Art Of Matchmaking

Sydney Morning Herald

Saturday November 10, 2007

Elicia Murray

Top recruiters anticipate their clients' needs, writes Elicia Murray.

Some children grow up wanting to be firefighters. Others dream of superstardom on the stage. Few, if any, aspire to be recruitment agents.

One of the young guns of Sydney's recruitment scene is Spencer Bryson. As with many of his colleagues, the 28-year-old temporary recruitment division manager at Robert Half Finance & Accounting did not deliberately engineer his entry into the profession.

Growing up in England, he wanted to be a journalist. During his gap year, he travelled the world and ended up in Australia working in a variety of customer service and telesales roles. After shelving plans to attend university, he returned to Britain, where he worked in advertising sales for a few years before he once again got itchy feet.

This time, Bryson's destination was New Zealand. At the suggestion of an ex-girlfriend who had worked in recruitment, he applied for two jobs with recruitment agencies. One was with Robert Half, which was opening an office in Auckland.

The company was looking for people who didn't necessarily have a background in recruitment but who had some experience in sales or a related field.

"I suppose recruitment is a sales-related industry, probably 50 per cent sales, so it kind of tied in [with my previous experience] but it wasn't planned by any means. I don't think anyone wakes up wanting to be a recruitment consultant when they grow up."

He got the job and has been with the company for the past six years on a stellar career trajectory.

For the past three years, he has been Robert Half's top "producer" in Australia and New Zealand.

Bryson was also named recruiter of the year in September at the Fairfax Employment Marketing Awards, which are sponsored by Fairfax Media, publisher of the Herald.

Asked to share some of his secrets of success, Bryson says great recruiters are "people people".

"You need to be able to speak to people every day and enjoy that interaction. And you need a certain amount of drive and focus and tenacity which comes across when you meet some of the top performers. They are personable individuals but you see they've got that drive and that focus."

The best recruiters also adopt a long-term "cradle to grave" approach. "Candidates in interviews get an impression from recruiters when it's someone that's experienced and has got their best interests in the long-term at heart rather than just wanting to put them into a role as quickly as possible so that they can get their commission cheque for the month."

Developing strong relationships with clients means learning as much as possible about the business and the culture of the organisation. On the flipside, recruiters must nurture relationships with their candidates so that they can make the best possible matches.

With such high staff turnover across different industries, repeat business pays. Some of Bryson's best clients are hiring managers he has known for years, having once placed them as candidates.

According to Bryson, a good recruiter can react quickly to a client's request to provide the right candidate for the role. A great recruiter will already know what the client is looking for, in some cases before the client does.

"It's that proactive approach that really makes the difference between a good and an outstanding recruiter."

© 2007 Sydney Morning Herald

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