This time around, I want to give you some insights into working with independent recruiters…it’s not a small topic, so I will cover various aspects over a series of posts.
What is an “Independent Recruiter?”
This time around, I want to give you some insights into working with independent recruiters…it’s not a small topic, so I will cover various aspects over a series of posts.
What is an “Independent Recruiter?”
For those who don’t know, an “Independent Recruiter” is the person who contracts him or herself out to organizations for the purpose of finding people with specific backgrounds to fill specific positions. Typically the recruiter is paid a fee that is a percentage of the positions base salary. This person could work alone, or for a recruiting firm with other recruiters.
Should I bother returning their call or email?
Working with a recruiter can be valuable…it can also be a huge waste of time…it all depends on timing, and everyone’s situation aligning correctly…this alone means that recruiters should only make up a small portion of you job search strategy.
Full disclosure: I am a recruiter as well as a coach. I am proud to be one, and my recruiting experiences have qualified me and molded me as a coach. To that end, I want YOUR experiences with recruiters to be positive and productive, which leads us to today’s blog entry. Recruiters calling or emailing people out of the blue inspires strong reactions from those being pursued, so I thought I should address the negative aspects about working with recruiters in this first installment.
The big problem – “Why don’t I hear back from recruiters?”
One thing that recruiters hate to admit is that they are middlemen and go –betweens. They are very dependent on you the candidate being pertinent, qualified and cooperative, and they are completely dependent on their client company to be cooperative, open and committed as well…this means asking for a lot of information, exchanging a lot of information and clarifying that information…this has the end result of a lot of “hurry up and wait”. Companies move forward on their timetable, not yours, and certainly not the recruiters. Take it from me, it’s not personal…recruiters like nothing better than a quick hire.
Also – a reality nowadays is that more and more companies are NOT using independent recruiters. So, if you give your CV to one “just to see what is out there,” don’t be surprised at the lack of an immediate response…you now come advertised with an additional price tag, and that may not be in the budget. I don’t care if you walk on water, if your availability doesn’t coincide with an opportunity the recruiter has, or they don’t want to pay for you, you get parked in the recruiters database.
If the recruiter is willing to work hard at uncovering an opportunity he doesn’t know exists yet, you are lucky to have a hardworking recruiter on your side, but that still doesn’t guarantee anything. Recruiters can’t make hiring authorities do anything they aren’t willing to do.
Something else that causes delays when working with a recruiter – A recruiter may not be allowed to submit you, even after they call you and you send them a CV, because you already sent their client company your CV…OR your CV is all over Monster.com or Dice…companies pay their internal HR people (called “Internal Recruiters”) to troll Monster and Dice all day long for CV’s, and companies don’t like arguing over fee disputes…this means if your CV starts showing up from different sources, your recruiter may get frozen out…sending your CV everywhere is understandable, as you want to cover your bases, but doing so AND THEN contacting a recruiter and expecting him to uncover a lot of opportunities for you is not very realistic.
Although I do advocate you undertaking your own job search, recruiters do have a place, and the right ones offer a legitimate entry to great opportunities…BUT you as job seekers have to understand that they function under certain parameters that can operate at odds with your timetable. The odds of using a recruiter to find a job immediately are pretty slim.
Lastly, never forget, the recruiter works for the client company, not the candidate…they can only give you so much time and attention, and they are limited by what their client is willing to give THEM…so again, trust me when I say it’s not personal.
As we go forward on this topic, we’ll talk about how to find (and be found) by a recruiter, and how to evaluate them once you start talking.
Until next time,
All the best,
Coach Tom
Thomas Patrick Chuna is a certified Five O’Clock Club job search coach.
The Five O’Clock Club is a nationally recognized outplacement firm with a proven job search methodology that helps job seekers get better jobs faster.
The Five O’Clock Club also provides affordable, humane outplacement services to companies who care about the well being of their employees.
Tom is also an experienced independent recruiter specializing in molecular oncology research scientists & MD’s.
Learn more: http://www.fiveoclockclub.com http://www.patrick-international.net
