How many calls do recruiters have to make? This seems a simple question, and I do have some numbers for you. You can just take a look at them, and move on. But to really be able to work these numbers, you need to make sure your whole strategy and circumstances are right. All the conditions for you to succeed need to be great. IF you want to become good at recruitment and achieve great results. And the number of calls recruiters have to make, is not a standalone metric. 

In this article, I have an amazing example for you to wrap your mind around.

An example from our best recruiter in Slovakia!

One day, I finished a sales meeting with executives at a big production plant. And they needed us to find a great production manager. On my way back, I called our best recruiter and told him about the requirements for this position. Usually, most recruiters tell me: ‘I’m on it, I’ll try to introduce candidates as soon as possible!’

Yet that is still nothing, which disappoints me every time. Lubos never said that; on the contrary, he said he had six candidates in mind with the right skills for the job. They made the hiring decision in two weeks. How did he do that? 

He made sure all the conditions were right for him to succeed. And the first thing he did was…

Decide Which Company is Right

Make sure you find a great company to work in. Assess in a job interview what kind of company it is and if you are free to work there as you want to (well, only if you know what you are doing?)

In this case, our recruiter chose to work in a good recruitment company; in fact, he decided to work with me, and he was an equal partner in our business. This way, he was able to work like he wanted to, and he was able to set the right conditions to succeed.

Next to that, I understood what he was doing and acted accordingly. I tried to get as many vacancies that would fit him and his candidate network, so we both would profit as much as possible. 

So make sure you find the right company to work in. Where you feel good, and the management helps you succeed. Which is not always the case. There are bad managers out there with enormous egos whose number one task is proofing you are wrong, and they are right. I that case, I advise you to run! Because you will get a hard time succeeding, no matter how many recruitment calls you make.

In our company, the recruiter was able to work on his strategies. And there were very …

Successful Recruitment Strategies

1. Stay ahead in recruitment.

Recruiters usually work reactively; they get a vacancy and start sourcing candidates. Our top-recruiter never worked reactively. He applied one of the most successful strategies in recruitment. He worked ahead of any vacancy he could receive. He would find, contact, and interview candidates always even when he did not have any vacancies.

He never waited, never slacked around. He diligently continued to work and made sure he had many candidates to place before vacancies would come around. 

2. Specialized Recruiting

So how are you able to work ahead in recruitment? Make sure to apply this successful strategy in recruitment. Focus, on a small part of the job market. Our recruiter had two specializations: Management vacancies in production and management vacancies in Human Resources. This way, he could interview as many candidates as possible, all the time.

He interviewed candidates when he had vacancies, and most importantly, interviewed candidates when he didn’t have vacancies. This way, he built a huge network of candidates who could fulfill vacancies as soon as they came up—resulting in a super short time to fill. 

3. Number of Phone calls Recruiters Should Make.

And by applying the previous strategies, you can really work on this successful recruitment strategy. Make as many calls as recruiters could make, send out a vast amount of messages, and plan as many interviews as you can. And how many phone calls should recruiters make? Recruiters should call and e-mail continuously in between interviews they are taking. You have to be a recruitment machine if you want to become successful, which our recruiter definitely was. 

So if you are a recruiter, and you believe you are doing a great job interviewing ten candidates a week or less. Think again because you are losing many opportunities. The good news: you can immensely increase your income when you start interviewing twenty to forty candidates a week! That’s great! 

How Many Calls Should Recruiters Make?

Number of E-mails Recruiters Should Send

A minimum of 400 e-mails per month. You usually start by sending e-mails to all the potential candidates before you can make your calls, and when they don’t react, it is a must to call them and follow up on your proposal. 

Number of Phone calls Recruiters should make 

The number of calls recruiters should make is at least 400 per month. So recruiters should call at least 20 times a day to candidates and clients. But of course, 40 recruitment calls are even better but not always reachable when you have business meetings and face-to-face interviews with candidates. And it does not mean that you have to get someone on the line every time; recruiters should call 400 times per month, or 20 times a day, always.

You might have to call one candidate many times before you can reach them. Sometimes candidates even decide to ignore you so all your efforts go to waste. And count the number of times candidates call you in there as well. 

That’s the biggest reason why recruiters need to call this much!

Number of Interviews Recruiters Should Take

You need to interview at least 80 candidates per month when you want to become the best of the best. Our top recruiter interviewed 30 to 40 managers in production and HR every week. So 120 to 160 candidates per month! 

Number of Candidates Recruiters Should Introduce

And all these e-mails, calls, and interviews should result in a minimum of 20 candidate introductions per month. 

Successful Recruiter Mindset

And of course, a big part of being successful in recruitment is a successful, solution-oriented mindset. Because when you are in the middle of complex recruitment projects, you can easily overlook the simple and easy solutions due to negative thinking. 

For example, you believe that you cannot contact candidates when you don’t have an unlimited LinkedIn package, and your boss does not want to buy that for you. So think! Of which resource is even better, simpler, and more personal:

Make a phone call!

Google the candidates’ phone numbers, and call them. Even when their work number is the only thing you can find. Be a good recruiter and call; maybe you are even calling at the right time: before they go into a salary negotiation.? And if they do not get this raise, who are they going to call? You! 

And if you ever have trouble picking up the phone, this article is a must-read: https://recruitmentcoach.com/12-ways-to-get-dialling/ 

And when you are e-mailing candidates, and nobody is responding to your e-mails. What do you have to do? Wine and cry that no one is responding? Candidates tend to ignore recruiters’ calls. So wining about that is a big waste of time. Please don’t take a lack of responses and negative responses personally. If you act friendly, and they misbehave, it is never your fault. You just got them at the wrong time, or these people are real assholes. And then you know even better if this person is a good fit for the job. So please don’t let these events result in you becoming too afraid to call. 

You have to power through, all the time, any time. 

Successful recruiters are not afraid, or they power through until they are not scared anymore. Our recruiter didn’t mind. He just picked up the phone, any time. Even when people screamed at him and called him names. He believed that was a good sign because that meant he was tenacious and had the best mindset for recruitment he could ever have. You have to take rejection well, and think: 

Every NO is a step closer to YES! 

And pick up the phone, and send e-mails, and call people again and again. Make more calls other recruiters could possibly make. So this nickname will never become yours;)  

Results

And if you apply this wisdom, and pick up your phone and make as many calls any recruiter could make, you will find yourself suddenly to 4+ placements per month! And not what most recruiters do, which is placing 1 to 2 candidates per month. Even though it might seem impossible to do 4+ placements, I believe you can do it if you do everything necessary to ensure your success!