So, we’re well into the swing of 2018, and it’s all about the business now. Client negotiations, candidate searches, shortlisting, presenting, technology interfacing and social network updating, marketing… and that’s all good because we’re all here to make living, right? But what you see is just the surface. It’s like the tip of an iceberg. We’re fast approaching a time when AI and associated technologies will be able to manage the technical aspects of recruitment. Yet while we ponder on that, let’s take a step back and reflect on the very human aspect of recruitment that technology won’t be able to replace so readily. Maybe in time – but not quite yet.
From my perspective, it’s about people and relationships. It’s all about serving people – serving clients and serving candidates, and giving them equal value. You see it’s not about the money. The money does come, but for me it comes from getting the human aspects right. That has always been and always will be my primary focus. It’s why I love what I do so much.
In the heart (and more about that later) of a technical industry, the recruiter’s skills are those you’d usually associate with another industry altogether – Mind Body Spirit and Wellbeing. What I bring to the business is first of all a listening skill. I have to get to know my clients. Anyone can read a specification list for a role, but I have to read between the lines, to analyse what my client is truly saying. I have to understand the culture of the business and what kind of personality would be a good fit. Then I know it’s not just about finding someone who can fill the role, do the job. The candidates I source for my clients have to match the culture of the client’s business – and the role and the company culture has to be a good fit for the candidate too. It’s easy just to look at a candidate’s relevant experience for a role, but I find that success comes more often from listening to the candidate too.
Candidates are more than just the sum of their qualifications and experience, they are very much human, and like all of us have their own unique requirements and motivations. So beyond the technical aspects of my job, which are there for everyone to see, I have to be a listener, an empath, a counsellor and an emotional support resource for both my clients and my candidates. This is an intuitive aspect of my work in recruitment that very few see but which allows me to give both clients and candidates the best possible service. My clients and the candidates I source for them each have their needs and when I listen to them, I listen from the heart. And when I serve them and when I support them, I do those things from the heart too.
Like I said, AI has its place, and if respectfully implemented it’s a blessing; but at the moment it’s a long way from being able to replace the most human elements of the recruitment process. Like the Tin Man from The Wizard of Oz, it doesn’t have a heart. But we recruiters do, and for my part it’s the heart-energy and empathy that I bring to my work that for me, and hopefully for my clients and candidates, makes the sun shine that little bit brighter.
We also love our being right opposite the Google Building in Pancras Square!
SANDY KHARA