🎧 Smarter Career And Business Moves Podcast

Former Recruiter Shares How Recruiters Work and How They Can (And Cannot) Help You

May 15, 2020 Annette Richmond, MA, Executive Resume Writer Season 1 Episode 5
🎧 Smarter Career And Business Moves Podcast
Former Recruiter Shares How Recruiters Work and How They Can (And Cannot) Help You
Show Notes Transcript

Recruiters can be great resources and strong allies in your job search. But it’s essential to remember, recruiters don’t work for you. 

That doesn't mean they can't help you in your job search. You just have to understand how they work and what they're looking for in potential candidates. 

Retained and contingency recruiters work for the one who pays them. And that’s the employer. 

 Before I was a resume writer, I was a recruiter, contingency and retained. I’ll share some of my experiences with you. 

 In this session you’ll learn:

 â€”  How recruiters work, the difference between retained and contingency recruiters, and how they get paid

 â€”  What recruiters are looking for when sourcing candidates, how to know if you’re a fit for them, and what to do if you're not

 â€” How to increase your odds of recruiters contacting you even  if you’re not the perfect candidate

 â€” Where to look for jobs if you’re not a good fit for recruiters, start by making a list of your target employers

 â€” How to make it easy for recruiters to contact you on LinkedIn without alerting your employer that you’re looking

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(Previously recorded, Live Show)

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Music (00:09):

[Inaudible]

Annette (00:09):

Hi, welcome to the smarter career moves podcast. I'm an at Richmond executive resume writer in principle of career intelligence, resume writing and career services.

Music (00:26):

[Inaudible]

Annette (00:32):

Hi, thank you for joining me today. Today. I want to talk to you a little bit about recruiters, who they work for, what they can and cannot do for you and how you can work with them. One of the things that is confusing to a lot of people is who recruiters work for. I do occasionally get some questions about that and the truth is they don't work for you. They don't work for the candidates, whether they're retained or they're consulting. They work for the people who pay them. They work for the employer. I was told by someone, not that long ago, that, you know, it's a cruel thing to say that to someone, but the fact is it's true retained and contingency recruiters work for the people who pay them. The employer, we tame recruiters are paid to feed, to find candidates. And generally they get paid, whether the employer hires them or not contingency recruiters on the other hand are paid only if the employer hires one of their candidates.

Annette (01:35):

Generally, the fee is a percentage of the first year of the candidate's salary. Both types of recruiters are trying to fill an employers’ open positions, and they're both on some type of a timetable. Usually there's some kind of urgency when someone is being hired. I've had experience as both a contingency recruiter, and also as a recruiter consultant. When I was working contingency, I was working primarily in the digital advertising space for a firm based out of Dallas, Texas, and I'm located in Connecticut. And I looked for candidates all over the country to fill positions for my employers clients later on, I was hired by a firm where I had placed a couple of candidates and I worked there as a consultant. That was easier for me in the sense that I was paid for my time. And I got paid, whether they hired the candidates that I sent them or not, but still, you know, the retention of my contract with them was dependent on having good candidates, presenting them with good candidates, contingency recruiters need to source and present as many candidates as possible.

Annette (02:54):

If they want to get paid consulting recruiters on the other hand are getting whether they're clients, whether they're candidates are higher, not however they still need to present quality candidates, many recruiters. I was one of them. I help candidates by tweaking their resumes a little bit to help them get hired. Some will provide information on the company culture and their input can be really valuable. But you have to remember that their job is not finding you a job. I know a lot of recruiters who actively give back by helping job seekers. They aren't working with, you know, they're great people who just want to be part of the solution and recruiters can be wonderful allies. If you're working with one, you know, they can pull for you during the interview process and they present you in your best light. They can let you know when the job is filled, you might have to follow up with them, but they will give you that information.

Annette (03:54):

And they may even give you some feedback that they get from the employer. But I will say, if you are lucky enough to get feedback from a recruiter, you know, don't kill the messenger. I used to try and provide feedback as much as I could to the candidates that I was working with. And I'll never forget one person. I gave him feedback that he didn't like, and he lived into me. I was really surprised he was actually raising his voice to me over the phone. So if a recruiter is generous enough to provide you with feedback that they've gotten from the employer, you know, be grateful for that, you know, maybe take it with a grain of salt and learn from it, but don't, don't take it out on them. So while working with a good recruiter, certainly can give you an advantage. You always have to remember that they don't work for you.

Annette (04:49):

Now, that doesn't mean that they can't help you find a new job. A lot of it depends on where you are in your career and what your current goal is. Based on my experience, recruiters are most eager to help you. If you're easy to place, you know, recruiters are working on several positions at the same time. If they're contingency recruiters, of course, they only get paid when the candidate is hired. So many of them do place ads. I did when I was a recruiter, but I will tell you that at least 80% of the people who responded to my ads were not even remotely qualified for the position. So like most recruiters, I spent a lot of my time, hours every day, sourcing candidates online. And although LinkedIn, isn't the only place recruiters look, there are thousands of recruiters on LinkedIn every day, sourcing candidates.

