The Slow Cook Method of Recruiting
Most recruiters are microwave chefs. They’re all about speed, volume, and quick results. They measure success in daily calls, weekly submittals, and monthly placements. But here’s the thing about microwaved meals - they might fill you up, but they’re rarely memorable.
I’ve been watching this industry for years, and I’ve noticed something interesting: The most successful recruiters aren’t sprinters - they’re marathoners. They’re not cooking quick meals; they’re slow-cooking relationships that get better with time.
Think about relationships like a savings account. Every interaction is a deposit. Every follow-up, every piece of advice, every genuine connection adds to your balance. And just like compound interest, these relationship investments grow exponentially over time. But here’s the catch - you can’t fake it. You can’t rush it. And you certainly can’t automate it.
The elite recruiters I know focus on three core pillars: recruiting/sourcing, account management, and business development. But they don’t treat these as separate functions - they’re all part of the same relationship ecosystem. A candidate today might be a client tomorrow. A client might become a candidate years later. It’s all connected.
This approach requires a different mindset. Instead of tracking just calls and placements, you track relationships. You maintain a simple “BD sheet” not to manage transactions, but to nurture connections. You follow up with candidates who didn’t get the job with the same enthusiasm as those who did. Why? Because you’re playing the long game.
When training new recruiters, I actually prefer working with those who haven’t been taught the “traditional” way. They haven’t learned the bad habits of transactional recruiting. Instead, we focus on building genuine connections from day one. We demonstrate the power of patience, the importance of adding value beyond just placements, and the compounding effect of trust.
Here’s what’s fascinating: This approach actually creates its own success ecosystem. Candidates become clients. Clients refer other clients. Networks deepen rather than just broaden. But it only works if you’re willing to invest the time, maintain consistency, and resist the urge to take shortcuts.
The truth is, exceptional recruiting isn’t about having the biggest database or making the most calls. It’s about building a network of people who trust you enough to pick up the phone when you call - not because you might have a job for them, but because they know you have their best interests at heart.
That’s the real difference between transactional recruiters and trusted partners. And in a world of automation and AI, that human connection becomes more valuable, not less.