Many of the most consistently successful recruiters learnt their trade during a recession or downturn; so you’ve now got a great opportunity to get to grips with the crucial tools of your trade, the ones that will last you a lifetime in this industry, whatever the prevailing market conditions.

You’ve probably seen many of your more experienced colleagues struggle with various aspects of the job recently, even those who have been successful in the past.

That’s because most recruiters have only really needed to carry out parts of the recruitment process in recent years. However, to succeed now you will need to master the full range of skills to truly do the job well.

Right now, the most important skill to learn is effective business development. 

If you can combine that with great candidate control techniques you will improve your chances of success every time.

With an abundance of candidates, and with vacancies in low supply in almost all sectors, you need to be a cut above the competition in the eyes of every client. You need to make sure that you get exclusivity and commitment wherever possible, and be sure to ‘kill’ every single job that you take on. Remember, each real and well qualified vacancy is an opportunity for you to learn, practise and make money.

Try these tips and pointers to move ahead steadily on the right track.

• Remember that recruitment is a sales job, and quite a sophisticated one at that. There are very few other situations where you need to sell to your client and to your ‘product’. 

• Don’t hide behind email; get on the phone and get out in front of your clients and candidates.

• Teach yourself the basics. There’s never been more superb training material available on the internet and in the bookshops. Don’t wait to be spoon-fed.

• Put in extra discretionary effort now, and work the hours. Times are tough, but it will all pay off for you in the end.

Note: There are tried and trusted processes for each and every step of the recruitment sales cycle, and these can be summarized into 50 individual steps. Watch this space in July.