What is a Recruitment Resourcer?

This is a question I get asked a lot – “what do you actually do Hannah?”

Recruitment Researchers/Resourcers have an instrumental role within talent acquisition yet are seldom talked about outside of the industry.

Without us, recruitment companies can’t fill the roles their salespeople attain from their clients. Recruitment Resourcers are the people behind the scenes who know the candidate market, and ultimately, we are the people that fill the vacancies. 

What does a Recruitment Resourcer do?

I often say that I am a ‘professional talker’ or that I ‘stalk people’ for a living… which is exactly what we do. 

Researchers are the candidate experts and, despite people often assuming that we have no client contact, the opposite is the truth. 

It’s our job as experts in the talent market to advise every customer on what is, and isn’t, realistic as well as provide detailed regular updates on timelines and the available individuals. Some weeks I spend as much time speaking to our clients as our candidates!

Day-to-day responsibilities 

Briefing

Alongside the Project Manager, Recruitment Resourcers input their expertise in the pre-briefing and project set up (i.e. timelines, costings, initial search methodologies). They take the lead in going through a detailed brief with the client, on a position. This brief goes through everything from, technical expertise, to leadership, and softer skills. We leave no stone unturned.

Research

 We create market mapping and dynamic reports of suitable individuals and talent pools, whilst advising our internal and external teams of anything that would affect the project. We’re also responsible for collating market data and insights for our clients during the project at regular intervals. Staying up to date with all industrial news, mergers and acquisitions, helps us to think outside the box on where we will be able to find the right skills – this means spending lots of time on google and sifting through lots of google alerts.

Candidate attraction

 It’s our role to engage with candidates (probably my favourite bit) and introducing new opportunities. It’s also important to use channels such as social media and networking engagement to increase our network of fantastic people to speak to.

Analysis

 As a Recruitment Resourcer, we must navigate psychometrics, help improve CV messaging, and guide candidates through the interview and application process in detail. Whist doing this we are always innovating, and thinking of new ways to think of things, be that sourcing models or the use of technology and videos. Finally, an important part is writing detailed reports with our findings, which involves lots of data review, making graphs and being meticulous with detail. 

Key skills of a successful Recruitment Resourcer

• A collaborative mindset - we are friends, counsellors, and advisors to each other, and love bringing together our ideas to continually optimise our work.
• Social media skills – Knowing how to utilise LinkedIn and build a strong recruiter profile is important to reach and resonate with candidates.
• Motivation – Working to candidate briefs while navigating the talent market has its challenges - maintaining motivation is key.
• A focus on detail – Being transparent, honest and detail-oriented is important. You want to make sure you give both clients, and candidates the full picture for every role.

Why work as a Recruitment Resourcer?

Recruitment resources champion candidates and clients, ensure that they go through the details, and ultimately build strong relationships, based on respect and trust. 
As a Recruitment Resourcer, I consider myself very lucky to be working within the SRG team, where I get to partner with my expert colleagues, as well as Project Managers who keep things on track and enable me to focus on what I love – talking to people, and helping good people hire good people, with data-driven resourcing solutions.