Annette (05:46):

Now, while retained in corporate recruiters, aren't on commission like contingency recruiters. They may get a bonus based on how many positions they fill. And of course they will certainly be judged on the quality of candidates they present. So the analogy that I like to use with my clients is recruiters are looking for a round peg that will fit the round hole that they are trying to fill. So the candidate they're looking for is the round peg to fit into that job, which is the round hold someone who's meeting. Most of the specs, they may give you some advice, but they're unlikely to spend much time working on you. If you are not that candidate that they're looking at. So while every case is different, I will give you some common situations when recruiters can help. You are times when you continue on your current path maybe you're at ABC company and you're looking for a similar type position at another company.

Annette (06:50):

You don't have gaps in your resume. So there's nothing that a recruiter has to explain to an employer you're not changing careers. You have to remember that recruiters are getting paid to find people, to fill positions, that the employers are unable to fill themselves and they're getting paid a fee. So employers expect candidates to be able to hit the ground running. So if you're changing careers, you're just not that that candidate, if you have solid experience directly related relevant to the target position. So particularly if you're in the same industry, looking for the same position in the same industry, and they can also help you. If you haven't taken off, you know, two years or 10 years for whatever purpose recruiters probably can't help you. If you've been out of work for an extended period of time, I'm not even talking about necessarily a year, but if you've been out of work for two or three years, a recruiter is not going to be the best source for you.

Annette (07:56):

As I mentioned, when you're changing careers, they may not be able to help you. If you've held several short term positions. When I was recruiting, there was one hiring manager who would not speak to anyone who had been in any of their positions for less than five years. Now, that's not the norm, but you know, people with more longevity are going to do better with recruiters. If you're an entrepreneur, who's now returning to a corporate position, or if you're a new graduate. So whatever your situation, it's certainly not a bad idea to develop relationships with recruiters. If they contact you about a job and it's not right for you, and you think it might be right for someone else, then share that information with the recruiter or pass along the job and have your contact contact the recruiter. You know, recruiters do remember like most us, they remember if someone helps them and if you're a resource for them, it makes them more likely that they will call you again.

Annette (09:03):

I will mention that in my experience, the jobs that I was working for were all listed on the company website. So if you want to work for a particular employer, you need to say on top of the jobs they have on their website, the only positions that were not listed were situations where someone didn't know that they were being replaced. So even if you are one of those sought after candidates known in the industry is a purple squirrel. Don't sit back and just wait for someone to contact you. You need to develop a multifaceted job search plan that would involve active networking. You know, that's doing virtual events and also live events whenever that's possible, working your contacts, your friends and family, and former colleagues and former bosses, and being specific with them about what you're looking for. And you also should be creating and pursuing a target list of employers.

Annette (10:04):

So create your target list and check their check their websites regularly to find out when new positions are listed, make sure your resume is written towards your target position, highlight the skills and achievements that are relevant to that target position. You know, recruiters and employers are primarily interested in your current position or your most recent position. And maybe the one before that. So focus on the last 10 to 15 years of your employment history, old wins that are important to you are not necessarily important to employers who are hiring you today. They're not really interested in what you were doing 20 years ago. So the last thing I want to mention is that you should make it easy for recruiters to contact you. You know, most recruiters are sourcing candidates online, and many of them are on LinkedIn every day, which is yet another reason to have a robust optimized LinkedIn profile.

Annette  (11:10):

My experience on LinkedIn, you know, I was on there sourcing candidates every single day I spent  hours on LinkedIn. And when I was going through the search results, many of the candidates who came up were quickly eliminated due to a missing or an impro inappropriate photo. My favorite of all time was a candidate who I was a woman on her photo, was her in her wedding gown with the veil and everything. And, you know, my quick assessment was, if that's what she thinks is appropriate for a LinkedIn photo, she's probably not the best candidate for my client. So the potential candidates that I did find fill into two categories guess contact them immediately. They were really just what the employer was looking for. They had the experience in the type of position that I was sourcing for.

Annette (12:12):

So I would do whatever I needed to reach out and contact them. The second category was people who might be a possibility, but was it worth my using an InMail to contact them? You know, because with all accounts, InMails are limited. So one thing that did move candidates from the, maybe to the yes, was if it was easy to contact them. So don't make recruiters search for you, put your contact information on your LinkedIn profile a few years ago when LinkedIn changed their user interface, they eliminated the advice for contacting section. So today I advise my clients to put their email address in the about section, on their LinkedIn profile. If you're out of work, you can include a pitch to recruiters, employers, something like if you're looking for, you know, whatever you are please contact me with your email address. If you're conducting a confidential job search, you can include an innocuous statement, like always interested in connecting with likeminded people or always interested in connecting with clients and colleagues or whatever works for you.

Annette  (13:28):

Just make sure it doesn't scream. Hey, I'm looking for a new job. If you're concerned at all about sharing your personal email address on your public profile, and there may be reason to be concerned. You could just set up an email account specifically for your job search, you know, get something current and professional. That's your name or a variation of your name and use that just for your job search. Always remember that LinkedIn is like Google for people, justice, with a website, having complete optimized LinkedIn profile will help you come up higher in a recruiter search and don't play hard to get, make it easy to for them to contact you by including your email in your LinkedIn about section. So thanks again for joining me today and good luck with your job search

Annette (14:30):

[Inaudible]. Thank you for joining us for the smarter career moves podcast. Hope you enjoy today's show. If you did, please subscribe. Thank you.