top of page

Recruiter’s Number One Skill: Discernment


A good recruiter follows established procedures to filter candidates down to a few top choices. This is the essential role we play in the employment process. The candidate ultimately has to perform in the interview, and make the decision to accept or reject the offer, and the manager is responsible for determining who will work with their team and who won’t.

The narrowing of the field and the connection between hiring manager and candidate can be somewhat automated, but ultimately it rests in the skills of the recruiter. Can you separate the wheat from the chaff, and then the best candidate for your client (understanding that all clients have different needs).

From our March Newsletter:

Discernment is a learned skill or a natural talent required for most of us who call talent acquisition management our career. In my work as a behavioral selection expert I often recommend you do not attempt to coach or train an employee or a candidate in developing discernment. The only person who can impact one’s own discernment is one’s self. The need or pain has to be so strong that a person can no longer tolerate their own lack of discernment, they then choose to get better. Unfortunately, in our business typically ‘new bees’ or rookies as we call them, tend to take the route of flight versus fight. This is why it is so critical to hire people with a fire in their belly so strong that no matter what their weakness, they take the case of improvement as the only option.

I can train methods into a recruiter, but I can’t train passion. Think of me as your personal trainer. I can show you how to get the results you want, but I can’t do the work for you. Contact us today to see how we can help you to do better recruiting.

What do you think is a recruiter’s top skill? Leave a comment below!

Comments


bottom of page