Congratulations on finally deciding to become an HR recruiter! You’re now part of the one of the most rewarding yet frustrating professions in the world. Onto the next item on your list: becoming a virtual recruitment specialist who clients rely on for their hiring needs.

What makes an excellent recruiter though? Not only do they perform their daily tasks well but also they ensure their employer attracts and keeps good workers. They don’t have to come from an HR background, though it pays to have a wide range of skills.

Recruitment specialist skills to foster

Recruiting is a competitive industry. For this reason, you have to constantly hone your skills to stay ahead of your competitors. You must possess a combination of soft and hard skills, including the following we discuss below.

1. Marketing

Sourcing top talent in this labour market is hard. The number of job openings is greater than the number of candidates, especially for technology and other technical fields. This means applicants are going to bide their time in choosing who to apply for.

A remote recruitment specialist must know how to sell the company and the position to job seekers through a variety of marketing techniques.

2. Relationship building

HR recruiting means maintaining a relationship between a company and a candidate. Like with a sales funnel, it takes more than one touchpoint to close a purchase. Use email automation to start a relationship with applicants and build some rapport with personalised messages.

Recruitment specialist skills related to relationship building are useful for showing off employer brand and creating a positive experience for candidates.

3. Multitasking

Hiring is a time-consuming process with many steps involved. You have to publish job listings, screen candidates, hold interviews, consult with your client, and so on. There’s a lot going on between posting an ad and filling the vacancy.

A great HR recruiter is capable of juggling different tasks at the same time, all the while excelling in each of them.

4. Patience

Dealing with both companies and applicants requires a good amount of patience. A simple task such as scheduling a video interview may get frustrating. You might struggle to decide on a time that works for both you and the candidate, for instance.

A virtual recruitment specialist has to be patient when facing all kinds of people, especially when you’re negotiating terms and conditions for employment.

5. Communication

Regardless of the role you’re trying to fill, remember that you act as the bridge between an employer and an applicant. The impression you leave will either attract or repel people from applying. When you aren’t mindful about communicating, top talent might leave the recruitment process in the middle.

Communication counts as one of the most important recruitment specialist skills, and it’s highly critical for fields like IT which tends to have introverted applicants.

6. Time management

There’s a limited amount of hours per day so there’s only so much you can do within a single shift. There are times when companies want a position to be filled quickly. In that case, you have to arrange your schedule well and get everything done as efficiently as possible.

A remote recruitment specialist has to be particularly mindful of their time since there won’t be a manager to physically supervise them to finish their tasks.

7. Trust

This is one of the must-have recruitment specialist skills, especially for generalist recruiters. There are going to be cases wherein you have to hire for a role you have little knowledge or experience in. Then, you need to be confident about candidates when endorsing them.

There is no space for hesitation in HR recruiting as, if you keep second-guessing applicants, you will never be able to fill that vacancy.

8. Listening

As a virtual recruiter, you have to carefully listen to the needs and requirements of your client to know what kind of applicants to entertain. At the same time, you must listen to the candidates about their work history, experience, and knowledge to properly evaluate them.

Learn to actively listen to both clients and candidates to determine if they will be a good match for each other or not.

9. Productiveness

Often, businesses rely on recruiters to hire a certain amount of people by a certain date. This means they won’t choose someone who bides their time to finish tasks. They prefer a recruitment specialist who hits their numbers and finishes their to-do lists.

Being target-driven is crucial when you have time-sensitive assignments to finish or when you have a quota to meet, therefore hone this skill.

10. IT

A basic understanding of recruitment software and other tools will go a long way for your success. Know your way around different programs made specially for recruiting. This also gives you a better idea about programming, web design, systems administration, and the like when you’re hiring for them.

Make good use of the recruitment tools available to you so it’s easier to track applicants, gather data, and endorse them to companies.

Improving your recruitment specialist skills

Having the gift of gab and knowing your way around recruitment software, there are a few skills that a recruiter must possess to succeed in the industry. Here are ideas on how you may hone your recruitment skills.

• Get some HR-specific education, especially when you come from an unrelated field such as nursing.
• Make the application and recruitment process easier for applicants by simplifying the steps.
• Keep the interviews as short yet concise as possible so you don’t take up too much of their time.
• Maintain open lines of communication so applicants know where they are in the hiring process.
• Look beyond resumes and portfolios as plenty of people have the potential despite zero experience.

Find work as an HR recruiter

If you believe that you have the above skills in your arsenal already, you may proceed to applying as a virtual recruiter. Recruitment may be frustrating but it’s also a very rewarding field. It feels good to help people find their dream jobs and companies find top talents.

Don’t know where to begin your search for HR-related jobs? We at Remote Workmate may have the answer for you. Being an offshore staffing agency, we are connected to clients from around the globe—some of them are looking for recruitment specialists like you!