6 In-Demand Recruiter Skills

Being an effective recruiter requires blending communication skills with technical know-how and a talent for making connections. If you’re a people person with a taste for data and an analytical approach to life, recruiting might be the perfect role for you. Discover six essential skills you’ll want to develop to put you on the right track to a career in recruiting.

1. Core competencies in recruitment

Recruiters are typically the go-to people for every step along the recruitment pathway, from finding candidates all the way through negotiating contracts. This means that as a recruiter, you need a range of skills, from those rooted in technology and facts to those based on clear communication. Explore some of these specific skills below.

Sourcing and talent acquisition

Recruiters are sometimes referred to as talent acquisition specialists because this is such an important part of their jobs [1]. Effective recruiters are adept at reaching out to active job seekers and individuals who may not necessarily be looking for work, the so-called passive job seekers. Learn how to promote openings on job boards, through college and university placement services and professional associations, and advertise effectively on social media channels, and you’ll be well on your way to developing the skills employers seek in recruiters.

Resume screening and evaluation

Many major corporations use an Applicant Tracking System (ATS), an automated program, to conduct the first pass through a stack of incoming resumes. As a recruiter, you’ll want to know how to operate such systems and, even more importantly, how to configure them to search for the specific skills, certifications, and experiences the company seeks.

Evaluating resumes involves human intelligence, which allows for a more thoughtful approach, but it can also introduce biases. You’ll want to know how to develop rubrics to simplify the hiring team’s review of candidates while avoiding anything that might affect hiring decisions, such as a candidate’s gender or race.

Interviewing techniques

Being a good interviewer is one of the most essential recruiter skills. Fortunately, if you focus on being prepared and putting candidates at ease, you’ll find that each interview will make you feel more and more confident about your abilities. Work with management and other members of the hiring committee to determine the topics you want to explore and the characteristics you’re looking for; develop a basic approach to the interview using this information. Make sure you know the types of questions you can and can’t ask. Use the same approach with all candidates and make sure it is structured to give individuals a chance to express themselves.

Candidate relationship management

Recruiters with a comprehensive understanding of what it takes to build, maintain, and nurture a healthy pipeline of job candidates provide their employers with a valuable service and stand out from the crowd. Developing this understanding means you’ll want to be familiar with current best practices with Customer Relations Management (CRM) software and solid communications skills. You’ll also want to prepare for the impact of Artificial Intelligence (AI) on the field.

2. Communication and interpersonal skills

Even with ATS, CRM, AI, and multiple assessment instruments, excellent communication and interpersonal skills are essential recruiter skills. Fortunately, you don’t have to be born with them. You can enhance your abilities by actively working on them and polishing the skills identified below.

Active listening and empathy

Outstanding recruiters need to know all about their candidates and the jobs they’re placing them in. They gain this essential knowledge by being good listeners. Hone your active listening skills by using body language to establish a connection, concentrating on what the other person says, and letting them know you understand what they’re saying. Summarize their position and feelings in your own words. Then, ensure you got everything right by asking the other person if you did. 

Negotiation and persuasion skills

Negotiating is involved in multiple aspects of a recruiter’s daily practice. A recruiter negotiates with job candidates over job offers. A recruiter also negotiates with businesses to determine what the scope of those offers is and who receives them. You can build your skill as a negotiator through preparation, active listening, and always remembering that the goal is to create a win-win situation for all involved.

Building rapport with candidates

Recruiters and candidates need to feel that they understand and trust each other. Understanding candidates will help you direct them to their best job choices and contribute to the best hiring decisions for your organization. When candidates feel recruiters understand them, they are more likely to be forthcoming and frank, which makes the process simpler for everyone. Candidates are willing to consider your recommendations if you have a good rapport. Put time, energy, and thoughtfulness into establishing these relationships, and you may see substantial benefits for your career.

3. Understanding of the hiring landscape

Recruiters need to know the lay of the land if they want to operate effectively. Building the skills described below can help you learn to assess the environment in which you’re working.

Knowledge of industry trends

A keen awareness of the different forces affecting your industry is another vital recruiter skill you can develop with practice. The key is doing your research on an ongoing basis using high-tech resources and personal and professional networks. You’ll see that your knowledge of your industry grows daily the more closely you keep in touch with colleagues, competitors, and customers and the more you monitor social media and online resources.

Familiarity with job market dynamics

The one thing you can count on when it comes to the job market is that it will change, eventually. Effective recruiters strive to stay on top of these changes because knowing whether the market favors candidates or employers will affect how you do your job. Monitor key sites, such as the US Bureau of Labor Statistics and the Occupational Outlook Handbook, to stay current [2].

Understanding employer branding

Matching the right candidate with the right employer is one of the most important things you can do as a recruiter. Having a good sense of the company’s mission, values, and culture will help you determine if a specific candidate will be a good fit. To get a sense of the employer’s brand, make a point of connecting with staff and management.

