Currently there are no personality or assessment tests to determine the great qualities of a Recruiter/Sourcer, yet the question often is asked, what traits make up the ideal recruiter.

My personal Observation, is that a Super Star recruiter definitely has tendencies of ADD/HD

Why you ask? Well because we tend to be:

• Loners
• Farmers AND Hunters at the same time (mixed lot)
• Intense individuals 
  
• Very Creative individual willing to think outside the box
• Highly insightful/intuitive - especially regarding the human psyche
• Hyper-thinkers
• Spontaneous problem solvers
• Impulsive
• Have a reputation for being daydreamers
• Need for flexibility
• receptive to new ideas and experiences
• ADD/HD people are Very gifted
• Aptitude for small business entrepreneurship
• Easily Distracted yet at other times become intensely interested in what they do - one project at a time.. and can easily become so engrossed that they lose concept of time and surroundings, and then turn around and become just as easily bored soon after - diverted attention.
• Yet can still be the best in multitasking
• Great procrastinators
• Adapt to new concepts and get the gist of information easily

I see also really interesting parallels to job history (many have issues with job hoppers) - if a company requires unstimulated, repetitive, and a highly structured environment there can be issues of rebelling.. Maybe that is why there are so many independent recruiters or that recruiters do well working from home via telecommuting?

I see Recruiters as Mavericks in their own right - yet they also really do well in this environment, as this is a job that really does depend on intuition and an ability to adapt well to new situations consistently..

I am not a psychologist, never been one, this is just my personal perception over the years.. what do you guys think?

***

ABOUT KAREN MATTONEN, CAC, CSP

Karen is an experienced, successful recruiter who operates her own business and is actively involved in many industry organizations and activities. Her recruiting career began with Snelling Corporation. In 1998, after a successful tenure as a recruiter with Snelling, Karen struck out on her own, founding Advanced Career Solutions (ACS). ACS focuses on recruiting for the HVAC Industry. Karen has achieved accreditation as a California Accredited Consultant (CAC) through California Staffing Professionals. She has also gained her Certified Staffing Professional Certificate (CSP) through American Staffing Professionals. (www.americanstaffing.net)

Karen has a new and future-oriented vision of what recruiting can and should become: a profession we can be proud of for its ethical standing, professional conduct and ability to build great organizations. Her doing-well-by-doing-right philosophy is shaking up the status quo in an industry that needs to be shaken. She does this with conviction, leadership, and a distinctive voice that cries out for change.

Karen was a co-creator of the landmark webinar event – “EEOC Discrimination Debate.” This event featured senior members of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and staffing industry experts discussing and debating difficult issues about discrimination in today’s workplace environment. Company executives, hiring managers, recruiters, and human resource professionals from across the United States were invited to participate in the free Webinar and live panel discussion. Karen also served as one of the panelists on the discussion team in the March, 2006 event.

As co-host of the popular podcast “The Recruiters Lounge,”Karen discusses her frank opinions on the recruitment industry with her co-host, Jim Stroud