Trends in Recruiter Hiring

In a pool of dozens of applicants, what skills should a recruiter look for to secure the best match? Fresh data from our applicant assessment software can provide some answers.

The recruitment process is a complex event with many forces at play. In this edition of The Selection Quarterly, we dive into the candidate matching process of recruitment agencies.Using data from our applicant assessment software, we track characteristics that separate the agency recruiters that get hired from those that are not selected for the job. We thereby gain insights in the characteristics that truly matter for an agency recruiter.The applicants in our sample fill out an online assessment, after which their candidate profile is shared with the hiring recruitment agency. This objective assessment eliminates any recruiter bias that might otherwise influence the hiring decision. Therefore, a hiring choice depends on objectively measured applicant characteristics, and we may credibly compare the applicants that get the job to those who do not.

Recruiters Versus the Rest

Although the average hired applicant is more organised than the non-hire done, all recruiter applicants together are found to be 14% less organised and24% less precise than applicants from all industries combined in the data. On the other hand, exhibiting above-average levels of enthusiasm and curiosity certainly fits the nature of the recruiter role.

Compared to the average applicant (all industries), office recruiter applicants are:

Hired Applicants: The Survival of the Brightest

Intelligence, whether measured in abstract, numerical or verbal reasoning, is positively correlated with a hiring decision for our sample of recruiters.Looking at the data, the average hired recruiter scores 15 percent higher in abstract reasoning, 12 percent higher in verbal reasoning, and 16 percent higher in total intelligence compared to the average non-hired candidate. When recruiting companies can objectively measure their applicants’ intelligence, it appears that they are more likely to hire the more intelligent ones. Numerical intelligence, however, weighs the least in a positive hiring decision.

Hired recruiters score, on average:

Compared to applicants that are not selected.

15%

on abstract reasoning score

16%

on total intelligence score

Beside intelligence, the data show that hired recruiters excel in a different set of skills than non-hired applicants.

more organised

13%

more diligent

Pride Meets Recruiter Prejudice

Despite the above comparisons, the hired do not score higher on all measured characteristics. Our data show that hired recruiters have, on average, less self-confidence and a lower ability to manage stress. This fits the description of an ‘insecure overachiever’. As an individual who consistently seeks to exceed expectations in search for more confidence, the insecure overachiever is like a gold mine to recruiters. The data provides evidence of recruiters favouring characteristics of insecure overachievers in their recruitment practices.

Alternatively, it could be that some competencies of the rejected applicants work against those valued by recruiters. For example, an abundance of self-confidence could suppress precision, honesty, or accountability, all found to increase the likelihood of a positive hiring decision. One need not be Jane Austen to know that too much pride comes with prejudice!

Personality test results for hired applicants show, on average:

Compared to non-hired recruiter applicants.

32%

lower ability to handle stress

lower self-confidence

In Sync, In Success: The Importance of Culture and Values in the Recruitment Process

The data unveil remarkable differences between the hired and non-hired applicants when it comes to their preferences about company culture. Hired recruiters seem to prefer stable, structured, and result-oriented cultures. Above that, they also value fun as a part of their job 15% more than the average non-hired applicants. Consequently, the hired are 13% more compatible with a culture that functions like a “well-oiled machine”. A company that operates smoothly and in which colleagues are well-coordinated with each others’ activities, it seems just fit with the applicants that are in general more organised, diligent, and precise.

Organisational cultures that appeal to hired recruiters in the data:

Difference to non-hired.

+22%

Structure & Stability

+15%

Performance oriented

+15%

Fun

+13%

Well-oiled machine

+9%

Planning & Caution

Summary

Our results portray interesting insights about the difference between hired and non-hired office recruiters. First, higher intelligence, measured in any metric, increases the likelihood of a hire. Second, hired recruiters are on average more organised and hard-working than non-hired applicants. Compared to all applicants in our data, however, recruiter applicants are slightly less organised and much less precise. Finally, hired recruiters score lower in self confidence and the ability to manage stress, making them most compatible with organisational cultures that work like a well-oiled machine.