4. Data-driven decision-making

Technology can provide you with multiple tools you can use to evaluate and enhance your effectiveness in key aspects of your work, from recruiting to selection. It can also help you save employers money and time and improve the process for candidates. Developing the skills described below can help prepare you to be an effective recruiter.

Utilizing recruitment metrics

Recruitment metrics are data points that measure different aspects of the recruiting process, from how long it takes to fill a position to the cost-effectiveness of different platforms for advertising positions. Learning how to analyze this data can help you hire more quickly, save money on the hiring process, and become a more effective recruiter all around.

Analyzing candidate data

Knowing how candidates feel about their recruiting experience with your company is important because their responses could make it easier or harder for you to recruit top candidates in the future. Data on the number of applicants who don’t complete the process, how long the process takes, and the percentage of candidates who turn down job offers can tell you how you’re doing and show you where you need to improve.

Reporting and forecasting hiring needs

Recruiters can use data to help them see what aspects of the recruitment process need improvement, such as how much it costs to hire someone. Analyzing data can help you determine what your hiring needs will be and how many positions you will need to fill. When you learn how to use these recruiting tools, you can take steps to address weaknesses before they become problems and plan ahead for recruiting needs.

5. Legal and ethical knowledge

You’ll want to keep the recruitment process thorough and efficient while ensuring you don’t violate any local, state, or national laws that regulate the hiring process and protect people from discrimination. Building the skills described below can help you reduce legal peril for yourself and your company.

Understanding employment laws

Becoming familiar with local, state, and national laws that prevent job discrimination against older adults, people with disabilities, people of all backgrounds, and more will help you develop interview questions that reduce your risk of legal jeopardy. 

Promoting diversity and inclusion

Improving diversity and inclusion is now a priority in the workplace, and you’ll have a big role to play in developing a more equitable workplace. Learning best practices, such as how to craft a non-gender-specific job description and instituting training programs to help hiring teams root out their unconscious biases, can help you make your company a great place to work for everyone.

Ethical recruitment practice

Ethical issues can crop up at many points in the recruitment process. You may have to deal with uncomfortable situations, such as pressure to be less than honest in a job advertisement or to release a candidate’s information without permission. Be aware of the pitfalls, but try committing to and consistently practicing the highest ethical standards. This can help you build a stellar professional reputation.

6. Familiarity with ATS

According to recent research, 90 percent of Fortune 500 companies use ATS [3]. Becoming familiar with these systems and understanding what they can and can’t do may help you be a more effective recruiter.

Using recruitment software and tools

ATS can save you substantial amounts of time by taking on tasks such as screening resumes, recording candidate data, scheduling interviews, maintaining contact with applicants, and generating process reports. Learning how to use these tools can give you more time to use your analytic skills to select the best candidates.

Leveraging social media for recruitment

Learning how to use social media effectively is one of the most important and versatile recruiter skills you can develop. Enhance your skills in promoting your company’s brand by sharing online content, connecting with job hunters and colleagues on sites such as LinkedIn, and reaching out to potential candidates, which can help you build a track record of accomplishments.

How to gain more recruiter skills

Scores of skills come into play to make a successful recruiter, which gives you multiple ways to build out your personal portfolio of accomplishments. If you’re interested in improving your skills, you could set aside time daily to follow what experts are saying and stay up to date with what’s going on in the industry, seek training online through courses and webinars, and network with colleagues to hone your skills and get their responses to your job performance. 

In fact, with such plentiful opportunities, it’s helpful to be strategic about your professional development choices. Consider the types of work that really excite you and take a look at your career goals. Ask yourself what recruiter skills you need to add to your repertoire to be an ace in your next position, determine the best platform for you right now, and pick the approach that’s right for you.

Putting your skills into practice

No matter what kind of job you currently have, you can still try practicing your recruiter skills every day by, for example, practicing active listening with your coworker or building rapport with colleagues waiting for the elevator. You can use your own career goals as a motivator to explore job market dynamics or practice interviewing techniques with a friend who is also interested in professional growth.

Excel as a recruiter with Coursera

You will use a wide variety of skills every day in your work as a recruiter, such as:

• Reviewing resumes

• Interviewing candidates

• Monitoring job market dynamics

• Analyzing recruitment metrics 

• Promoting equitable hiring practices

• Using ATS to speed up the recruitment process

To be a successful recruiter, you’ll want to strengthen your communication skills, your knowledge of industry trends, your understanding of ATS, and more. To that end, ongoing professional development is part of life for many recruiters. Specializations on Coursera can help enhance your recruiter skills and build your knowledge of human resources in general. For example, consider the Human Resource Management: HR for People Managers Specialization from the University of Minnesota.