Industry humor and fun

9 Gifts Recruiters Really Want This Holiday Season

You probably appreciate your recruiters. After all, they are the ones primarily responsible for all the great talent in your organization, and your business certainly couldn’t exist without them.

Holiday season is the time to show that appreciation. And that means getting them a gift they’ll really love, instead of the typical reindeer knitted sweater or the donation in their name to “The Human Fund.”

So, in no particular order, here are nine gifts any recruiter will really want this holiday season:

1. A great employee referral program

A recruiting team’s best friend is a great referral program. Frankly, it makes life easier on them, as now all the employees at the company are helping bring in top talent, instead of just the talent acquisition folk.

Additionally, studies show employee referrals help retention and are a reliable source of high-quality hires. So not only will your recruiters love you for committing to beef up up your referral program, you’ll help your company overall as well.

2. Enough recruiting coordinators so everything runs smoothly

Recruiting is a hectic job where mistakes are costly. If you don’t get back to a candidate on time, if an interview doesn’t go smoothly or if you don’t get an offer out in time, not only do you risk losing a great candidate, you risk damaging your reputation as well.

Recruiting coordinators are the unsung heroes of the recruiting world who make sure those kinds of things don’t happen. By ensuring you have an adequate amount of coordinators, you ensure your recruiters can focus on what they do best: Bringing top talent into your company.

3. Trust from the legal team to give interview feedback

When surveyed, 94 percent of candidates said they would like feedback from a company if they interview with them and don’t get a job. Additionally, candidates said they’d be four-times more likely to reapply to a company if they received feedback after an interview; as opposed to receiving not.

And yet, merely 41 percent of all candidates said they have received interview feedback. The main reason for this is that many companies’ legal teams recommend not giving any feedback, to avoid any chance of litigation.

In some ways, this is an overly conservative approach. Sure, some training might be necessary, but so long as the feedback is professional and constructive, it should be fine. Additionally, it will help your company’s employer brand, which shall make it easier for you to attract talent in the future.

4. Hiring managers who are on the same page

One of the biggest keys to consistently hiring well is a strong relationship between your recruiters and hiring managers. Of course, a lot of that falls onto the recruiter, who needs to set expectations upfront and then hold hiring managers accountable.

That said, an understanding hiring manager goes a long way. That means having realistic expectations about timeline, budget and requirements; and holding up their end of the bargain throughout the process.

5. Marketing’s support on employer brand

Ideally, each talent acquisition department would have its own employer branding team that would help them with their digital and offline marketing efforts. However, if that’s not possible, often the best solution is for a company’s existing marketing department to partner with talent acquisition and help build out an employer brand.

Of course, marketing’s time is limited. But the truth is, a stronger employer brand doesn’t just help recruit great talent; data shows it helps your company’s marketing efforts as well. Therefore, a partnership between talent acquisition and recruiting is worth the effort, as both sides are likely to benefit.

6. A company that believes in promoting from within

The biggest reason people both leave jobs and take new jobs is career progression. That means there is nothing more enticing to candidates than a company that seeks to promote from within and partner with their employees to grow their careers.

If your company adopts that mantra, you give your recruiters a great opportunity to recruit great talent. Additionally, it should lead to having a more engaged employee base as well, so everyone wins.

7. A company that treats its employees well

Of course, career opportunity isn’t everything. A company that trusts its employees, pays competitively and gives the benefits people really care about goes a long way to bringing in top talent and ultimately makes life easier on recruiters.

8. And a company that has a clear mission statement

Even beyond career development and great benefits, candidates – particularly millennials – want to work with a company with purpose goes beyond just making money. There are few things more persuasive for recruiters to sell to candidates than a vision to improve the world in a meaningful way.

9. Or, you can just get them one of these material gifts…

Okay, okay, you clicked on this article hoping for some quick trinkets you can buy your recruiter, and you got a list of involved – albeit helpful – proposals. Don’t worry though, we have you covered on the material side to.

For example, you can make them a mixed CD of these songs that any recruiter can relate to. Or you can buy them one of these six iconic movies that are secretly about recruiting.

Still not convinced? How about this killer purple squirrel mug. Or, for the recruiter in your life who also is a new parent, this adorable baby bodysuit. Or, if nothing on this list tickles your fancy, you can check out this entire page dedicated to great recruiting gifts.

Here’s something I know for sure though: You should get your recruiter something this holiday season. They do important, hard work, and frankly, they deserve it.

*Image from Home Alone

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