Is the time for talk over in recruitment?

Today's world is filled with an increasingly complex ecosystem of methods of communication as communities push for global interconnectedness. With this complexity and growth in communication options comes a greater division within the preferences of individuals.

For some more options and increased communication allows for greater freedom. Accessing friends, family, colleagues has never been easier. Getting the information you need, in real-time, whenever you may need it frees them up for more efficient actions and planning. For others this is restrictive. Constant accessibility— by phone, by email, by text, by messengers— enables work and strangers alike to reach them in during times and in places that were previously earmarked as personal.

Of course, there are the people who sit in between— finding the proliferation of communication both liberating and restrictive depending on the situation. The reality is, that most of us sit within this category. We prefer some forms of communication over others; we consider some communications personal and others professional; some forms of outreach welcomed and others unwelcome.

This presents a challenging preference system for recruiters to navigate as communication continues to be a core pillar of any successful recruitment business. Ultimately, the recruiters in our business aim to have their communication be:

• Targeted
• Valued
  
• Professional
  

Each goal is intertwined and contributes to the next. If a SAP SD Consultant receives a project offer for a Java Developer role, the communication is not appropriately targeted, which may lead to the consultant deciding the communication is also not professional. If there are lots of spelling mistakes in an email, the communication is not professional and probably won’t be valued by the recipient. Unfortunately, these are time-old errors in the industry, which separate the good recruiters from the bad.

The proliferation of communication seems to pose an additional hurdle to even the experienced and good recruiters. With so many ways of communicating and growing divides in personal preferences we are constantly left wondering:

When and how should you reach out to a candidate or client?

In our business we also experience preferential divides, both because of our network’s preferences and because of our own.  Recruiters are no longer tied to their phones and email inboxes— although this continues to the primary method of reaching out. We see more and more in our business, recruiters, candidates and clients connecting over LinkedIn messenger, WhatsApp and even FaceTime. And the communication is often instigated both ways.

The convenience of these apps is enticing and can enable greater ease when doing business and improved relationships between recruiter and candidate/client. However, it is strange to consider the shift of these apps from being very personal forms of communication limited to friends to professional communication between businesses and individuals.

It’s easy to fall into the belief that all communication has become comfortably both personal and professional. However, it is important to continue to keep in mind how your network wants to be contacted and communicated with.

Mastering targeted, valued, and professional communication is business-critical for recruiters, who are only as successful as their communication with the network they maintain and engage with.  First contact, and communication thereafter, has to be carefully considered at every point.