The Discipline of Knowledge

Organizations require recruiters have a deep understanding of the talent landscape. However, my experience has shown most recruiters talk a big game about being “talent experts” but rarely back it up with meaningful knowledge or thoughtful insight.

Average recruiters support their fluff market assessments with anecdotal evidence. For example, how many times have we heard a recruiter say a position can’t be filled because the compensation is not competitive? However, when pushed the reality is much different. Typically, this evaluation is based on conversations with 2 or 3 candidates who said they aren’t interested in the position in part due to compensation. That’s a much different version of the story.

Professional recruiters dig deeper and know more. They have a disciplined process to gain valuable, competitive knowledge about the individuals and companies in their industry and know when the timing is right to reach out.

As a recruiting leader, have you asked your recruiters how much they really know about the market? Are they able to provide actionable insight that drives differentiated talent attraction strategies? Can they speak to your company and competitors like a candidate might?

My contention is simple. To claim talent expertise, recruiters need to have a prescriptive process by which they continually learn and deepen their insight into the market. They have a disciplined approach to attaining knowledge.

Here are some ideas on how a recruiter can genuinely connect to their targeted communities of talent in a way that is disciplined, leading to differentiated insight. Simply monitoring your reviews on Indeed and Glassdoor won’t cut it.

Google Alerts. This is the easiest way to keep track of anything. Set up alerts about your competitors, promotion and hiring announcements, and client successes. This is a good way to simply know what’s going on.
Monthly, Quarterly and Annual talent landscape review meetings. Set up meetings with your team and assign each recruiter specific competitors to report on. If your competitors are publicly held have recruiters read and summarize 10-K and 10-Q filings as well as listen in on quarterly investor calls.
Gathering and sharing content gained from candidate conversations. Recruiters should be speaking to competitor talent regularly. What are they learning? What are they asking? Share these lessons learned with others on the recruiting team and with leadership. Occasionally you’ll learn something about which they have no idea (acquisition, new product launch, etc.), and you look like a hero.
Track WARN (Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification) notices. Layoffs are part of the talent landscape today. While unfortunate, there are several services that track and report out on all mass lay off instances across the country.
Join social media groups and influencers where your talent hangs out. This is a good way to track the “rumor mill,” but your job is to simply listen. Avoid the temptation to respond to negative comments about your company.
Local business journals. Industry publications. Read anything and everything possible. Learning about new, innovative industry trends allows you to have meaningful conversations with your candidates. When done well recruiters end up educating candidates on something new, and they won’t forget it.

Skilled, professional recruiters are curious and constant learners with a deep knowledge of talent trends and demonstrated industry-level expertise. Their value is measured in both delivering great talent and serving as an external radar for their organization. None of this is done by accident. Great recruiters thrive on knowledge, and that knowledge is obtained through process.