Why It’s a Must for a Recruiter to Have Experience in the Role They’re Recruiting For
There are many reasons why the recruiting industry has been in desperate need of a major overhaul, re-think, and re-visit for many years now. This article focuses on one of those many reasons: too many recruiters today lack even a day of experience in the role they are responsible for recruiting.
Based on my 20+ years of partnering with recruiting agencies while working in and leading marketing departments, and speaking with hundreds of recruiters while in the job marketing myself, I can count on one hand how many recruiters had even a day of experience in the marketing industry.
So let’s get to it! Below are just a few reasons why it is not a nice to have but essential to have a recruiter with several years of experience in the role they are recruiting for.
Able to Better Relate to, and Better Communicate, the Job Requirements
Nobody has better understanding of the job requirements, necessary hard and soft skills, responsibilities, qualifications, and day-to-day nuances of a role than a person who actually has spent years in the real-world trenches of that role. That’s indisputable.
This type of recruiter can far better assess candidates/resumes which plays a significant factor in finding the best candidates. Moreover, the recruiter with years of role experience is a much bigger asset to both the companies and candidates s/he serves than recruiters with little to no role experience. This, too, is undeniable.
Far Superior Screening Process and Interviews
After today’s placement-driven, overwhelmed ‘recruiting machines’ lean on easily manipulated applicant tracking systems and/or AI to spit out keyword-stuffed resumes, they then have a handful to review. But without any real-world experience in the role they are recruiting for, I would imagine they all pretty much look the same to these recruiters.
Recruiters with real-world role experience see resumes and things on a resume a recruiter with no real-world experience simply do not and cannot see. Real-world experience recruiters are far better equipped to not only identify superior candidate resumes but also conduct a far superior interview….asking the right, better, and more relevant questions than there zero role experience counterparts.
All of this reduces the likelihood of making the wrong hire, lowers a company’s turnover ratio, and saves the hiring company a lot of money, time, and aggravation.
Establishing Superior Credibility with Candidates
Who would you prefer to interview you? A recruiter with many years in the role you are interviewing for or an out-of-touch lifelong recruiter with little, if any, experience in the role you are interviewing for? The answer is logical, right?
Bottom line, candidates are much more likely to trust and open up to recruiters with real-world role experience. Candidates are more apt to get far better, more thorough, more insightful, and much more accurate answers to their questions too because the recruiter and candidate are speaking the same language.
Reduced Time-to-Hire
Real-world role experience recruiters can source and screen candidates much more efficiently and effectively because, unlike no role experience recruiters, they are much more confident they know a great candidate when they speak to one. This reduces the time it takes to fill open roles and saves the company time and money.
A Far Better Asset to Hiring Managers
Recruiters with real-world role experience are much better assets to hiring managers than their no real-world experience counterparts. The former can speak from a position of real-world experience in the trenches and much more knowledgeably. They can provide the hiring manager valuable insights into the candidate pool and offer superior recommendations a recruiter with no role experience ever could.
A Much Better Candidate Experience
Of all my hundreds of interviews with recruiters while in the job market over the years, maybe five had spent years in the marketing trenches like me. And WOW!, what a huge difference this made. Far better, more robust interviews; able to answer my questions based on their years of experience in the same/similar role; and unmatched insights into the role. A true night-and-day experience. And they were much, much more empathetic and not one ever ghosted me.
Because finding the right recruiter today is more critical than ever, companies need never accept hiring a lifelong recruiter with little, if any, experience in the role you are hiring them to recruit for. Companies are truly being short-changed if they do.
As you can see, hiring a recruiter with real-world role experience is crucial and so much more beneficial on so many levels. They offer unmatched advantages a recruiter who lacks real-world role experience can ever provide even if they wanted to. Their unmatched understanding of the job role and requirements, the superior asset they are to hiring managers, their ability to provide a much better candidate experience, and the superior interviews they compassionately conduct are just a few reasons why companies need to make the smarter decision to only hire recruiters with real-world role experience.
A Bit About Periphery Staffing Solutions
Periphery Staffing Solutions specializes in identifying, screening, and placing marketing and IT candidates at all levels and areas. Our recruiters have decades of experience of working in and leading marketing and IT departments for national and international brands. We are truly passionate about marketing, IT, staying current with these dynamic industries, and what we do. We value building and nurturing close, genuine, strategic relationships with our clients and candidates just as much as making a successful placement.
We’re here when you’re ready!
Christian DeGobbi
Founder and Marketing Recruitment Lead
201.446.2217