Being your own boss, earning hefty commissions based on your performance, organizing your own schedule, and working with people all around the globe are just some of the benefits of becoming a recruiter in the digital age. Recruitment is indeed a fruitful career path if you have the necessary talent and skills.
However, being a recruiter in the digital age also has disadvantages, with one major – global competition.
This article will give you concrete advice to help you become a great recruiter in the digital age. We will provide you with a list of certifications and skills you can work on, tools you can use, and a plethora of actionable tips you can implement today, which will increase your chances of becoming a great recruiter and stand out from the competition. Stay tuned!
Digital recruitment – a global market with unlimited opportunities and competition
The internet allows you to sell your skills to anyone across the globe, which is both a blessing and a curse. Yes, this opens an incredible amount of opportunities, but it simultaneously offers the same opportunities to anyone else in the world.
This goes not only for the recruitment jobs but also for the talent pool you will hire for your clients. Because you will likely earn commissions only after clients hire a new employee, having global competition becomes a problem.
13+ recruiter tools that will give you an edge
You will contact all candidates and clients remotely as a digital recruiter. To ensure you stay on top of things at all times, without missing any meetings, but also without technology getting in your way, we vetted a list of tools that will serve as a backbone of your recruitment efforts:
Productivity tools
Being a recruiter in the digital age means you must stay on point and handle meetings with clients and candidates across different time zones. Staying on top of everything is a priority, as reliability is crucial for recruitment. Here are some must-have apps:
- Calendar: this goes without saying, but you won’t get too far without having a calendar. While there are dozens of apps, you can use, start simple – Google Calendar will work for most.
- Scheduling: while the calendar alone will give you a bird’s-eye view of your commitments, you should consider adding a scheduling app to your toolbox. Calendly is an excellent place to start as it integrates with almost everything, which means it will never break up your workflow.
- Project management: project management tools such as Trello or ClickUp will help you stay on top of your tasks visually, especially if you work with other people. While you can keep everything in your calendar, it’s probably better to keep the details in a to-do list or a project management tool.
- Notes: while we will cover HR tools in a bit, which will let you gather and process candidate information, you should also consider using an app such as Evernote to ensure you never forget any details. Plus, they are more convenient and let you grab notes and make changes on the go, which you can later input into the client sheets.
Communication tools
As a remote worker, it goes without saying that you should have a reliable internet connection. But, the tools you use for client and candidate communication are just as essential, as you don’t want technical limitations to interfere with interviewing:
- Video calls: we aren’t going to reinvent the wheel here – Zoom works great, integrates with plenty of other apps, and is widely used and reliable. But, you should have a secondary option ready, just in case, so consider Skype or Google Duo as a backup.
- VoIP: while using an internet phone might seem redundant when you have Zoom, it’s far from it. Candidates will leave their phone numbers in their CVs, allowing you to contact them directly without pre-scheduling anything. Plus, having VoIP caller ID will allow you to identify a candidate when they call your company, ensuring you leave a professional impression by calling them by their name.
- Team chat: it’s a good idea to get familiar with apps such as Slack, Discord, and MS Teams. They are a super effective way to communicate with other people within your team, and most companies use them.
HR tools
While you are likely to use most tools we mentioned above no matter what type of remote work you do, the ones we are about to mention will give you an edge specifically for recruiting:
- CRM: while customer relationship management (CRM) tools are primarily used for classic sales, they are excellent for recruitment too. HubSpot or Salesforce will help you keep track of all the candidates in a single place, but a plethora of sales and marketing options they offer will come in handy later too.
- HRIS: human resource information systems (HRIS) are designed specifically for HR, giving you more powerful options than classic CRMs. Any good HRIS software online you pick will allow you to streamline your whole recruitment process, including candidate information, company documents, and contracts. But, it will also help you perform other HR tasks, such as handling absences, benefits, or payrolls.
- Automation: in some cases, investing in automation tools such as chatbots and AI HR apps can make sense. However, only consider using these if you work for a huge company that handles hundreds of candidates, as they are not essential. Chatbots will help you automate candidate interactions, while AI software will speed up going through the candidate’s CVs, eliminating those that don’t fit the requirements.
Expand the list of tools along the way
Again, there’s no need to invest too much upfront. Most of the tools listed have decent free versions, and there are always budget-friendly alternatives you can try.
Also, your clients will often have their workflow and a set of tools, and some might even give you an allowance to spend on licenses. Therefore, have the basics covered, and add the rest along the way, as needed.
How to become a good recruiter: necessary education and skills
Let’s discuss education and skills you can work on to make it easier in your recruiter career. Remember, while these can make a difference, not having some of them doesn’t mean your career is over before it starts. They are only nice to have, can help further your career, and are something you should work on in the future, even if you have a job. But, most of them aren’t mandatory.
Is having a degree necessary to become a recruiter?
Having a bachelor’s degree isn’t strictly required for every recruiter role. But most job openings will at least mention it as a nice-to-have.
