Your one-word recruitment goal for 2021: relationships

No one person is an island, and no one business can succeed without building a myriad of healthy relationships.

Human beings are naturally social creatures. When you consider that we spend one-third of our lives at work, it's clear that good relationships with colleagues, clients and candidates make our jobs easier and more enjoyable.

Massive marketing budgets, competitive fees and innovative recruitment or product ideas are all very well, but the secret to a thriving business is its people, it’s employees, suppliers, contacts, and in recruitment, most of all, your clients and candidates.

No matter what industry you operate in, relationship building is the single biggest factor in your long term.

If you invest time and effort into really getting to know your clients, listening to them, understanding their needs and then providing a well throughout and effective service to the best of your abilities, you will be building strong, successful relationships without even knowing it.

Offering a great service tailored to their individual needs will encourage repeat business, establish a loyal client base and grow business opportunities by word of mouth.

The recruitment industry is extremely buoyant at the moment, but very saturated. (I would even say over-crowded.) With every man and his dog starting up a recruitment business, there is an ever-increasing number of businesses jostling for the attentions of clients and candidates. With social media, digital marketing and the internet, in general, revolutionising our industry it is even more important to stand out from the crowd and gain a competitive advantage. One of the most effective ways for any business to do this is by forging long-term relationships. By focusing on the process and the service, not the end result, clients and candidates alike will be more satisfied and are increasingly likely to use you again.

Why?

• 1. Good relationships create a sense of loyalty - By developing a strong relationship with your candidates and clients your business will not just be viewed as “just another agency”.
• 2. A strong work environment with friendships creates the best teams - While it’s important to create positive relationships outside of your company, it’s also vital to nurture healthy and respectful relationships within your company. By developing a strong working environment with your employees and creating an atmosphere and culture conducive to developing a strong sense of teamwork, you will be able to increase morale, productivity, and job satisfaction.
• 3. Relationships create an image - It’s hard to feel “warm and fuzzy” about another faceless recruitment agency. But through fostering relationships, you can bring its “personality” to life even put a human face to the usual corporate norm.

You should be aiming to make relationships long-term, even life-long and the best type of relationship is when they turn into friendships.

It goes without saying that being friends with somebody is more than just expanding your network. With relationships comes confidence, trust, humour, strength, a sense of fulfilment and lots more.

By establishing relationships, you can get more than just business acquaintances, but these types of relationship, even friendship, aren’t built overnight. They take time, effort and care, it’s important to cultivate and nurture these relationships and help them grow. Relationships that are taken for granted deteriorate in an instant.

The key philosophy to remember is that strong relationships are built around making the other person feel important. When you accomplish this on an ongoing basis your friendships will flourish and success will follow in whatever you do.