How can you build trust as a recruiter?
Building trust with your candidates and clients is arguably one of the hardest and most important parts of the job.
I think people often overlook how important trust has become for a recruiter.
Especially in this current climate.
Too many people make the mistake of thinking that recruitment is as simple as connecting the dots.
They think all you have to do is find an open vacancy online and email a CV to the hiring manager with a candidate’s CV attached.
Job done…
All you have to do is fire off 10 emails a day and then follow up with an invoice for a £10,000 fee…
Couldn’t be easier!
What people overlook is the fact that there’s now so many recruiters out there, that if you’re someone who simply flings a CV at a client in the hope to fill a vacancy, you will be very quickly replaced by the next recruiter who comes along with a relevant CV that matches an open job vacancy.
So, how do you stop this?
How do you protect yourself and your business for the long term?
Simple…
Build Trust…
Trust is the foundation of all relationships, and if I trust you, I will be willing to stick by you rather than looking elsewhere.
I would think twice about working with someone new who could screw me over/do a shit job when I know that there’s someone at the end of the phone who I trust to help me solve my problems.
Sounds ideal, right…
A contact book of clients who all trust you and send you repeat business monthly, with new jobs for you to fill.
So, how do we make that happen?
How do we build trust?
Now I don’t work as a recruiter anymore, I’m part of a startup called Giig that’s building a free recruitment ATS/CRM for early-stage recruitment agency founders.
Here’s our link if you want to check us out — Giig Hire
However, we put a lot of emphasis on building trust with our users, and I’m going to share 9 tips for building trust that I would implement if I were still recruiting.
One thing I will say is that this won’t be a quick fix…
Building trust takes time, but it’s worth it in the long run if you’re willing to go the distance.
So let’s get into it, shall we?
This is in no particular order, by the way..
Actually, to be honest, my favourite tip and arguably the most important tip is tip number 9.
So, make sure you read through or skip down to number 9 if you want to.
I saved the best till last.
Building trust as a recruiter, tip number 1
From my experience, if I’m going to trust you, I need to know the real you.
For some reason, in the corporate world, when dealing with clients, we put on this ‘Professional Persona’.
The person we portray to our clients is this polished squeaky human that’s very different to the person we are in the pub with our mates.
This ‘corporate persona’ used to fly back in the day, but in my opinion, it’s old hat.
People can very quickly tell when you’re not being yourself, and I think it adds a barrier to trusting you.
Why would I trust you if I don’t really know you?
The downside to being your authentic self is that you will come across people who don’t like you…
But that’s okay.
It’s impossible for everyone to like you; you’d be deluded to think you’re perfect and everyone will get on with you.
However, the big positive to being authentic is that you will find people who like you for who you are, and that will set the foundations for building a relationship where people can trust you.
If I know the authentic you, I’m more likely to trust you.
Building trust as a recruiter, tip number 2
This one is very closely linked to ‘Being Authentic’
Alongside being your true self, you also need to be honest and truthful.
If I am going to trust you, you need to be honest with me.
If I find out you’ve been deceiving me, then that’s the trust gone.
As I said at the start of the blog, there are 1000s of recruiters out there fighting for the attention of clients.
So if they find out you’ve been dishonest with them, they will move on pretty quickly.
If you’re honest with me, I’m more likely to trust you.
Building trust as a recruiter, tip number 3
If I were still working as a recruiter, I would be putting the work into understanding my market more deeply than anybody else.
I used to be a tech recruiter back in the day.
When I was recruiting, I decided that I would learn to code…
I spent evenings on Udemy and Pluralsight, learning the basics of how the industry worked and what these people were doing day in day out.
If you’re a recruiter who has a true understanding of your industry and has put the work in to learning the ropes, I think you will build trust.
If you’re a recruiter who matches keywords, you will quickly be replaced by the next keyword-matching recruiter with a new, shiny candidate.
I don’t believe many recruiters can truly say they have an understanding of the market they serve.
You’ve got a better chance of gaining trust if you understand your market because you will genuinely know what you’re talking about and what you’re looking for in your headhunting efforts.
Building trust as a recruiter, tip number 4
This is one that everyone should already know, but I think it’s easy to overlook.
As a recruiter, you will build more trust and credibility with someone if you understand their problems and then solve their problems for them.
It’s so easy to sit at your desk and think, I need to place X number of candidates to make X money to keep a roof over my head.
We’re all fighting our own battles, and you need to do what’s best for you, but at the same time….
If you can understand the problems your clients are facing and solve those issues for them, you will build trust quicker than if you’re putting yourself first.
I would trust someone more if I felt they were out to help me, rather than just out to help themselves.
It’s a tough one to execute because at the end of the day, we’re all out here just trying to make a living, but honestly, if you can focus on helping people solve their problems, it will spill over and help you to solve yours too.
Building trust as a recruiter, tip number 5
Now this is one that I might get a stick for, as I imagine there are loads of people out there who are silent online but still have great relationships with their candidates and clients.
However, I think being visible online can help you build trust with people you don’t yet know.
