Five Things You Should Know When Working With a Recruiter

1.  You Should Work With More Than One Recruiter

This is an area that really upsets me.  There are some recruiters out there that will ask you or give you the impression that you should only work with them.  They will give you reasons such as:

• They’ve got all of the orders and relationships
• It will prevent you from being accidentally submitted to a company twice
• They only work with people that they exclusively represent

The fact of the matter is that you should be using all avenues to get a job.  Working with more than one recruiter insures that you get full coverage.  I’ll be honest.  I don’t have all the jobs out there and while I pride myself on being an out of the box thinker I miss stuff as well.  Different eyes can bring different opportunities.

2.  You Should Know Where Your Resume is Sent

This is another important thing to be aware of.  You own you job search and you should know where your resume goes.  Most recruiters are very good about this.  However, there are ones that will either take your resume places without your permission or will refuse to share their clients names because of trade secrets or something like that.  Please bear in mind that there are sometimes specific situations that require complete confidentiality.  You recruiter should be up front about these.  Regardless of the situation you should be proactive and ask how they work.  Ask them to let you know who they send a resume to and request that they ask for permission before sending a resume.

3.  Recruiters Make Money Off of Placing You

I bring this up for two reasons.  The vast majority of recruiting firms have their fee paid by the company.  However, you should still ask and make sure that it isn’t a firm that get’s paid by the candidate.  Most places will be very up front about this but it never hurts to protect yourself. 

The second reason is more important.  If a recruiter tells you that you are not a fit for a position it is because they believe that their client won’t hire you from them for a fee.  However, I can tell you from experience that recruiters are like all people and they do make mistakes and miss things.  Don’t take no for an answer every time.  Listen to the reason why they say no and if they are wrong respectfully disagree.  Now you can’t really disagree if the recruiter has it right – situations like the company wants 20 years of experience and you have four.  But you can challenge them in situations where they missed something on your resume or you didn’t put a key piece on your resume in order to save space.  Remember that you catch more flies with honey  than you do vinegar though.  Instead of telling them that they are wrong (not many people respond well to this.)  Ask them a question like:  “Would it make a difference if I had this experience?”  Recruiters are in sales and like making money – they will be open to this.  Just make sure you bring it up in a way that they can hear.

4.      Follow Up Regularly ( 2 – 4 times a month)

This is one from experience.  I talk to between 10 – 15 people a day.  I take great notes and am lucky to have a great computer system that helps  me remember people.  That said I forget about great candidates from time to time.  The law of averages suggests that most others do to.  The only to way to make sure that you keep on the top of the pile is to follow up regularly.  Now remember there is a fine line between stalking/annoying and regular follow up.  Following up 2 – 4 times a month should do the trick.  My boss always says that the keys to opportunity are time, place and state of mind.  If you follow up regularly you give yourself the opportunity of catching the recruiter when they are in different places where they might think differently.

5.  The Process Takes Time

This is another experience one.  The fastest time I’ve ever placed someone was a 24 hour turnaround.  I spoke with an individual on a Tuesday afternoon.  The client responded immediately with an interview request for the next day and made an offer on the spot at the interview.  This isn’t normal. 

Depending on the situation a company can take between 1 day to 3 weeks to respond to a resume.  The hardest part about this is that it has nothing to do with their interest level.  Just remember to have patience and that if you receive a no news update it is nothing more than a no news update and often times does not mean that there is something wrong with your resume or credentials.

That’s all I’ve got for today.  Please let me know if you have questions or comments.  Feel free to leave them below or email me at sthompson@insurance-csg.com.

Scott Thompson, CPC | Senior Search Consultant
Capstone Search Group