An Insight to Recruiting by Zoe Shealy

Before I was hired at Route Networking Group as a Recruiting Strategist, I had to do my homework to really understand what recruiting meant as a career.

I started with research and paralleled that with asking folks in my network who had anything to do with recruiting. I looked at HR, internal recruiters and countless staffing agencies. Here’s what I kept hearing: “it’s a numbers game” or “you’ll get worked to the bone.” Truthfully, this was the exact opposite type of culture I wanted to be in. When it came to my own experience with recruiters, it was pretty lackluster. Every now and again, a really off-base message on LinkedIn reached my inbox. These messages didn’t align with my skillset and frankly failed to grab my attention. This is a typical message I was used to seeing in my inbox:

“I am (insert name) from (insert agency). My client is looking to hire Project Coordinator at Boise, ID.

Please share your updated resume to (insert recruiters email address), if interested.”

This was not the type of recruiting I wanted to do. I knew there had to be a better way of connecting and building report with candidates and clients.

I reached out to key people from agencies I had researched and was interested in. The first person I ended up meeting with was Jessica – Route’s founder. She, without hesitation, agreed to meet me for coffee. I picked her brain and really got a better understanding of the landscape.

That day I learned the most important lesson of all: all 3^rd party recruiting agencies are not the same. In fact, there are drastic differences that set them apart!

It wasn’t just about getting “butts in the seat” and calling it a day; but rather a massive undertaking that was nuanced, personalized, and thoughtful. Good recruiting is building relationships within the community through various forms of networking. Good recruiting is listening – no, really listening – to candidates and clients through a high-touch and tailored experience, and keeping the “human” element in “human capital”. I quickly knew that that was the type of culture and organization I wanted to be a part of and represent.

Now that I’m seven months in as a Recruiting Strategist, all of this rings even more true to me.

It’s not just a transaction, but rather an opportunity to build thriving, long-lasting relationships within the community that in-turn play a part in what makes Boise what it is.

I believe that our agency takes this idea as a great responsibility and it’s something I’m so proud to be a part of!

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