If I’m considering working with a new business, I will always look at their social media to see if they are active and what content they post.
I don’t necessarily think you have to have a social presence to build trust with your clients and candidates, but I can imagine it would help if they can quickly look you up online and see you’re out there sharing knowledge and adding value to your industry.
If I see you are engaging with your industry online, I’m more likely to trust you.
Building trust as a recruiter, tip number 6
This tip kind of ties in with understanding your market
What I mean when I say ‘Offer More’ is having the ability to do more than headhunt and match a candidate’s CV to a job.
There will be 1000s of recruiters out there headhunting daily and flinging CVS around, but what if you could do more?
By understanding your market properly, you might be able to offer other consulting services that solve problems for people in that market.
All of a sudden, the conversation goes from
“Hey Client, I can help you fill your jobs”
To
“Hey client, alongside headhunting to help you fill your roles, I can also do XYZ to help you solve XYZ problems”
It’s more work than a lot of people are willing to put in, but it will lift you above the noise and make you stand out.
I’m more likely to trust you and value the relationship if you offer more than keyword-matching CVS to jobs.
Building trust as a recruiter, tip number 7
This one is one of my favourites,
You’ve probably heard the phrase:
“Trust is earned on foot and leaves on horseback”
It’s a Dutch proverb that emphasises the fact that it takes time to build trust and that same trust can be ripped apart in seconds.
It takes time to build trust, and you have to make decisions for the long term.
We live in a world of instant gratification where we can get what we want with a click of a button, but I’m afraid we can’t build trust with a click of a button.
It takes time.
I’m more likely to trust you if I’ve known you for a long time.
Building trust as a recruiter, tip number 8
Again, another one of my favourites that we adopt in our current business model at Giig.
We give away a free forever recruitment ATS/CRM at Giig because we want to lead with value. We try and build relationships with people by saying.
“Here’s something for free”
before asking for anything in return.
If you can find a way to lead with value when opening doors with clients, you will raise yourself above the market.
However, this doesn’t just mean floating CVS,
Chucking a formatted CV at a client could be seen as leading with value, but it’s adopting the same approach as 90% of the other recruiters.
Again leading with value is tough to execute as it takes time and effort to work out how you can add value to your market but if you know your audience and you understand their problems you might be able to find a way you can solve an issue for them and use that as your way of leading with value.
I’m more likely to trust you if you reach out to me with something of value rather than just hitting me up and saying ‘Buy my shit’.
Building trust as a recruiter, tip number 9
Without a shadow of a doubt, this is the most important tip in this blog.
So, if you’re someone who’s bothered to read down this far, I’ve saved the best until last.
Having a bank of reviews that people can read before engaging with you will help you build trust quickly with people you’ve never spoken to.
We initially experienced this when we launched the Free Forever version of the Giig Hire platform.
Initially, people didn’t trust that we were doing something for free, without asking for something back in return.
So we went to work building reviews on our Trustpilot page, which now has a 4.9 star rating and over 220 reviews.
Here’s the link if you want to look (Giig Trustpilot Page).
Having this page has changed the game for us when it comes to building trust/credibility with people who have never heard of us.
Whenever you purchase something, I guarantee you will look at reviews before buying and 9 times out of 10, I imagine you will pick the top-rated product or service.
It gives confidence that we’re spending our money with a trustworthy provider.
Imagine if clients and candidates could see 100s of glowing reviews on your website/LinkedIn.
I would be confident in saying it’s going to make it easier for you to open doors.
So, How Do You Go About Collecting Reviews As A Recruiter?
As I mentioned, we’ve started with Trustpilot, which I have seen other recruitment agencies use.
However, if it were me, I would opt for Google reviews.
The majority of us live on Google, and I think it would look great if your Google reviews popped up when a client or candidate searches for you online.
That way, your reviews are in their face, rather than them having to go search elsewhere.
If you’re interested in collecting reviews and don’t know where to start, this blog on the 16 easy ways to get more Google reviews might be worth a go.
The other thing that can be handy is showcasing your reviews on your website.
Once you’ve started collecting reviews, you should then have a space on your website near the top where clients can see your latest reviews.
If you’re looking for a tool to do this, I’ve heard of people who use Elfsight. They have a free widget creator that allows you to create a review carousel to display on your website.
My final tip for collecting reviews would be
Keep Them Updated!
Collecting reviews is a constant battle, and we’re always making sure that we ask the users of the Giig platform to leave us a review.
I’ve been on calls with people where they mentioned our updated reviews give them confidence in the platform because the reviews on our page are recent and not two years old.
Collecting reviews is a constant battle, but in the long term will work a treat for you, I promise.
I would trust a recruiter who I could see had 100s of positive reviews compared to someone with no digital footprint.
Right, I’m calling that a wrap on my 9 tips to building trust as a recruiter.
If you have read this far, I hope there’s been something you can take away that will help you start building better relationships and a better business.
Link To The Vlog
If you have enjoyed this blog and would like to watch the YouTube Vlog as well, I have attached the link below for you.
