Sales recruiting is obviously about sales, but in many ways, it’s also about marketing--as a job seeker, a recruiting agent or company. Selling yourself, even if your job is in sales, takes a certain finesse, particularly when times are tight. And this hold true whether you want to market yourself as a potential hire, your candidate as a recruiting agency, or your brand as a company.

It’s no surprise that job seekers need to market themselves, both to a recruiter and to hiring managers or other people along the interview process. By extension, recruiters often need to help sales candidates by selling them in a slightly different way. But recruiters can and should sell themselves, and therefore their candidates, by focusing on the right kind of marketing for their recruitment process and track record. Companies aren’t exempt either; they need to work with a recruiter to create a triple-win situation.

Here’s some advice for all parties that will lead to better candidates, more accurate placement and higher job satisfaction all around.

Be Professional

You’d be surprised at how often professionalism flies out the window when dealing with hiring, even among those looking for a new job. Everyone involved in the hiring process should use polite conversation, and job seekers especially should be sure to dress the part; casual attire may fly for those who work there, but you need to impress at an interview. And please, refrain from slamming companies on social networking sites; it will come back and bite you. Same goes for interviewers and recruiters; never trash other candidates.

Be Honest

Honesty may seem counter-intuitive to traditional marketing advice, but it plays right into the need to be professional at any and all levels of a job search, no matter what side you’re on.  Job seekers, be upfront and honest about your resume and experience; never lie to fill in the gaps. Likewise, HR people need to provide accurate job descriptions and requirements. As for recruitment agents, we often have an insider perspective into companies where we’ve placed people, and that feedback is valuable to both applicants and hiring managers.

Be Promotional

If you’re in sales, this goes without saying, but it holds true in any interview situation, and on both sides of the table. And while it may be your job to sell for the company you want to work for, or to sell your candidate to the HR manager, you often need to sell yourself first. The trick is to demonstrate your skills and abilities without bragging or inflating them; see the above two pieces of advice if this is unclear. Examples and track records work great here to prove your point. If you’re just starting out, doing your homework can go along way to tailoring your pitch to exactly what they need.

The bottom line? To be in sales, you need to be able to market. At least yourself. And whether that means building a reputation as a recruiter with great placements, earning the esteem of recruiters with the badge of a “great place to work” or showcasing yourself as a necessity for your next employer, sales and marketing skills go hand in hand.