Competencies of a recruitment consultant
6/12 – Building Profitability
This blog is written to aid both managers when recruiting and appraising staff and consultants in the recruitment industry, so that they can determine their own level of competence in what they do.
This is the 6th post in a series of twelve. For the links to previous competencies that I’ve already covered, please find them at the end.
‘Profit’ equates to ‘total revenue minus expenses’.
Anyone can do business if you are ‘giving it away’ or ‘buying your business’. Making sure that the deal that you strike is profitable for you and your company, whilst making sure that the candidate gets the market rate, all whilst being sensitive to the client’s costs, is a key attribute of the ‘consultative consultant’.
So the question is: – what are you doing to increase the revenue and reduce the expenses, whilst making sure that everyone involved is getting a good service and feels that they have ‘value for money’?
Purpose
The purpose for a recruitment consultant is to seek to maximise profitability of business by gaining absolute clarity on the customer’s needs and aim to deliver solutions that add real value in terms of speed and quality
Tell me about the types of situations you have been involved in, which required you to negotiate:
1. What are the key stages of negotiating from your perspective?
2. How would you describe a successful outcome in a negotiation?
3. What’s most important to you when negotiating with a customer?
Describe a recent situation where your involvement successfully increased profitability for your business:
1. How did you approach it?
2. What specifically did you do to ensure success?
3. What did you do to get best value?
4. What did you learn from this experience?
How would you describe the style you use when negotiating:
1. How do you show belief in your service?
2. How do you influence the customer that they are getting value?
3. Why do you believe that the customer should buy from you?
High level of competence shown
1. Ensures that the relationship is mutually profitable by offering realistic solutions to the customer
2. Uses external market information to influence in the negotiation
3. Builds long term profitability by leaving the customer in no doubt that they are getting true value
Each week I’m tackling a new competency and I will follow the same format of purpose, questions and three examples of what a high level of that competency would look like.
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About the Author
Angela Cripps is a globally experienced trainer, Managing Director of the Recruiting Gym, management consultant, executive coach, board advisor, mentor and performance specialist who has been working within the recruitment industry for over 30 years.
Her aim is to make companies more successful and profitable through the development of their people and processes – with a current focus on APac companies. She has worked with over 150 SMEs throughout the world in 16 different countries and her LinkedIn recommendations are a testament to the impact she can have on a business.
