Why Recruiting is a High Turnover Industry

It’s no secret that the recruiting industry has high turnover.  Many people get into recruiting because they want to help people find jobs.  However, recruiting is more about finding the right candidate for the job, versus finding a job for someone.  This makes recruiting more of a sales position, versus the social worker or job counselor position that many believe it to be when deciding to get into recruiting. 

Many of the challenges in recruiting are sales related and if you don’t first have a sales mindset, you will most certainly dislike the job.

It’s a Numbers Game

It’s key in recruiting to know your ratios.  In order to get a placement, you have to have a certain number of submittals.  In order to have a submittal, you have to make a certain number of calls.  These numbers vary among recruiters and the position recruiting for.  Each recruiter should track their numbers and know what it takes to make that placement.

Since our livelihood relies on placements, that means we cannot afford to waste time coaching or advising candidates we cannot place.  We have to keep our eye on the prize and stay on track.

Painful Rejection

Just like in any sales role, recruiters face the possibility of rejection each time we pick up the phone to dial a potential candidate.

Believe me, you WILL be hung up on many times.  You WILL be laughed at because someone thinks the pay is too low.  You will even be cursed at AND yelled at on occasion.

These are all standard expectations in recruiting, just as with sales.  You must simply be able to hang up and dial the next number on the list.

The Kicker

So, you may be reading this and saying to yourself, “There are a lot of people successful in sales who just don’t make it in recruiting.”

Here’s the kicker.  In most sales jobs, you are selling a product that does not have a mind of its own.  Recruiters are selling PEOPLE. True, a recruiter starts out selling a job to a candidate, but in the end, the recruiter is basically selling a person and skill sets to a client in order to make that placement.

People can be unreliable.  They miss job interviews, they bomb job interviews, or they decide they are no longer interested once they reach final stages.  People can also lie about expectations and desires, assuming that they just need to tell the recruiter certain things in order to get in front of the hiring manager.

On the flip side, hiring managers can also change their mind or simply decide not to interview that stellar candidate, with no explanation provided.  Hiring managers sometimes hide the fact that they have an internal candidate who will likely be hired for the roll, only disclosing this fact after the recruiter has spent hours and days identifying three qualified candidates for the position.

There is no better feeling as a recruiter than making a placement.  However, recruiting is not an easy job and it’s not for everyone.  It is a challenging sales role and many are not successful in overcoming its numerous obstacles.  However, it can be rewarding for the right, sales-minded person.

What do you find most challenging as a recruiter?  Please share your thoughts in the comments below.

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