By Jason Berkowitz, Vice President, Client Services, Seven Step RPO

Great recruiters are great at time management and priority setting. Great recruiters in today’s world don’t just work on one or two requisitions at a time, they will often carry 20, 30 or even 50 or more openings.

It’s most important to balance which requisitions are most critical, which tasks on each requisition are most time sensitive, and which specific task on each requisition is most impactful to reach a hire. In some cases this is accomplished through a natural, inborn organizational style, but in others it is accomplished throughexternal forces like a detailed use of technology and work organization systems.

There are a number of other qualities which MANY great recruiters exhibit but which aren’t necessarily critical to success.  For example, many excellent recruiters know how to clearly articulate how a particular position will support a candidate’s career growth.

Becoming a Recruiting Leader

In addition to the basic information available about a job, a great recruiter knows how to dig below the surface to find attributes that align with a particular candidate’s goals. Success in the recruitment industry is a marathon, not a sprint. Anyone can get lucky and fill a few jobs, but to build a career as a recruiter, you have to master all the skills above.

So, to the question of “are great recruiters born or made” the answer is…both. A great recruiter has to have some native ability in building and maintaining relationships, probing and listening, and time management and organization. A major shortfall in any of these three areas and a recruiter will never be great.

However, there are many paths to success in each of these areas and our jobs as recruitment leaders is to help new and developing recruiters leverage their natural talents and abilities and overcome their natural shortfalls to build a strong ability in each of these three areas.

The path to success and greatness will be different for each individual, and so must their development plan be. As a leader, if you can identify the critical development areas across these three skills, you will be able to help your team achieve greatness.