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Find out how Kapil carved his career in recruitment and what he feels are the top 6 skills you need to have to be successful in recruitment.

Meet Kapil Chadha from our Singapore office. Kapil recruits into the IT and Technology sector and has worked in recruitment for several years.

I entered in the world of recruitment in 2004. Very few children dream of one day being on the phone all day pitching jobs to strangers, yet a great deal of people have tried their hand at recruitment at some stage in their career. Most people actually stumbled upon recruitment by accident and were tempted by the gold and glory.

If you can showcase your skills and show why you want to work in recruitment, then it’s relatively easy to be given a chance. Many firms experience a big churn of recruitment hopefuls every year for a number of reasons, for many hopefuls it’s because they didn’t really understand the recruitment industry, as a result, most rookies do not make it beyond the first year. Don’t let this scare you off though, if you have strong sales skills and you are willing to put the hard work in, you could be handsomely remunerated.

To make it in recruitment, there are 6 vital skills required:

Sales Nature

Can you sell ice to an eskimo? The ability to present opportunities and candidates in the best light is critical to success. Placements do not happen by themselves and having strong sales and persuasive skills, with the ability to build relationships, are the most important keys to success.

Match Maker

Have you ever set up blind dates for friends? To be successful at recruitment you have to be a good matchmaker. You have to be solution oriented and understand your marketplace. You should have the ability to spot opportunities for making placements before the client, candidate and competitors have realised it.

Communication Skills

Can you talk the hind legs off a donkey? You have to have great communication skills and speak with conviction when selling your services to clients and jobs to candidates.

Positivity

Are you a constant happy camper? A positive attitude is required to get you through those dark days when neither client nor candidate seem to be biting your hooks. Do not be afraid of rejection, you will notice that for every Yes you will get five No’s.

IT Literate

A good recruiter is always tech savvy. The successful recruiter has to be comfortable with candidate tracking systems, job boards and online networking sites to name but a few! Linkedin is probably the most popular for candidates and clients right now, having a profile on Linkedin means you can reach far more people in a shorter period of time.

A Bit Bonkers

Chasing people that don’t want to speak with you day in and day out does require some degree of madness, no matter how positive you are. There might be lots of cash to be made in recruitment but be under no illusions that it’s easy money, as my old boss used to say. As long as you know it’s a ‘special’ job and accept it for what it is, you will be fine.

So, do you think you have what it takes?

Next time you speak to a Morgan McKinley recruiter, ask them about their job and see if they have any vacancies. Even if you think that recruitment is not your calling, a spell in this weird and wonderful world can do your career a world of good as it is so multifaceted and challenging. You never know, once you step into recruitment, you might not want to leave!