Scott Corwin wrote a post titled Top 10 Tips for Candidates Working with Recruiters. If I would have read this article in my job search, I would have saved at least a month of wasted time.
I thought recruiters were my friend, and worked for me. Further, I thought with my experience, that I would be a great gift to a recruiter. That is, I would be an easy fee they could collect. I was sure I was so hireable that the right recruiter would latch onto me, help me land within a few weeks, and we’d both win (I’d get my job, they’d get a fat commission off me).
It wasn’t that way at all, and I’ll be forever grateful to the recruiter who set me straight and helped me understand the candidate (that is, the job seeker) / recruiter relationship.
Going back to Scott’s article, this should be required reading for anyone who is trying to network a lot with recruiters.
Scott’s number one point is perhaps the most important to understand: Recruiters are paid to fill a job not find you a job.
Number five: Preparation is the difference. I’ve seen this as a hiring manager and interviewer… no matter how good you think you are without preparing, you are not as good as the person who has prepared. Even if they sound a bit more rehearsed/canned, they sound like they cared enough about the position to take the time to prepare for it… and that means a lot.
Number six: Q&A with the recruiter should be renamed to the last sentence of his explanation: Just be truthful. If you lie to a recruiter (who should be “on your side”) you are setting yourself up to be blacklisted by the recruiter, their firm, and their colleagues (yes, they talk). Misrepresentation can reflect very badly on them, and they can lose trust with their clients. Sadly, this is an issue I continually read about, so it must be happening more than you would think.
Number ten: Karma and referrals. I got to a point in my job search where I was ready to introduce almost anyone to my contacts… if you are an open book for your recruiting contacts that you’ve developed a relationship with, you can expect to get some goodness from them in return. It might not be immediate, it might take years, but it’s a principle of preparing to “get.” Need more? Read Bob Burg’s The Go-Giver.
Check out Scott’s complete post here.
