A look inside the world of recruitment

We talk a lot about recruitment. Processes. Strategies. Vision. We’ve told you about our belief in ourselves and we’ve revealed secrets and tips that we’ve learned along the way at iTalent, but this time we’ve decided to return to the basics and show you the fascinating world our recruiters experience everyday. What better way to tell you about the job of recruitment than going to the source? We gathered a few of our project managers and asked them identical questions. We let them speak freely about the world of recruitment from their own perspectives and share how we do it at iTalent.

We sat down with recruiters with varying amounts of experience. Tamar, Yafit, Rinat and Sivan are veterans with more than six years of work experience in the field. We asked the same questions of Daniella, Tal, Shani and Orly, who we can refer to as experienced, as well as Ilat and Hila, the newest of the group who joined us within the last year. The common denominator we heard from all of them is real passion and connection to the best profession in the world: recruitment!

How does one get into the world of recruitment?

Being a recruiter requires internal passion. You have to be addicted to success and a fast pace, and you have to love people. There are recruiters who discover that passion by chance after stumbling across an ad on Facebook or being introduced to it through a friend or family member, and there are those who always knew that was their goal.

The foundation is loving to work with people and wanting to discover new worlds. Rinat: “I was always attracted to recruitment because of working with people and everything related to interaction with them. I was interested in technology recruitment specifically because that’s the future. The world is become technological.”

The connection between people creates a challenge, as Orly explained: “I was drawn to the challenge, the opportunity and the pace in the field and the fact that in recruitment I am the architect of human resources in an organization. This role has a strategic impact on organizations.” Daniella continued in the same vein: “I was very interested in knowing who the person was behind the resume.”

What does it mean to be a recruiter?

Naturally, recruitment is people – working with people, teaching them, sometimes getting to know them better than they know themselves. Recruitment is recognizing their talent, taking a subject you don’t know much about and learning to become an expert before making the sometimes seemingly impossible connection between person and place. When that connection happens, when there is a match, the feeling of satisfaction and achievement is incredible.

“I love the energy. Being a recruiter means making the impossible possible,” said Hila. Sivan agreed and went even further: “I’m addicted to the feeling of victory and success.” Tal added: “I love the fulfillment that comes from taking part in helping clients expand, cracking the niche positions and the wanted jobs that are difficult to crack, and then finding the match and connecting between them.”

A good recruiter needs vision, to see not only the candidate, but the future of the company as well. “The ability to jump start processes, influence executives and candidates alike,” explains Orly. “Being a recruiter is to know how to harness all sides, think outside of the box and identify potential for managers who aren’t aware of it themselves yet.”

Of course, there is the ultimate goal. “There’s no feeling better than helping someone find his way to make a living and his place in his career,” declared Tamar.

The challenges of the job

The main challenge is to create a relationship of trust between recruiter and client and between recruiter and candidate. The game is harnessing everyone and getting them to devote themselves to the process. When it comes to people with an ego in a competitive and demanding environment, it’s not always so simple.

“The challenge is to ‘stimulate’ candidates above and beyond the positions and processes on offer to get them interested in starting a process and eventually signing,” said Adi. “Sometimes, when what you want doesn’t exist, you have to get the client to adjust their expectations to match reality,” Ilat continued, to which Sivan agreed: “Demand is high and supply is small. The challenge is getting clients to believe in us, see the hard work we are putting in and see that the way we work leads to success.”

It’s a psychological game – understanding the needs of candidates and clients better than they understand themselves, especially because sometimes you’re dealing with positions that aren’t particularly attractive. “The big challenges are figuring out niche positions, getting managers to be flexible for rigid requirements and harnessing them to the process,” said Orly. “Cracking difficult profiles,” seconded Tamar. “Client management is all about creating trust, getting clients to trust the method and finding the right people, understanding them in depth and understanding what the client wants,” Tal agreed.

What does success look like in the world of recruitment?

It’s a fast-paced, dynamic world. Every time you figure something out is an achievement. Every successful recruitment is an entire world in-and-of itself. When we asked our recruiters about their successes, we mostly heard about overcoming challenges. Some enjoy the difficult cases and some celebrate the big achievements or even the small things that give them a feeling of satisfaction on a daily basis.

“For me, success is clients who become our partners and choose us again and again,” began Tal. Shani claimed, “I got a position I wasn’t familiar with and I had never recruited for before. The first candidate to be interviewed for the position signed and the process took just one week.” Orly also told a personal story: “I recognized certain phases in the process where a lot of candidates drop out, so I raised the red flag and the process was changed.” Yafit added: “Successfully recruiting for a very challenging position that no one had managed to recruit for for 6 months.”

