Is Training Necessary For Recruiters?

It is quite common for any professional to undergo company training for up to 6 months to a year. And by a professional, I mean any individual having a qualification along with certification in certain technical and non-technical skills. Since, recruitment is long considered a profession, many have debated on the need of training for professionals qualified under this domain.

To be precise, recruitment is a managerial function which handles the incoming of potential talent to a desired organisation. Besides, it is more or less entails inclusive activities catering to specific departments within a company. Over a period of time, recruitment, as a function underwent myriad changes. Thanks to the ever-changing technology, niche skills have paved way into the dynamic job market.

Earlier, it was just plain vanilla skills, now it has been a combination of skills to develop one niche skill in particular. For instance, DevOps niche skill could be a combination of one or more plain vanilla skill. Thus, with the introduction of custom/niche skills, the activity has become even more challenging. And to tackle such a challenge, experts believe that TRAINING is essential for recruiters.

Having realised the importance of recruitment training, Han Digital researchers decided to experiment with its own staff. They monitored a recruiter’s day-to-day activities for getting a better understanding of area in which they require training.

What they inferred from the activity log was certain recruiters weren’t in a position to interact with candidates over the phone, especially while dealing with those possessing niche skills. It was a constant verbal duel between the two entities. At one point, a frustrated recruiter decided to quit the job, given the gravity of the situation.

After deliberate research, we found the underlying reason behind why candidates prefer recruitment to other professions. Unlike other professions, they believe recruitment is an easy-going, nonchalant routine. But once an individual lands a job as a recruiter, they then realise recruitment is a profession like any other.

Recruitment, by many is also construed as an alternate career choice as many technical recruiters, who were either rejects or unfit for their respective career choices. Considering HR as a relatively “easier to perform” domain and the idea of “no other option”, many end up joining the recruitment bandwagon.

Hiring agencies, such as Han Digital, hire talent with the accepted belief that candidates have some knowledge about technical skills. However, that might not be the case. Individuals, during an interview, aren’t very honest about their inhibitions and concoct alternative career objectives to suit their current situation.

We launched a training and development programme where recruiters were given clear instructions on dealing with candidates. The training programme was divided into two parts – holistic development and functional development. Since, recruitment involves verbal comprehension and auditory processing, the session included activities pertaining to sourcing of combination and niche skills, advanced and Boolean research, phone etiquettes and email writing.

The session was conducted once in week for 30 days. After the activity, we found that recruiters performed well on the job. The ROI had significantly increased and recruiters, who were turning in 10 candidates per day were shortlisting 15-16 candidates per day for client interviews. Besides, of the 15, at least 9 would definitely make it through. Moreover, their communication and confidence level improved, and were in a position to close all positions and articulate better.

Though the debate for training in recruitment is still prevailing in the industry, Han Digital have come to an understanding that training is an absolute necessity to resolve personal and professional barriers. Training instils a sense of well-being and confidence in the minds of the recruiters. It helps break the inhibition that was preventing them from performing better. Also, constructive recruitment training with management support can definitely qualify recruitment as a serious career option and not an alternate career choice.