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Today’s episode is for the new kids on the block aka the junior recruiters.

My wish is for you to do well, and not incur the mistakes my peers and I went through because we “didn’t know”. Some of us recovered from those mistakes, and thrived to tell the tale.

Like me. Thankfully. 🙏

The 3 Basic Things

2009 was the year I started my career as a recruiter.

Truth be told, I was thinking of it as a stop gap, before I found something more fitting to my engineering background. I have a Masters degree in telecommunication engineering and my original goal was to make a dent in the field of network communication.

I was a Steve Jobs fan, as you can tell.

(Lol, so much for that but it was a great background to have because my mind is trained to handle technical discussions at high level even as of now.)

Well, it’s been over a decade and I have to admit this unexpected journey in recruitment led me to opportunities I couldn’t have imagined.

I connected with unexpected opportunities that really threw me off tangent in a good way. My learning curve was steep but it honed my senses and keep me sharp. I don’t worry about layoffs because creating and sharing value isn’t an issue for me. It’s my lifestyle.

Alas, there were also regrets and I wish I knew the things I do ten years ago.

It was tough to overcome those mistakes when you are midway, so this post is dedicated to those coming into this profession.

#1 The Right Habit

Recruiting is a sales job. With a sales job, the number one killer is weak habits. Many sales professionals thrive and dive with the ups and downs of their sales performance.

This is highly unhealthy. I had been through it myself, and so what it did was to create the false sense of safety and urgency tied to sales and rejections respectively.

It really threw me off, and when the mind is wavering, there is no way to achieve consistent peak performance or performance at all.

Nail the habits and make sure it is a system you fiercely adhere to day in day out.

That brings us to the next must-have.

#2 You Need To Have A System

Weak habit and lack of system go hand in hand.

When you don’t have a system, you are likely to be floating around in your daily fluid plan.

You fight fire as they come.

You chase after placements whenever you feel lagging behind in sales.

You hardly plan for your pipeline because your mind is on the current basket of eggs. Didn’t they say something about not putting all your eggs in one basket?

You accept every s***y job that comes in.

In short, you are hardly at the right place at the right time.

A system is not a database where you keep your client and candidate records.

System refers to your daily workflow, what you must do and when you do them. Do you eat the biggest frogs first (aka the real deep work) or are you hankering after easy tasks to feel falsely accomplished?

Most people don’t invest time in planning their workflow. It means they are either following orders or wasting away.

Then a year in, they either quit or “try to do better” the next year.

Sit down with a pen and paper, and write down a clear system of your workflow. This should include finer details on:

• How to manage clients and candidates

• How to network for pipeline in both of the above

• How to automate processes whenever possible

• How to keep a clean database of useful info (Gold in Gold out, right?)

#3 Find A Mentor

Finding a mentor wasn’t a thing in the past.

Or should I say it was but it wasn’t spoken about openly. It just wasn’t the buzz word for the masses.

These days, I shudder for recruiters who are left learning on the job because your line manager told you that OJT (on job training) is the best way to learn!!

When that happens, years can quickly slip past without you growing much and worst of all, you are made redundant because you “didn’t know” what to learn in your earlier years.

Now, how do you expect to pursue back those “lost” golden years?

You can’t.

So my advice is to find a mentor. Quickly.

The right mentor is not just any other senior recruiter. It has to be someone who is still active in field work and solidly performing on the job so that they can really guide you on how to navigate adversities, turning them into gold.

Not only that, the right mentor will also champion your growth in the organization, giving you opportunities to rise up to your fullest potential.

We all know it’s not the qualified candidate that always get the job. That applies to you - in your organization. Learn how to network so that when you are connected to the right mentor, you will also access privileged learnings and opportunities.

I say this with full conviction because that happened to me, in the later half of my decade-long recruitment career.

I took what I learnt from my mentor, worked on them fervently and then launched my own recruitment business.

If it wasn’t for that mentorship, I wouldn’t be able to achieve being my own boss.

TL:DR

1. Develop right habits

2. Systemize your workflow

3. Get a mentor

I hope my story inspires you. The best time to do the above three steps is on day one of your recruitment career, the second best time is today.

p.s. Follow me on LinkedIn and DM “The Solo Recruiter” if you want to achieve the above three essential steps for a successful recruitment career.

Joo Kwang
​Author of Solopreneur’s Guide to Recruitment Business

​About this newsletter: You are receiving this email because you subscribed to my weekly TSR (The Solo Recruiter) newsletter. Every week, you learn the strategies that successful recruiters use to grow their businesses. So you can also do the same and launch your business.