While you will rarely find recruitment as a BS major, recruiters are required to go through applications of candidates with various education levels. It is less likely they will understand the nuances of different levels of higher education if they don’t have similar experience themselves.
Bachelor’s degrees in social sciences, such as management, business, psychology, and marketing, are preferred. Of course, master’s degrees in human resources are ideal.
However, recruiters come from all fields, not just social sciences. Generally speaking, any bachelor’s degree will help, so don’t get discouraged if you own one that has nothing to do with social sciences.
For example, if you own an engineering degree, you will be much more suitable to recruit engineers than someone who finished sociology.
Recruitment certifications and courses
Obtaining a certificate or completing a course in HR is an excellent way to stand out and further your recruitment skills. This goes for people with a bachelor’s degree (or higher) and those that don’t have one.
As for certifications, places like HRCI, AIHR, and SHRM are all excellent places to start. These sites offer widely known certificates that can help you get hired by even the biggest companies.
The only issue is that some certifications require a bachelor’s degree, and some even require experience within HR, making them unsuitable for beginners. Plus, they are expensive.
As for the courses, places like Udemy, Skillshare, and especially Coursera will help you expand your knowledge. While they don’t have the same weight as some big-name certifications, or university degrees, they might make a difference between you and the competition, helping you get hired.
Industry-specific knowledge
If you only have a high school diploma and didn’t obtain a widely-recognized certification, it’s not the end of the world. There are other things you can do that require less time than getting a bachelor’s degree but will still leave an impact on your CV and increase your chances of becoming a recruiter.
We have already mentioned how having a bachelor’s degree in engineering isn’t useless for recruiters. The same goes for having actual experience working with engineers, even if you aren’t one.
For example, if you worked as an office clerk at a large construction company for several years, you know how a large firm works from the inside. As such, you will be an interesting candidate for HR/recruiter roles at other companies. Not to mention if you have experience going through CVs and know what a good construction engineer needs to have to get the job done.
Having relevant industry experience is often a bigger plus than having a degree/certificate with no experience at all. While it’s true that you will hardly find recruiter opportunities outside the industry, that’s only at the beginning of your recruiter career.
After you obtain actual recruitment experience, you will be able to switch industries later. Like in most other fields, after you get field-tested, your education and certifications become less important – actual experience is what counts.
Essential skills good digital recruiters have
Each field you will be working in will likely require specific skills that will be nice to have. But, generally speaking, most recruiters will do their job with more success if they have the following:
Attention to detail
Candidates within the same industry are likely to have similar degrees, certifications but also hard and soft skills. That means small details can uncover suitable candidates and red flags that can make them a big nono. Having an eye for detail will help you not to miss those.
Presentation skills
While the candidate will do most of the talking, interviewing is a two-way street. As you are likely considering other candidates, they are likely considering other companies. It’s your job to convince them that you are not just another name on their to-do list but an actual place they will want to work in and further their careers.
Good listening skills
Recruiters need to be good listeners. While you will present your company and ask questions, it is your job to get the most out of each candidate and determine if they will fit the team. Good listening skills + attention to detail will let you do just that.
Video interviewing proficiency
While listening and presentation skills are essential for interviewing, we want to emphasize the video part of the process. Speaking with a candidate in person is entirely different from doing the same thing over a web camera. Fortunately, compared to other skills, improving how you look and speak in front of a camera is much easier.
First, you should have a dedicated “interview station” in your house if you work from home. That means no pets, kids, other family members, or noisy neighbors interfering with your calls. The room should be well lit, and you should sit in front of a solid background (even if you use in-app settings to hide what’s behind you). If this is not possible, you should consider working from a coworking space or renting an office.
You should also invest in a decent webcam and a reliable headset. High-quality video and audio will ensure you present yourself and the client company in the best light possible but also allow you to hear what the candidate is speaking without missing important details.
Lastly, you should practice talking to a camera. Remember to keep your eyes on the camera when talking and when listening. Many people look at their image in the corner of the screen or start looking somewhere else when the other person starts speaking.
Negotiation skills
Having good negotiation skills is crucial for being a good recruiter. Without negotiation, you are not only going to overpay some candidates but will actually lose others, which is even worse.
Plus, the whole goal of negotiation is to make both sides happy, long-term. Without it, you will either lose excellent candidates or hire people who are not up for the challenge and might quit soon.
Great self-organization and discipline
Recruiting requires you to stay sharp while multitasking day in and day out. You will need to keep track and compare all candidates, schedule calls, and send emails at odd hours.
Learning a few time management tips and tricks can help you stay afloat, but if you are not inherently good at self-organization, you will likely have a hard time being a good recruiter.
Final words
Becoming a great digital recruiter takes talent, skills, the right attitude, and the right tools. We hope this article gave you enough resources to give you a head start in beginning your recruiting career or taking the next step and advancing it further.
But, make sure it doesn’t just stop at reading – try a few new tools we mentioned, work on your video interview skills, or even check out some of the advanced HR certificates. Remember, you are working in a global market and should always look to improve your skills, as that is the only way to stay competitive, whether you have a job or are just starting out.
