A day in the life of a recruiter

I was encouraged to take some more classes or obtain some training experiences outside my company. I found myself joining in on a webinar by ere.net presented by Janine Truitt. I don't often attend industry training or conferences in person, so I have to get my news via online resources. This was a great hour-long refresher about "building your recruiter brand." So here I am, getting more engaged. (insert disclaimer about lack of writing skills and possible satire undertones) ;)

It's difficult to be transparent online. With that said, opinions and experiences are my own.

A little background...
I am homegrown. I started working for The RightThing Inc - now an ADP Company while I was completing my MBA right after my undergrad. I was hired right into the new recruiting team and gosh how it has evolved! I started as a psychology major with intent to work in some area of counseling because I wanted to understand people and help to make the world a better place - one person at a time. As I explored my options at The University of Findlay, I started learning a new language - business. Human Resources seemed like a great fit for that direction. So when I got started in recruiting I found a world of professionals to interact with, internet search skills that I could grow with, processes that I could follow, analyze, and help to improve, and the client/candidate communication to keep me connected. All in all, making the world a better place, right!?

I work for RPO, recruitment process outsourcing that is. I understand the stresses behind agency recruiting can be even more crazy. I've grown through the various levels of recruiter positions. I work closely with some other homegrown recruiters, some external talent, client relationship managers, and hiring managers. I started using Boolean in high school (big kudos to my English teacher for focusing on the one thing I use every day in my current career). I was overwhelmed and amazed by all of the techniques taught in the AIRS certification. Internet search, mining, and sourcing hits that self-validation for critical thinking and creativity. Recruiters are never finished working. There is always a job opening regardless of the economic situation. It can be is very stressful. As I continue to grow my recruiter brand, I'm taking a look back at what I've done so far and I feel confident. I like to think I can recruit with the best of them, haha!

I'm writing this post mostly, to provide personal connection. To candidates, clients, and other recruiters. To tell you that I do more than push paper, I'm more than just a twitter handle for posting jobs, and I care! I am here to fill a job. Or to be more markety - I'm here to match top talent with quality employers. Or to give it to you straight - I work toward a goal - to get a hire, but I understand that it's process and people and I do my best to manage all of that.

What do I do all day?

• Drink coffee
• Analyze job descriptions wishing they could all be full of useful keywords, but figuring that out by talking to CRMs and HMs anticipating the questions that a candidate is going to ask me
• Follow-up with emails. I told you I'm interested in human interaction, I'm going to count this. If you apply for my job, you should get more than just an automated response.
• Sit Indian-style in my office chair, I dunno it's just more comfy!
• Take notes and make reports. It's time consuming, but it's necessary and in the end helpful for myself, my client, and other recruiters.
• Createsearch strings. O Boolean, Boolean wherefore art thou Command, deny thy directories and refuse thy job postings, or if thou wilt not, be but decent search results And I'll no longer be an AIRS Sourcing Superstar?
• Sourcing! Trying to find you on the internet. Are you on LinkedIn, I am, much of the day sometimes. Of course I'm using big boards, any free effective site, organizations, Twitter, Facebook  Myspace (hey those old profiles can be useful), Pinterest (I'm rooting for it), jigsaw, Google plus, and tons of fun AIRS power searches, sometimes virtual feet on the street plans, and yes even cold calls
• Develop sourcing strategies, have team calls, train others as I would want to be trained - the new golden rule
• Resume review - I dream about these, not sure if that's a good thing or a nightmare
• Curse at myself or my computer when something goes awry 
• Screen candidates, pre-screens, online applications, phone interviews, could I get any more information? Yes, tell me about you, where you've been, where you want to be. I want that for you too. Seriously!
• Get emotional about no-shows and offers accepted, smile at unique candidate names and silly resumes additives, breath deeply at long hiring processes and mergers, shout for joy with interested candidate call backs.

And that's kind of how my day goes.
Thanks for reading. I hope to share more humorous, thoughtful, or just matter of fact tidbits and to hear your thoughts too!