Getting a candidate through the door and in front of a client is one of the biggest hurdles in recruitment, and one that recruiters often stumble at because of simple mistakes.

Here are a few pointers on what to remember when selling your candidate to a client.

Get to the point

A recruiter usually secures a small window of interest with busy clients, and often shoot themselves in the foot by spending too much time on niceties and skirting around the subject.

Get your formalities out of the way and lead with the candidate’s main strength for the role. That means doing your due diligence on what the client’s looking for and qualifying it against your candidate’s most suitable qualities, be it education, experience or cultural fit.

Be prepared

If spending too much time tiptoeing around the real reason behind a call is a bad approach, then not having the candidate’s information to-hand to answer any counter-questions or objections, is a definite black mark.

Time kills deals in recruitment, so when you secure an opportunity to sell your candidate, ensure you have all the information without needing to refer back to the candidate. You might not find it so easy to secure another window with the client.

This means recruiters should anticipate all the objections and questions around the candidate and the role, and have an alternative repository of candidates in their arsenal that may be suitable.

  • What are their rates and are they negotiable, if so, what are they?
  • What is their availability?
  • Would they consider relocating?

Ten recruitment KPIs you need to know

Convince them why

Not all clients are actively looking to hire, which is why it’s your job to convince them why your candidate is a necessary decision for them. With a considerable rise in the ‘hidden’ market, which accounts for the number of unadvertised vacancies being filled, recruiters need to pay particular attention to sourcing clients before the roles become public knowledge.

Every call with a client is also an opportunity to gather viable market intelligence on who might be hiring, when they might be hiring and what projects they are hiring for.