One relationship ended up defining the next phase of my life! I am here to tell you creating,
maintaining and sustaining professional relationships through all forms of communication available today is critical for business success.
Many of us do not adequately take advantage of the myriad of avenues open to us to develop meaningful and sustainable relationships. It is less about volume and more about quality and depth.
Relationship building requires both input and output from the individual and needs to be timely and relevant. As an example, many relationships begin today in social media. The most effective ones have frequent interaction about common areas of interest.
So whether it develops on Twitter around a favorite television show or in a LinkedIn group around an industry specialty, these relationships can be invaluable, meaningful and long-standing.
As a recruiter, there is no skill more valuable than relationship building. It occurs at every intersection. Recruitment is increasingly more about building relationships with potential candidates early on through a variety of social opportunities so that when the time comes to hire it is essentially just matching the individual with the organization that has a need.
The relationship you forge with your candidates remains paramount. Candidates place their trust in you to escort them through what for many is the most nerve-wracking experience of their lives, the dreaded job interview. They view you as their advocate and the more at ease you make them, the more effective they will be throughout the process. But the critical thing to remember and what many fail to recognize is that the relationship does not end when the candidate accepts the job.
If you have built your relationship on a sincere platform then although it eases into another phase as perhaps a confidante, or just an objective ear when needed, it can continue for years to come. You can share topics of relevance to their new job via LinkedIn or other forms of social media. In this social media-centric era, keeping in touch and having a relevant interaction is very simple to do and presents no time limitations.
The possibility always exists that the candidate you placed can easily become your next client in the future when they move on to another firm.
On a personal note, after several years of being a Global Head of HR for an international consulting firm, I left the corporate world as I entered a different phase of my life. A candidate that I had hired and who had subsequently left reached out to me and asked me to do some contract recruiting for her new firm and that was the beginning of a new and exciting chapter of my life.
It happened because that relationship with a candidate I met long along on a cold Chicago day did not end after I hired her and she left and moved on to another company. I maintained that relationship via email and text and actually have not seen her since we she left my prior company.
Do not underestimate the ability to build and foster relationships via social media and email … it works!
Relationships matter at every intersection of your life. Make them meaningful and relevant. Adjust as needed and choose the appropriate avenues available to maintain and sustain them.
Denise Miller is a Mom Corps Dallas recruiter. She has more than 13 years’ experience in recruiting. Her areas of expertise include talent acquisition at executive and junior levels; building and managing networks of talent; and a proven track record of recruiting top performers and passive candidates.
