1. Understanding
2. Long term thinking
3. Highly organised
4. Know it's a people game
5. Have a personal brand
Sometimes it can feel like being a top biller is only reserved for those who have either been in the game a billion years or have some unearthly ability to make clients agree to every take on all their candidates.
Today we want to share with you how you too can become a top biller, or at least understand it's not some magical force but instead a simple set of habits.
Completely understands the client needs
Top recruiters just know, what their client needs are, sometimes even before they do.
If you want to become a top biller, then start investing time into understanding the full scope of your clients needs, what their business is planning over the next 6, 12 and even 36 months, this way you can bring them the right talent that matches not just the immediate needs, but the long-term objectives of the company. Once you start doing this you will not just be filling the odd role here and there but building entire teams over several years.
This brings us to habit number two.
Long term thinker
Being the best takes time, a lot of effort and a lot of time.
You should be setting yourself goals not just daily or monthly, but quarterly and yearly too. There is a really good method called the Horizons of Focus, that makes you focus on the larger picture, your purpose and ultimate vison, and then build up to that with ˜baby steps' or smaller goals. Sounds simple, we can assure it's not as easy as it sounds, but it is definitely worth doing.
It's not easy to set out a vision for the future and then create a roadmap and follow that all the way through without losing focus, even founders of some of the biggest companies, struggle with this. If this is you, here are a couple of tools to help you visualise and stay the course.
ASANA
This project management tool is just fantastic. probably more complex than some of the tools that will be listed, but it is a great tool to help you reach your goals in bite size baby steps.
Trello
This uber simple project management platform bases itself on Kanban, simple cards that you can order, basically almost like having a whiteboard divided into start , middle and end, with each section filled with bitesize tasks helping you visualise what you need to do, in order to get to the next stage. Really is a great way to stay organised and see why doing what may seem like an arbitrary task can actually help you achieve your ultimate goals, of being a top biller.
When you start doing this you realise just how much value there is in the long-term relationships you build, over the short-term quick fixes. Let's face it as we get older, we want an easier life where our hard work begins to pay dividends, not to be chasing the money around like we did in out twenties.
Highly organised
This really goes hand in hand with the previous one, and should be a given, but if you aren't organised then you will find it very hard to be successful and achieve any of your goals from point 2.
We have all worked with someone who's desk looks more like a crime scene, and on every call, they are scrambling to find either a pen or a particular important document, or sometimes even their mouse which has been covered up by random bits of paper or food packaging.
Dave is a top biller, Dave is organised, Dave knows where everything is, be like Dave.
If being organised is something you struggle with perhaps try doing the following:
Maintain A Calendar
This could be as simple as diary, although we find the best way is actually to create a digital calendar, Google is a simple way to start managing your day to day, and don't just use iot to show when you are in meetings, set out specific time dedicated to developing certain aspects of your daily routine - for example have a 2 hour slot on wednesday set for personal development, and don't stop with just work, make it a personal calendar and throw in some gym time and family time - by doing this you will start to see how much time you not only waste, but also you will start to develop a more healthy work life balance.
Use Booking Software
This might not always be possible depending on what the rules are at the agency you are in, but if it's ok, utilise booking software like Calend.ly, this is a great way to allow both clients and candidates to book specific time with you without having to go through multiple channels to reach you and all that toing and froing that comes with email chains. Additionally, by doing this you can both effectively manage your time and vet those calls.
They know it is a people game
Far too many recruiters focus on just the clients and treat the candidates as if expendable. This is wrong.
The best recruiters will tell you that recruitment is a people industry, and our job is to act as a matchmaker, meaning candidates are just as important as the companies supplying the role. So, to be a great recruiter, invest time in building relationships with great candidates, because the average candidate will change jobs between 5-7 times, that's 5-7 opportunities for you to make money from a single candidate, and is just another reason why you should focus on the long term and not the short term.
There are more places to get know potential candidates than just Linkedin - Especially because a lot of your top quality candidates are not actively looking at roles, they are top executives or high level team members of reputably companies, and any great recruiter will tell you that need a pool of potential people even before a client comes to you for help finding talent. So, where do you find people who you don't need right now....Networking.
Here are some places you probably wouldn't have even thought about to find both clients and candidates, not for today, but for tomorrow.
Meetup
This platform is simply a place where random strangers form groups around common interestsThis is simply a platform where random strangers connect over common interests, and is a great platform for finding and meeting potentially great talent and even in some cases owners who are on their downtime. a great example of how you can utilise this fantastic platform to network, is find a group which you both work in but also have an interest, remember these groups aren't places to sell your services, but instead to collaborate with like-minded individuals to discuss problems, solutions or just hot trends. For us, it might be finding a group of FMCG professionals looking to discuss future trends in the industry, joining that group and simply adding value to their discussions, allows us to both build future relationships and provide people with a degree of trust that we really do understand their industry.
Online Networking Platforms
Very similar approach concept to meetup, but usually more business focused. Normally here, depending what networking platform you use, you will find top level executives and or owners, largely they are here to gain more business connection. Just like meetup, try to add value rather than go straight for the throat and ask for business, perhaps you can help them with their EVP or recruitment process.
Here are just some great networking platforms you need to try:
- Shapr
- Onle Networking
- NetworkMyClub
- LunchClub -If you leverage the filters here, you can meet some seriously high up individuals on here.
Have a personal brand
We have already established that recruitment is a people game, we already know that people buy from people, and in an age of social media, personal branding is the probably the most powerful asset recruiters have in their arsenal.
Top recruiters, scrap that high earning individuals all have one thing in common, they have invested in their personal brand. You don't need to suddenly start doing ted talks or invest tons of money in huge social media campaigns, it's just like networking, you need to show up and not upset everybody in the room.
If you want to know how to develop your personal brand, check out our blog here.
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