In the talent market today, attracting top talent takes honing many skills: sourcing, interviewing, building rapport, handling objections, and negotiating come to mind. But what about the psychological aspect?
As a recruiter, recruiting leader, and training facilitator, I’ve experienced how mindset, curiosity, and grit play a large role in a recruiter’s effectiveness and ultimately their success. That’s why at Butler Street we address the psychological aspects of the job with The Four Cornerstones of Success®.
So, what are Cornerstones and how do they apply to recruiting?
The first two are focused on getting your mind right.
1. Attitude
Whether you think you can or you think you can’t, you are right.
Everything starts with your attitude. Effective Recruiters approach challenges – market conditions, new skill sets, new technology, client expectations, tight candidate markets – with a positive attitude. They expect to succeed.
Attitude is the #1 predictor of success. It also determines how we react to setbacks, challenges, and failure. Common occurrences in recruiting!
How would you or your recruiters respond to:
A candidate withdrawing their acceptance at the last minute?
The competition winning the placement?
A difficult search that requires finding candidates in new ways?
We have two choices. We can accept failure as inevitable and make excuses (more about that in the next Cornerstone) or adopt the mindset of a “successful failure”, which says,
I never lose; I either win or learn.
A positive attitude in the face of failure determines how quickly you can recover, make the adjustments and get back to recruiting.
2. Personal Accountability
Have you ever heard yourself or a Recruiter say:
I’d be successful if…
candidates weren’t making so much money from unemployment
these clients would respond faster
our technology wasn’t so slow
my sales partners would give me better orders
We call these “socially acceptable excuses,” and they are prevalent because they seem quite reasonable. Instead of excuses, a recruiter who takes personal accountability asks, “What could I have done differently? What adjustments will I make to my process or approach next time?” Basically, taking responsibility for the things that are in your control and refusing to play the blame game.
The second two Cornerstones are all about getting your actions right.
3. Perseverance
Perseverance is a little “if at first you don’t succeed, try again,” but it is also about continuous improvement. At Butler Street, we like to say,
Progressive improvement is better than postponed perfection.
Progressive improvement is:
trying a video job posting and not waiting until you have a state-of-the-art production studio
writing a new voicemail script, and trying it, even though it is out of your comfort zone
sharing relevant LinkedIn content once a week consistently versus never sharing because you don’t have time to post every day
If we wait until conditions are perfect, we won’t take action. (See related blog - How To Defeat The Villain of Today).
4. Habit
The last of The Four Cornerstones is Habit. Successful recruiters are in the habit of doing things that unsuccessful recruiters are not.
In the habit of:
documenting candidate interviews
reviewing and responding to applicants, referrals and leads
asking for referrals after every placement
practicing The Four Cornerstones
Effective recruiters recognize the habits they need to be successful and find ways to develop them.
Living the Four Cornerstones of Success® every day will develop recruiters who are persistent, resilient, continuous learners.
Butler Street’s highly interactive, virtual trainings begin with The Four Cornerstones. Our Recruiting Effectiveness vILT builds essential skills to differentiate your brand in the marketplace, attract top talent, build lasting candidate relationships and manage client interactions. Contact us about custom and standard individual and group options.
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