As we are already one month into a New Year, what have you done to ensure success in 2019? Success is not something that happens haphazardly, but is something that requires planning, work and adjusting your approach/processes to adapt to an ever-changing market.

Here are ten things you need to do to ensure Recruitment Success in 2019:

10. Have you done an annual review with your Top Ten clients ( based on $ spend) for 2018?

Ask them what they liked/loved about your service and what they want to see more of in 2019?
Ask them what you perhaps could be doing better? Use the opportunity to give them feedback on what they could be doing better to secure talent in 2019. Remember a true partnership works on honesty to continuously improve the process for them and you.
Ask them what they have on the drawing board for 2019? New products, divisions, mergers & acquisitions? Whatever they are doing will affect their staffing either on the permanent or temporary front, so you need to use this knowledge to talent pool for them and at the same time you have a pipeline of your jobs for 2019.
9. Will your Top Ten from 2018 be your Top Ten in 2019?

If not, how much income do you need to replace them from new clients?
How big a slice was your share with each of the Top Ten? E.g. they may have been your number One client, but if it was only 50% of their total recruitment spend, what do you need to do to secure the remaining? Do you need to sign them up for an exclusive agreement?
Are there any clients you want to ‘fire’? Perhaps they are unresponsive to you and leave you and your candidates hanging. Perhaps they talk a good talk but once placed, your candidates have a different experience and do not want to stay. Do not rely on poor employers for your Billings as this will be detrimental to your brand.
8. Personal & Company Brand; how have you built this in 2018?

Do you have recommendations on LinkedIn?
Do you have testimonials from clients and candidates? If you still think these do not matter, think about how often you rely on peer reviews to decide which restaurant or hotel to book. Your behaviour is the same as everyone else’s. People’s opinions matter!
7. How did you do business in 2018? As the market has been super buoyant, many recruiters have been able to get by with floating candidates and billing that way. In a tight candidate market this will work, but it will not work in a job short market and whilst we are not there yet, the economy will turn and when it does, the industry will again purge itself of the transactional recruiters. To build and indeed secure your career, make sure you devote time and effort to budding those relationships with candidates and clients.

Recruitment is a long game and people always remember how you made them feel. Spend some time ensuring that every contact is a moment of truth and that they will remember you favourably.

6. How have you expanded your skillset? Are you still doing what you have always done? This will not cut it as recruitment has changed much in just the last couple of years. Previously you got paid to ‘find’ people, but understand that anyone can just about find anyone as we are all on Google! As internal TA teams are amassing huge databases with everyone’s names on them, the skills you need to cultivate are to influence and negotiate.

There is skill in influencing your clients to agree that if they have not done anything with their applicants in the last 4 weeks, then you still need to be paid for making the match even if they already had them on their database! If you have not done this already, you need to do this urgently.

5. Who mentored you in 2018? Who will mentor you in 2019? If you stand still skills wise, you will get left behind. It occurred to me that anyone, that I have known, who has said they do not need mentoring /coaching has simply not survived in the industry.

4. Leading yourself by looking at your State. Take responsibility for your own moods as how you show up affects your performance and others. You either add or subtract from a team. There is no neutral ground.

3. Do you possess a Growth and Champion Mindset? Are you looking for excuses for why things cannot be done or are you always thinking about possibilities? If you do not have this piece of the puzzle, RUN, don’t walk to read Professor Carol Dweck’s book: “Mindset: The new psychology of Success” or watch her talk on ted.com

2. Do you know your numbers? Like a professional athlete, you need to know your own numbers at all times. What is your Personal Best e.g. for internal interviews vs. client interviews? For clients meetings vs. job orders? For job orders vs. placements. If you still shrug your shoulders and say you do not agree with KPIs, you are missing the point! The raw numbers e.g. the number of calls you make is not important, but what you get out of them is. It is the only way you can track where you need to improve and apply laser focus to mastering. Too many recruiters work hard, but have no idea of what they need to do to get better, so they can bill more. Then they leave the industry, all burned out!

Have you got the right thoughts? When you arrive in the morning at your desk, do you think about how you are going to bill? Or do you think about who you can service? I have a few mantras and a very important one is: ‘Service, service, service and money will follow!’ When you pick up the phone, do you think: “How can I serve this person today?” And “How can I add Value?” Or do you think: “Give me a job?”. In coaching there is something called Think, Be, Do and the thoughts you have, determine how you show up and how you show up, will determine your results. Make no mistake, clients and candidates can always tell if you are there for you or for them.
So there you have it, don’t you deserve to set yourself up for Success for 2019 right from the get go?