Erin Dore Miller — March 25, 2019 — March 25, 2019
On 3/13/19, I received this message from LinkedIn:
I am not at all a person that seeks accolades or awards, however, I have to admit, this was pretty cool. Out of curiosity, I performed a search on LinkedIn Recruiter, including current titles such as Recruiter, Sourcer and Talent Acquisition Manager, and came up with over 515,500 results for LinkedIn users. I’ve been reflecting on what it means to be among the top 1% of this group. I don’t have the answers, but I do have some ideas.
Working with Engaging Companies
I began working at Intero in April of 2014. This was also the time that we started building our recruiting practice. We’ve worked with many clients on their recruiting strategy and process. But to be honest, a company can have all of the strategy in the world, but without a great culture, their hiring is going to continuously fall flat. This was something that I understood before doing this work as a consultant, but it became completely apparent in that first year as we worked with companies who were missing the mark when it came to employee culture and engagement. They just couldn’t convert the great candidates to employees.
Of course, it makes sense. The most talented professionals can be selective. They’re good at what they do, so they don’t necessarily need to take the first opportunity that comes their way. They’re going to find the company that sparks excitement and motivation, and resonates with their professional values. All companies should take note, and evaluate what they’re really doing to attract and retain talent.
It’s All About the Long Game
As you may have already noted, I’m getting ready to celebrate 5 years at Intero Advisory. I’ve been using LinkedIn Recruiter for every bit of those 5 years as my primary recruiting tool. So, I think it’s also about good old fashioned elbow grease. I am on LinkedIn a minimum of 5 days a week. Each time we take on a new search, and usually even before, I start with Recruiter. These searches give me all of the intel I need to launch and execute a search – what titles and skills relate to the role, the talent pool in the area (and beyond) and who is open to considering new opportunities.
After 5 years, I’ve performed hundreds (thousands?) of searches. I’ve made contact with thousands of candidates. I’ve built a knowledge base on what to look for; in profile content, in job categories, in someone’s experience. And I’ve built a strong network based on mutual benefit and trust. For me, those relationships are the key to what I do.
Building Relationships
Businesses are made up of people, and built on the foundation of the relationships among those people. As a professional whose primary responsibility is to find the people that a company needs, the relationships I am working on each day are my most important and meaningful focus.
Recruiting is tough work. It’s very numbers and data-driven. Of course, that side of things is important, but if I’m being honest, I mostly ignore the numbers. I just focus on the people. I can easily sense when I’ve connected with someone special. I understand that if we maintain that connection, my job will be infinitely more fulfilling. And my client and the candidate will reap the rewards.
This was really evident to me when I recently posted on LinkedIn about being in the Top 1% of recruiters. I realized that the majority of the people “liking” and commenting on my post were not just valued contacts, they were also candidates that I’ve worked with. I loved taking a moment to celebrate with them because they’re the folks that make it all possible. And fun.
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