Recruiters Are Really Project Managers

By Jessica Miller-Merrell

The term project manager might traditionally be reserved for IT professionals, but no matter what your career path, you’re most likely also a project manager. For instance, as a marketer and strategist, I juggle multiple clients at one time. Each has different requirements, expectations and a relationship that is separate and unique. A project manager, regardless of their industry, oversees a project through the planning, tactical and measurement phases, from beginning to end. Recruiters understand this tightrope walk better than anyone else. Their title may be recruiter, but their day-to-day responsibilities center around project management.

It’s no wonder that recruiters aren’t just great at recruiting. Through an informal survey of my recruiter friends and colleagues, I found that the average recruiter is handling approximately 25 job listings a month! That means that they could be working with as many as 25 different hiring managers and around 5,000 candidates on a monthly basis. No one handles that kind of client load without some serious project management skills.

This demand on recruiters is what pushes so many to become recruiters by day and project managers by night. What I mean by this is that the workload continues on regardless of how hectic schedules become, the number of phone calls they receive in a day or how many resumes each job listing summons. Throughout a 12 month period, an average recruiter will likely oversee 300 job requisitions and handle 60,000 candidates. These numbers alone tell you that now more than ever, recruiters are master project managers as well.

From my own observations, recruiting project management consists of three key functions:

Meeting client needs

It’s clear that recruiters are there to meet the needs of those we traditionally call their clients: the hiring managers. But when we talk about meeting needs, what doesn’t come up as often is the whole other set of clients that recruiters have: candidates. It’s true that recruiters mainly focus on supporting the hiring managers, but great recruiters care about their candidates’ needs as well and have to manage concerns, expectations and hopes on both ends of the spectrum. This alone can take up an enormous amount of time, and yet many recruiters keep the balance well and develop relationships with both parties that are beneficial in the future.

Keeping an excellent calendar and staying on target

Part recruiter, part project manager, part calendar keeper. Thus is the life of a recruiter. Not only do recruiters have to manage their own calendar but they also must coordinate with candidates, hiring managers, potential candidates and many more parties. It sounds simple, but it can be challenging when you also add in the stress of sticking to a hiring timeline, staying on target and meeting goals. In order to achieve this, recruiters often have to encourage, remind and accommodate.

Playing match maker

Aside from the logistics of juggling dozens of hiring managers and hundreds of candidates, recruiters must also be skilled in making great matches. It sounds obvious, but it’s both vital and sometimes forgotten by the time you’ve completed all the administrative tasks it takes to get there. Drawing contrast from the IT world once again, it’s the same as a technology project manager also understanding the technological side of what everyone on his or her team is doing. In the recruiting world, it’s not enough to just be a great recruiter or just be an excellent project manager. You must be able to cover all the bases in order to move from project to project, researching and fulfilling the needs of all parties.

 Jessica Miller-Merrell, SPHR is a workplace and technology strategist specializing in social media. She’s is the Chief Blogger & Founder of Blogging4Jobs. You can follow her on Twitter @jmillermerrell. 

7 Ways to Help Job Candidates You Don’t Hire Before Too Much Damage Is Done

By Jessica Miller-Merrell

We’ve mentioned the power of digital storytelling as a helpful way to engage candidates and provide updated information on specific job opportunities, but job seekers remain frustrated when they are faced with unresponsiveness as the outcome from jobs they have applied for. Less than 50% of job seekers hear back from the recruiter after they’ve applied for the job.

In fact recently a big social media influencer posted on his Facebook page why he doesn’t use a particular brand for his photography needs. He publically shared his story, mentioning that three years ago when he applied for a job with “Snap Shutter,” he went on a series of interviews only to be left with zero call backs, in spite of his professional attempts to follow up.

I also know of a friend who has been on the job seeker circuit full time for almost one year. She has applied to over 100 jobs on LinkedIn. She has interviews, up to three per week. She routinely, professionally follows up with them. She has become discouraged at the lack of response recruiters have provided. She told me that only about 5% of the organizations she has interviewed with actually give her the courtesy of a response.

Be aware of damage control.

Candidates invest energy, time, and other resources like favors from friends for introductions for example. Sadly, when the interview process ends with a non-response from the recruiter or hiring manager, it is a sign of unprofessionalism and disrespect. This lack of professionalism not only damages the spirit of the job seeker, it can also damage the organization’s reputation as well as the entire recruitment industry.

How recruiters can help.

When you (the recruiter) close out that job requisition or posting in your ATS, go beyond just the average and provide job seekers with a list of valuable resources and information that’s available in your talent network or on your company careers page. Help candidates see the forest through the trees and get the job information and support they need to find the right fit for them.

1. A simple resume template and cover letter goes along way to providing job seekers while educating them on your company’s preferred resume format.
2. A career page with resources on your organization’s web site. Ideas could include:
• FAQ and responses for the job seeker
• Quotes on what recruiters like from job seekers
• Testimonies from interns or staff on how they acquired a job
3. Industry information and resources like oil and gas.
4. Free career classes and readiness training online. When recruiters are actively providing webinars and special training like Google Plus hangouts, it provides a great rapport that can have lasting effects with fostering strong ongoing relationships with candidates.
5. Offer to recommend introductions to the candidates and key partners within your reciprocal sourcing network.
6. When corresponding via email, be personable. Don’t rely on automated responses for the candidates.
7. Tell the candidate in person or by phone that the job is no longer available

These tips may seem simple, so simple that you may not consider them important. However, when you empathize with the candidates and understand how unpredictable and frightening the job seeking-circuit can be, especially when they are often left disconnected and in the dark, hopefully you will extend a hand to show some support. These suggestions will not only help the job seeker, they will also provide value to you as a recruiter as you build your network for future hiring needs. In addition, this effort will lead to a return on investment to your organization’s brand and the reputation of the recruiting industry as a whole.

Jessica Miller-Merrell, SPHR is a workplace and technology strategist specializing in social media. She’s is the Chief Blogger & Founder of Blogging4Jobs. You can follow her on Twitter @jmillermerrell.