Candidate shortages are everywhere and competition in recruitment has reached an all-time high. Are you positioning yourself, and your business, for success? In a market with candidates in short supply, should you be a generalist or a niche recruiter? Here, we explore both options:
The local generalist recruiter
Administrators, warehouse managers, finance associates, and everyone else; the generalist recruiter will be able to source the right candidates for almost any role. Generalists are special because of their depth of knowledge and association with the local area they operate within.
Generalists’ efforts are focused on engaging with the local population of candidates and the people who lead the SME businesses in the area.
To be successful as a generalist recruiter:
- Sponsor and attend local events and community activities in the area
- Look for opportunities to take part in local meetings, projects or business networking events to build your network and showcase your business
- When a role comes up, position yourself as the instinctive go-to person in your area
The niche recruiter
For many companies, niche is the way to go. Instead of focusing on a local area, the niche recruiter dives deeply into a particular vertical or skill type.
Here are some tips for niche recruiters:
- Share your deep understanding of the market with your clients
- Have a healthy pool of engaged talent to source from
- Build your candidate database and continue to show your importance and relevance to them by sharing news, workshops, training or networking events
- Demonstrate to your clients that you have access to this talent pool to win and retain more opportunities
Three niche-focused strategies to benefit recruiters:
1. Know your market.
When companies need specific experiences or a certain skill in a candidate, they turn to recruiters to find the right person quickly. As a generalist recruiter, you will be prepared by the deep knowledge you have of local business conditions. You know where growth is happening, which companies making roles redundant, and where new candidates are coming from. As a niche recruiter, you will know about your specific market and you will have a database of candidates, making it easy for you to reach out to a candidate when there is an opportunity available.
2. Immerse yourself within the target market.
Get to know everyone and nurture talent before they reach the application stage. Try recruitment marketing, combining marketing tactics and recruitment practices to attract top talent and nurture candidates before the application stage. Earn the trust of your candidates, by nurturing them during every stage in the recruitment cycle. When you add more value to the process, you will be a trusted resource for candidates in your targeted industry.
3. Position yourself as expert in your area/field.
Once you know everything about your market, and everyone in it, you can easily position yourself as the expert in your local area or niche. Clients will trust a local expert or niche recruiter in order to find the right candidate, faster.
“Whichever route you choose, your business will find more success through dedication to a well-focused approach.” – Daniel Fox CloudCall Head of Marketing, UK Recruitment
