Filipino Recruiter 101: 10 Things a Filipino Recruiter wished they knew before journeying into the field

Human Resources or HR is one of the most vital departments in any company not just here in the Philippines but anywhere in the globe, however, it is also one of the most overlooked. Professionals from the Information Technology, Accounting, and believe it or not, even security departments (in some workplaces such as in Embassies) tends to have a higher salary and workplace distinction. From finding the right candidates to screening them through carefully structured interviews up until ensuring that they will show-up not only on their Day 1 but on everyday basis, you have to always be willing to go the extra mile if you want to have a fruitful career in the field of recruitment.

Just like a warrior that has his foot in the door of an enthralling adventure, it is always good to have an idea of what the world of recruitment has in store for you. That is why we are bringing you the 7 Things you need to know before stepping in the world of Recruitment.

1. There is no degree in the world that can teach you how to become a recruiter

Sure there are are courses such as Human Resource Management and Psychology (which a significant number of our HR Professionals came from). However, unlike other academic courses that teaches you everything about the job itself from basics to step-by-step procedures, the case it not true when it comes to HR Recruitment. There is no way that you will learn how to interview candidates at the four corners of your alma matter nor you will learn how to draft and create contracts necessary for a candidate's job offer with the company. It is more of a "swim in the sea with the sharks so you'll learn how to swim" type of career. Don't get me wrong as recruitment is one of the most respected and fulfilling careers a professional can have, however, we have to accept the fact that "they didn't teach us about this" is a reality that Psychology and HR professionals face for decades already.

2. It is one of the most flexible careers one can have

As mentioned in the early parts of this article, a significant number of recruitment professionals comes from Bachelor of Science courses particularly, Psychology. In other words, a student who spent his years studying medical-related subjects and curricula during his academic days, is now finding himself learning how to do things he never studied at the academe. This, can actually be a strong suit for Psychology majors as entering the HR field teaches them to become more flexible and opens up new career opportunities.

Not only that being a Psychology major requires flexibility in terms of career choices. The Human Resources (HR field) itself will present you several facets you can choose to foray into. These facets are but not limited to: Recruitment, Payroll, Compensation and Benefits, On-boarding, and Administrative. For some companies, you might also have the opportunity to be "Jack of all trades" as an HR Generalist and experience in each of the facets to a certain degree.

Once you have chosen Recruitment as the facet you want to spend the rest of your career with, you'll be dealt with another set of choices such as being a Technical Recruiter or a mass hiring recruiter. If you want to join an IT or Engineering company, a Technical Recruiting position is the one for you. Whereas, if you are interested to become a part of a Business Process Outsourcing company and most probably, you'll be needing to fill-up high-volume of agent positions.

3. Debunking A Recruitment Myth: Is Recruitment just all about looking for candidates and interviewing them?

Though it could be true in the case of some companies, becoming a part of the Recruitment team will require more from you aside from just sourcing and interviewing candidates. One must learn how to effectively communicate with candidates and at the same time, be able to liaise with third party clients or other stakeholders.

In some companies, you might also be tasked with drafting and creating Job Contracts. This will require from you a high amount of diligence, keenness-to-details, and being proactively willing to learn everything about the positions and clients that you are handling. One mistake in a contract or job offer document can come with a high cost with regards to your work reputation and the candidate experience as well.

There are instances also that a recruiter could be tasked with test administration and checking. As well as Training and events facilitation, all of which requires a good amount of communication skills and willingness to learn.

4. No, Recruiting is not just all sitting and calling candidates

Whoever told you that the recruiting field is all just sitting in front of the computer and interviewing candidates had never experienced becoming one.

Yes, there are no life and death stitches you need to make at an operating table nor there is a risk of you falling of a 45-storey building. However, there are lots of risk for you to not fill the positions needed for your company and facing unforeseen challenges such as candidates building up a union against you and the company. Recruitment is like the game of chess, yes there is not much physical activities involved but there are lots of mentally and emotionally exhausting challenges that you must face on a daily basis.

5. There can be no such thing as black and white if you are a recruiter

One of the most daunting tasks a recruiter can have is to be in the middle of two boats in one river. A recruitment professional must always give jobseekers the best candidate experience, however, a company policy or urgent change of direction might sometimes get in the way of staying true to this noble principle. There could be times that one might be caught in between making the decision of following every directive the upper management commands or to choose candidate and employee welfare. The cliche but always effective solution is to weigh each decisions to be made and choose the decision that will be beneficial for all parties involved while avoiding to violate any company or client policy.

6. Recruitment is not an 8-hour, 5 days a week type of work

US Recruitment might offer the luxury of staying consistently true to the 9-6 work schedule, given that you are meeting the targets really well. The same can not be said about local recruitment wherein there are variety of things that must be done outside of work hours. As a professional in the field, one must always have the time to respond to candidate queries and late night Viber messages from a client or manager that needs an urgent answer to their concern. A candidate that fails to receive a response from his recruiter regarding a job offer about to sign, might back out at the last minute if their is an urgent question that was left unanswered. This is a kind of mistake that a recruiter can not afford to make in a world where numbers (quotas) makes the world go round.

7. There is no "I" in recruitment, at least figuratively

We all know that there is indeed an "I" in the word "recruitment", all puns aside, recruitment is pretty much a team-based effort type of a job. No recruiter can thrive nor ever survive working just by himself especially if one is hiring for several job positions. Sure, one can source his or her candidates and process them for job interview. However, if you are looking to perform in a consistent basis, an effective sourcing, referral, and candidate pooling system that is shared all throughout the team is necessary to have a successful hiring team.

8. Social Media is a Recruiter's bestfriend

In today's modern era, most of the industries if not all are now dependent on modern technology especially social media. Businesses doing everything to establish their brand identity on platforms such as Facebook and Instagram. Companies enlisting the help of social media personalities to help them promote their products and services. If there is one thing that is certain, that is Social media is the present and future of corporate transactions and this includes recruitment.

If you are just about to begin on your journey as a hiring professional, better grow your network now in social media platforms such as LinkedIn and Facebook. As doing so, will help you generate more candidates regardless of the position you are working on. If you are hiring for technical roles such as that of a Network Engineer or a Cyber Security Specialist, better start adding connections early as now from the aforementioned fields. On the other hand, if you are about to start working as a BPO Recruiter, better start joining now on various Call Center-related groups as it will allow you to post job advertisements on their influential group pages.

9. Never burn bridges

We all have our very own reasons for leaving our previous company and looking for a new job opportunity. However, one thing we should always keep in mind is to "never burn bridges" and that means never to leave your previous company or employer in an "ill-mannered way". Though there could be times that it might be inevitable, one thing we should keep in mind is each connection whether present or past is a valuable connection.

A teammate from a past company or even your previous supervisor could be your "next hire" in the new company that you'll be working with. The more connections you can get all throughout your career, the better chances you'll get more prospective candidates for the various job positions you would be hiring for. If not them directly, they could then provide you with a handful of referrals which then could lead to more prospective candidates if utilized effectively.

10. The best sellers make the best recruiters

There is a reason why we told you that "you'll never learn how to become a recruiter just in the four corners of your school" and that is because there are hard and soft skills that no text book can ever teach you. These skills include: persuasiveness, perseverance, and "diskarte" (hustle). It is no coincidence that these three qualities that makes the best recruiters are also the same characteristics that describers the best sales men and women, that is because recruitment is basically selling. Instead of selling a pen or a car, what we sell is the company itself and the job roles it offers. The best recruiters are the ones that know how to connect effectively with the candidates but at the same time, have the heart to helping people land their dream jobs.