant is abundance. 

There is an abundance of opportunities out there to win - but there’s also an abundance of opportunity with one client, which is why you should nurture and dive deep into every relationship you have to guarantee the most success.