Do's and Don'ts of Working with Recruiters

Recruiters, commonly called headhunters, are business professionals who get paid by client companies to find people for positions. They have their monetary interests aligned with their client companies, not with the candidates. Although you might think that recruiters are out to help candidates, for the most part they are simply polishing candidates up for sale. Recruiters need candidates and search high and low for people with desirable and marketable skills. Candidates can use recruiters to enhance their career moves. They can work together. Here are a few suggestions on how you can most effectively partner with a recruiter and find a great job as a result of that partnership.

Do expect recruiters to test your willingness to be directed and controlled through the hiring process. If a recruiter tells you to do something you should do it. Recruiters have placed hundreds of people. You have placed yourself only a couple of times if you were lucky. Recruiters are usually right, and will take you off their list if you become difficult to deal with or fail to report back after an interview exactly what happened. Recruiters know resume tricks and lead generation tips, salary negotiation techniques and many more job hunting skills than you will ever learn.

Dont expect recruiters to read past a sentence that starts by asking for help in a career change. Career advancement, geographical moves, following a spouse, dead ended, company sold, plant closed, etc. are valid reasons to use a recruiter. Career changing, moving laterally, try something new, etc. are all red flags. We dont do that. Client companies dont pay us to find people without the background of success in the particular field we are working on. We would starve trying to help people get out of one field into another.

Do expect recruiters to be hard to get on the phone or reply to lengthy emails and dont be put off by abrupt endings of conversations. Our work day is as full as anyone elses. If you have to make a call, be brief. If you have any new information about your availability or recent offers, interviews and such developments then we will want to hear from you. Keep in touch, but dont call expecting to chat for ten minutes. We should be using that time talking to client companies about you.

Dont deviate from your documented personal contact data. Dont change email addresses, phone numbers, addresses and zip codes without telling your recruiter and reissuing your resume to him or her. Dont leave for an extended vacation without leaving a cell number or other way of reaching you. I usually recommend a permanent email on a free account and leaving it strictly for job hunting.

A good recruiter will offer suggestions on resume preparation and construction, formatting and word selection. We are interested in having a quality document to submit to our client companies. Dont expect that resume will work well with your own contacts and job hunting efforts. Its tailored to suit our paying commercial clients that look for certain accomplishments that they will pay us to find people to achieve. And, forget using a cover letter with your resume when working with a recruiter. We wont send your generic letter to our clients. Have at least two resume versions, one for us and one for yourself. Dont use ours with your prospects.

Recruiters run into more resistance over salary issues than any other. From the first question how much are you making now to the second question what is your least considered number to the third what are looking for these are tough for candidates to answer easily. But for us they are the basis of all that follows. Be open, honest, be humble and be accurate and you should have no trouble with us.

Dont expect a recruiter to spend more than a couple of minutes on the subject of salary. If you object to giving out your present salary most likely you will be put in the difficult to deal with category with one strike against you. We get paid by making you more money. Its obvious that we need to know what you are making and what we can get for you.

Most technical fields in engineering, plant operations, finance, health care, etc. have recruiters working those specialties. They know most of the major and many of the minor players in that field. They go to technical meetings, they write articles for the magazines in the field or the technical societies of that field. They dont claim technical knowledge but rather they know what is happening and what client companies are hiring and which ones are firing. Get to know your specialty recruiters. Keep them informed of your progress, send them a resume for time to time for record purposes. When you pass an exam or obtain certification, tell your recruiter about it. He will be happy to hear from you, and that will raise the level of interest he has in you.

There is much more to working with a recruiter than emailing in a resume and hoping to be called and matched with a great job. Its about trust and commitment on both sides. Get in touch with your recruiter today; it will pay off over the long run.

Dan Brockman
Recruiter with 30 years experience
www.trainingjob.com