Job hunters often find executive recruiters to be very helpful in finding great jobs. But relying on recruiters can be a big waste of precious time. Be sure you know how they work so you can have an effective partnership.

Realize that recruiters’ ultimate allegiance is to the company who pays their fee—not to you. This is not to say recruiters don’t care about you. Good recruiters strive for win-win-win hiring that makes everybody happy.  

But, generally speaking, recruiters will not actively market you. They will be interested in you if you can fill a job order (assignment) from a company. But don’t expect them to peddle you to companies. This only happens in rare circumstances when candidates have a rare skill set that’s in high demand.

Executive recruiters get paid handsome sums, usually between one fifth and one third of the first year’s salary, to find candidates with very specific skills and backgrounds. Usually, this means top performers with stable and outstanding records in the same industry. Most of us are NOT what they want. This is not to say that you aren’t a great employee or that many bosses wouldn’t love to hire you, BUT executive recruiters may not be helpful in your case.

This is sometimes true even for top candidates. Wayne was a superstar in Quality Assurance in microchip manufacturing, but was laid off when the industry took a sharp downturn. When he decided to shift to another industry, he wrongly assumed recruiters would help him—they always had.  After wasting ten weeks waiting for recruiters to call, he asked one recruiter why no one was presenting him.  The recruiter replied, “I would lose professional credibility if I presented you. You have no experience in this industry.”

After hiring a career coach and learning how to approach employers directly, Wayne soon found employers eager to hire him.

If appropriate, include recruiters in your self-marketing plan. Do research to find which recruiters will be most helpful

 

If you’re stuck, stalled or confused about what you want to do next, it's possible a recruiter may offer to help you out of the goodness of his/her heart, but this is not their job.  Recruiters want eager, high-quality candidates to fill their job orders.  They are not there to guide you toward your career bliss.  

If you want coaching on your job search self-presentation, use a career coach.   Career coaches, like recruiters, want win-win-win solutions to your career issues, but a career coach is ultimately responsible to you, not the employer. 

Retained recruiters are hired by employers to find candidates, and the recruiter is guaranteed payment for their services. Retained recruiters usually handle searches in the $100,000 to $500,000 and up range.

Contingency recruiters usually handle positions in the $50,000 to $100,000 range, but unlike the retained recruiter, they may walk away without receiving a nickel for their efforts. They are paid only if their candidate is hired. Both types of recruiters can be helpful, but don’t get caught in between two contingency recruiters, each claiming they introduced you to the company.

The contingency recruiter’s fee should not directly affect the hiring budget in a larger company. However, in medium to small companies, candidates represented by contingency recruiters may be at a disadvantage because the employer may choose to hire a candidate who doesn’t have a recruiter’s fee attached to them. Find out if the recruiter is working on a retained or contingency basis (some do both). If the recruiter works on a contingency basis, draw very clear boundaries between positions the recruiter found for you and positions you’ve found on your own.

Staffing companies are hired, not to find top talent, but good, competent workers. These are especially prevalent in IT positions where a company needs to staff up for a limited time, perhaps 2-6 months.

Corporate recruiters are employed by a company to work exclusively for them. They can only present you for positions within their company.

You first have to impress the recruiter that you are an outstanding candidate, then the employer. The recruiter can't do the work for you. You have to speak powerfully about yourself and pass the job interview. Many people have a hard time doing this on their own.

Put a voice behind the resume with a crisp, clear, and memorable introduction. Make sure you’re a legitimate candidate and find how they would like you to work with them. Recruiters get a lot of phone calls, so be patient and persistent. Establish some agreement about the kind of interactions you will have. Does the recruiter want you to call at all? Just when your circumstances change? Every week? If you get agreement on the best communication, you won’t pester the recruiter.

LinkedIn has become the focal point of connecting recruiters with candidates. Make sure your LinkedIn profile is compelling. Don't just cut and paste your resume into your profile. Devote twice as much of time preparing your LinkedIn profile as you did for your resume.

8) Be Your Own Recruiter
The best advice is to use recruiters, if you are a candidate for their services, but don’t rely on them. Be your own recruiter. Remember that in hard times, many employers can find great talent without paying recruiter fees—and they prefer to do so.

Don’t neglect direct approaches to hiring decision makers, direct mail approaches, networking approaches, ads, postings, and all the other job hunting strategies. That way, you can go after the jobs and companies you want, rather than being like the proverbial girl at the dance, hoping one of the guys she likes will ask her to dance. You can also tap into the hidden job market—those jobs that have not yet been advertised (and may never be).

Quick story about the hidden job market
One of our clients was referred to a vice president at a major corporation. While they talked, the vice president's interest was piqued by some very specific experience our client had listed on his resume. He said, "We don't have a program like that here. Would you be interested in creating one?"

Our client beamed and said, "I would love to."

It’s always best to ultimately rely on yourself; your job search and career are more important to you than they are to anyone else.