Jan 13, 2020
In today’s Greatest of All Time Series, we’re joined by none other than Barbara Bruno. She is someone who’s been in the staffing and recruiting industry for quite awhile and is an expert in her field. We invited Barbara over to answer some of the biggest questions on the back of every recruiter’s minds
Barbara Bruno, The Staffing and Recruiting Expert
What Are The Three Attributes of a Good Recruiter
Integrity
Integrity lets you build strong relationships with both candidates and clients. You can thrive in the industry without it, but your career is going to be short lived because of it.
Listening Well
The best recruiters are the best listeners and they don’t talk as much as they listen. The best recruiters key in to what’s important to people. This lets them use that knowledge to their advantage and be able to respond better to the client or candidate’s specific needs.
Able to Think on Their Feet
Being a good recruiter means being adaptable to the situation. Since there are two people on either side, you can expect that situations and priorities change constantly. If you can’t think on the fly then you’re dead in the water as things blow up constantly.
What Would be The Three Pieces of Advice You Would Give to New Recruiters or Inexperienced?
Know your Job
They think they're supposed to interview candidates or write orders or give contracts when in essence our job very simply is to get candidates in front of hiring authorities and so if I'm talking to a new person what I tell them is your job is to book a send out
Focus on Send Outs
To have that first interview you've got to have a dividable order. If they do nothing more than constantly increase the number of send outs they book every month, they will elevate their production because everybody has to send out to fill or send out to placement ratio. You know once they're doing this three to six months they know that ratio and if they say the ratio is 5 to 1 if they send five more people up they make another placement and so you've got to know your numbers but I would tell them to focus on send outs.
Plan
If you think that you can’t plan every phone call, then think again. Barbara’s advice is to write down the six priorities you have closest to the money for the following day and ten calls. And then the following month you know six things closer to the money in 20 calls until you get to the point where you're handling the six priorities you have every day and you commit to doing those things
What advice would you give that 20-year recruiter that's sitting around saying I know everything
Barbara suggests that you shouldn’t forget that you’re the resource and the tools you get are just simply tools to help them. The greatest shift is happening where more than 50% of their clients are going to be millenials and most of the tenured recruiters blame the millennials for everything. They have to shift what they’re doing in their business or they’re going to end up dead in the water.
What Does Someone have to Do Right Now to Recession Proof That Business?
They can't have one client represent more than ten percent of their income. Have a broader client base.
They can't have one client represent more than ten percent of their income, which is the biggest mistake. 2008 to 2010 many companies call Barbara going “oh my God I'm losing my business” and in almost every instance they made 75% of the revenue from less than five clients when these five clients went hiring they were dead in the water.
Make your clients your friends and don’t just be a vendor
You know so many times they view us as one of many and so I think you go from vendor to trusted advisor to consultant and then you've got to make your client your friend. You've got to become part of their life because if a recession hits and they can only use one resource and you've become the best listener in their life.
Have more than one contact in a company
The clients of the staffing and recruiting are changing more than ever and so often you've got one contact they leave and now you lose the client. So its great if you have more than just one contact in your client’s company.
How Can You Get In Touch With Barbara Bruno Yourself
The best way for anyone to contact Barbara herself is to call her at her number at 2196639609 or you can go to her website at https://goodasgoldtraining.com/.
Quotes
- Don’t just be a vendor, be their friend.
- The best recruiters key in to what’s important to people.