In the end, our work with clients is a relationship. Happily, we managed to develop a trusting relationship with most of them that comes with very quick cooperation, which gives us the power and especially the right to influence and change internal processes that bring clients success.

What’s different about how iTalent works?

You all know how proud we are of our uniqueness. We see this world a little differently, looking at the person behind things and, of course, believing in using advanced tools for advanced recruitment. It takes talent to recruit talent, which you already know. How does it happen in practice?

Daniella: “iTalent stresses professionalism on the path to recruitment, investment in learning and technological explanations, but also working closely with clients and candidates.” Ilat said, “Support, help of the team leader, backing up workers. We look beyond output.”

For Rinat, the key is human resources. “It’s the human makeup, the data and the work process. Empowerment from the very first day – you are involved in a process from the very first day.” Tal also talked about the process. “It’s much deeper and more profound. We know clients in depth both technologically and on the level of their DNA. The way to crack a position isn’t just to find a bunch of leads.”

According to Orly, “Behind every recruitment, there is a system that allows us to push the recruitment as quickly as possible. We see lots of different companies and we know how to recognize trends right away.” And what’s our strength? “Sourcing on social media, familiarity with the candidate, close guidance and human relations,” summed up Tamar.

Features and tools excellent recruiters need

The tool kit required by modern recruiters is constantly changing and being upgraded. Being a good recruiter means having your finger on the pulse of the industry all the time – as we already said, having true passion for the job. What else? We asked our managers to share some of their insights from the field.

Of course, the job requires a drive to succeed. For Sivan, the Holy Trinity is “communication, achievements, multitasking.” Rinat’s big three are “assertiveness, fearlessness, containment.” Tal added a bit more: “A recruiter needs the ability to jump start processes and refine things with a deep understanding of and desire to dive deep into stats. Perseverance, communication skills, good interpersonal relationships, not stopping on red.”

They never stop and they’re always ready to learn more. Being a recruiter means being efficient, curious, assertive, hungry for success and highly self confident. “Everything begins and ends with assertiveness, creativity and openness,”said Orly while Tamar added, “Marketing, ambition, high energy, high self confidence and technological knowledge.”

Why work at iTalent?

Besides the team building evenings, the happy hours and all the fun we have all the time, of course… Each of our managers considers something different to me most important, but we can say of ourselves that we are like a second family, and our managers are everything as far as we are concerned.

Ilat said, “Because even a bad day is a good day.” For Hila, it’s “Endless learning.” Sivan enjoys, “Working with a variety of companies, from small startups to big companies. When dealing with the hardest positions, everything else then seems like no big deal.”

Rinat had this to say: “A great social environment with the ability to empower employees. A place to learn from one another personally and professionally at the highest level in the industry.” Tal added, “Satisfaction! Empowerment! Belonging to a family. The best school there is. This place is never boring for a moment.”

Our vision is to learn and learn some more. To pass on knowledge. To build up our managers and get more than a finished product. As Adi said, “This is a school for recruitment.” Orly agreed, saying, “It’s a place that will always push you forward personally and professionally. Yafit concluded with the punch: “It’s the combination of profession and family.”

A message for those thinking about getting into recruitment

Since we are into learning, training and providing value to the next generation, we asked our recruiters for tips for people who are thinking about beginning their careers in the industry. Are you considering becoming a recruiter? Here are a few reasons you should.

According to Ilat, “This is a diverse and interesting profession that creates lots of connections and satisfaction. I can’t recommend it more.”

Rinat said, “My message? Go for it! It’s a field you can only learn from and grow in. You learn the industry and the people within it and develop at a crazy pace.”

Orly contributed, “The world of recruitment is never quiet, but the challenges stimulate constant growth and never ending learning. You definitely won’t be bored.”

Tamar added, “If you love to bring people together and the high tech world is interesting for you, go for it.”

Yafit concluded, “If it’s important for you to be somewhere that influences the growth of organizations and it’s interesting for you to make precise adjustments and connections, this is the place to start.”

Recruitment is done with love or not at all, someone else smart said a long time ago in a different context, but there’s nothing more accurate. Our entire team are partners in this love and that’s a recipe for success in recruitment, but no less important, it leads to the incredible dynamic among our teams. Learning, sharing and empowerment. That’s our way.