Always talk in terms of features and benefits to candidates and clients alike.

The latest Virgin Pendolino train can travel up to 125 mph (feature). Because of that speed my journey from Coventry to London is now 20 minutes shorter than it used to be thus allowing me to travel later and be home earlier (benefit).

Your organisation has been around since 1998 - what's the benefit to a client? You have worked in the industry you now recruit for - what's the benefit to the candidate?

Take 20 minutes now to note down some features about your company and work hard on stating benefits next to them. That's just for starters. Ideally you should have 3 F&B's on your company for both clients and candidates (different ones or at least the benefits will be) and 3 F&B's about recruitment for each too. Work hard on getting them spot on and type them out to have to hand when calling clients or candidates.
You will feel more confident and come across more professionally when you can hit back at the "Humph!
You recruiters are all the same!" or "Why should we use you?" statements you inevitably encounter.

If it takes you half a day to fully develop, but you will use this day in day out for the rest of your career, it's time well spent.

Let me put it another way - if you were asked by a client to present a written tender for a contract to recruit for them and it could be worth £50,000 a year to you, how long would you take over it, how many drafts would you write, how many other colleagues would you run it past before sending it to the client with your fingers crossed?  Yet, how many times do we open our mouths to clients and candidates with what is effectively our first draft?

Have F&B's to hand every time you pick up the phone.

Todays Recruitment Blog was provided by Warren Kemp, MD of leading recruitment training company Recruitment Matters International. For more information email info@recruitmentmatters.com or call Ken on 0800 0749289 or, if you're overseas, 0044 1945 461561.ave F&B's to hand every time you pick up the phone.