I think the life of a recruiter is severely misunderstood by those who would possibly want to step into the world of recruitment, candidates as well as clients.
Recently, I have found my socials to be focused on what is said about recruiters or what recruiters in all sorts of industries might be saying themselves, and the message often gets distorted.
Recruiters are seen as the filter between client and candidate, which we are, but it isn’t meant to give us a sense of ‘power’. There is no pedestal for a recruiter to sit on. We do not create jobs, nor do we really have any effect on the unemployment rate.
The sole core of recruitment is to build relationships of trust with our clients and candidates and reach out to those who might not have been given a second thought without us. We’re here to get passionate and talented individuals a chance where they thought they might not have one.
On the other hand, we aren’t miracle workers and do have requirements needing to be abided by.
Recruitment.
While we all work from home and have flexibility in our positions, our days are often jam-packed in your standard 09h00 – 17h00 routine. We also have candidates traveling far and wide for job interviews and need to be on call, from start to finish. We always say hospitality never stops, and neither does recruitment.
We have a few different platforms used to keep track of it all. Let’s work on an average of 3-4 candidates per vacancy and keep in mind Wild Dreams holds a steady average of 140 vacancies at any given time – that’s a whopping 420 – 560 candidates to keep track of whilst getting back to all applicants on a daily basis.
Not too long ago, we advertised a vacancy for a new member to join our team (welcome Zama!) and had a rather large amount of applicants applying for this position on a part-time basis. You would have to be a superhuman to pull that off.
Even though we’re spread out all over the country, we stay connected as a team. If the day allows, we try and co-work on online platforms and have weekly meets. In saying that, there are days where all of us are absolutely glued to our keyboards for a solid 5-8 hours.
Our days are filled with connection and compassion.
We receive about 15-25 applications to our database daily and average 90-100 emails in our inbox at any given time. Many of us move correspondence over to Whatsapp once the interviewing process begins – that’s a lot of comms! It gives you a bit of a better idea of the number of people we deal with, knowing we do not miss a single soul and ALL are responded to. Knowing full well we aren’t always able to assist, but there’s always hope for the future.
I am in a position where I correspond with our clients as well, and while I might not like all of them – I have met some proper gems. Luckily for me, I deal mostly with HR and they’re kind of like the Canadians of hospitality. Always warm, helpful, and compassionate.
The best part of all this is building lasting relationships, both with clients and candidates alike. It’s important to remember mutual respect in these relationships and be mindful of the pressure clients might be under or the anxiety the candidate might be dealing with.
Let’s talk about the skill!
We often write “must work well under pressure” in our job listings. While it might be an overused requirement in most positions, recruitment gives it a whole new meaning. We work on a number of different platforms ranging from your good old Microsoft and Gmail Suite, to social platforms, to team communication platforms, to design platforms plus our website and database.
There’s a lot of emotion that goes into recruitment, mostly from our candidates who are either desperate to finally get that foot in the door or uncontainably excited to step up in their careers. The highs and lows of it all does a toll on you and we have to manage that.
Our team has in-depth experience in all departments of hospitality, and has a keen understanding of what it takes to be successful in our fast-paced industry.
Lastly, ya need thick skin and move on! Our compassion sometimes leads us to feel what our candidates might be going through when they just can’t seem to put one foot forward. The skill here is to learn when to try harder and when to let go, knowing our limits.
