Spotlight — 5 Skills That Every HR Pro Needs to Develop

Recruiting the right employees for a company is one of the top responsibilities of any HR professional. Thus, it’s important that you always focus on developing your skills in this area. Understanding current trends and how they impact your work will enable you to continue to identify strong job candidates.

You should specifically focus on developing the following skills. While they’re all vital to the recruitment process, they will become even more so in the near future.

1. Better Time Management

Automation has made it possible to perform certain recruitment tasks more efficiently than ever. For instance, through an AI program, you can identify the strongest and weakest applications from your first batch of candidates. This will enable you to more quickly identify those who aren’t worthy of consideration, and those who may be right for the job.

You don’t want to automate too much. The final hiring decision needs to be made by humans. That said, by learning how to automate various processes, you can save a lot of time. Your next goal is to simply determine the best way to use your time more effectively.

2. Familiarity with Body Language

It’s worth noting that you shouldn’t place too much emphasis on body language during a job interview. On the one hand, it’s true that a large amount of what we “say” to each other in day-to-day interactions is nonverbal. On the other hand, there is a lot of misinformation out there related to this topic. You don’t want to reject strong job candidates simply because you misread their body language.

Still, in this day and age, it is a good idea to brush up on the basics. For instance, if a candidate leans in when answering questions and listens closely when you ask them, this could indicate that they are genuinely interested in the role.

This is more essential than ever now that so much of recruitment occurs online. With more companies allowing their employees to work remotely, there are sometimes instances when a video interview is the closest that a recruiter will get to meeting a candidate in person. Thus, with limited face time, you need to ensure that you’re picking up on as much information as possible during your interactions with potential employees. Understanding body language can help.

3. Adaptability

The role of HR managers is changing and evolving, and many different organizations and leaders are discovering that HR has the potential to dramatically impact the overall workplace culture.

As such, HR professionals and recruiters who stand out will be those who can tie recruitment to other duties that they may assume. For example, an employer may enlist the help of an HR professional in order to boost retention. If you’re tasked with developing an employee retention plan, you may learn that it’s also necessary to adjust your approach to hiring. Making changes during the hiring process can enable you to better identify candidates who are likely to stay with the company.

4. Social Media Recruitment

It’s no secret there are many different channels that a recruiter can use to find talent. Social media is one of the more noteworthy ones.

Recruiting via social media goes beyond simply posting jobs. In some instances, it can include cultivating relationships with prospective employees. This may be very helpful when filling C-Suite positions. By staying in touch with a candidate over a long period of time, you can help them to better understand why they should work at a particular organization.

Additionally, HR managers should coordinate with other decision-makers in order to identify ways that they can encourage employees to share positive content related to the company on social media. For instance, perhaps you can distribute photos from fun company events or distribute articles that praise the company.

This is a more passive form of recruiting. However, it can be useful. When current employees share information about their positive experiences with a company on social media, this will help it to develop a positive reputation among other job seekers. They may be more likely to look for jobs at such companies as a result.

5. Data-Driven Mindset

Just as new HR technologies have made it easier than ever to automate certain processes, so too have new innovations allowed HR professionals and recruiters to collect more data than ever before.

Knowing how to leverage this data effectively is key to growth. By analyzing past hiring trends, you may be able to identify certain characteristics that engaged and dedicated employees share. As a result, you can seek out those characteristics when recruiting future employees.

This highlights a general point worth remembering. Improving your performance as a recruiter involves developing both soft and practical skills. When you focus on both, you and your employer will benefit.