The role of a recruiter is so crucial that they have the power to potentially change a candidate’s life forever. In addition, recruiters also play a part in determining the success of the company he/she is representing. This is especially true for sales recruiters because it is the sales team that gets the product out to the market and brings in profits. In recruitment agencies, the responsibility of rating a sales recruiter’s performance would typically fall to the recruiting manager. Even for recruiters who work independently, growth depends on your ability to make an accurate assessment of your effectiveness.
Importance of Assessing Recruiters’ Performance
- Accountability: Having a rating and assessment strategy in place effectively holds recruiters to certain standards. This in turn keeps them on their toes and gives them the drive to consistently do better.
- Awareness: Assessment provides sales recruiters with an awareness of where they are as compared to where they would like to be. The recruiter is then able to make an objective evaluation of whether their actions are leading to their desired professional destination.
- Action: Assessment prompts action among sales recruiters. For instance, if the recruiters do not rate as highly as they would like, they take conscious steps towards increasing their productivity.
Key Indicators in the Performance of Sales Recruiters
1. New Hires
When considering the new hires that a sales recruiter has brought in, you need to consider a number of factors. These are:
- The number of new hires
- Their performance
- The rate of voluntary turnover i.e. Are the new hires beneficial to the company over the long-term or do they leave the company within a short duration?
- The rate at which the new hires get fired
2. Referrals
The number of referrals that a sales recruiter gets is a good indicator that their clients are satisfied and would like to use their recruitment services again. This is true both for individual sales candidates and corporate clients. As such, it is important for the recruitment manager to develop a system that accurately tracks the percentage of referrals and repeat business that come into the company as a result of working with each individual sales recruiter. This helps to rate client satisfaction.
3. Time Management
In sales recruitment, time is money. Whenever a sales company does not have an effective sales team, they are losing money. As such, it is important for the sales recruiter to undertake the process efficiently. Some ways through which to do this include:
- Responding to calls and inquiries within the shortest time possible
- Adhering to the time agreed upon with the sales company when filling a sales position.
- This is because sales companies often have a need date; i.e. the date when the newly-hired sales candidate needs to be starting at the new position.
When developing a strategy for rating sales recruiters, ensure that the assessment is multi-dimensional in order to take into account all the different factors that determine a recruiter’s success. Besides this, you also need to determine the frequency of the evaluation. The key is to ensure that it is performed frequently enough to be effective but not too frequently that it becomes irritating and is dreaded. Conducting it on an annual basis is often effective.