My son is a senior in High School. Every day the mailbox is full of postcards, brochures and promotions from colleges from all around the country. Some of these colleges I have never even heard of and others I only know from watching College Football or Basketball. He has his choice down to about 4 schools that we are going to visit later next month.
Now the thing about my son is that he and are very similar. Neither of us are at the college-level of athletes. If only they had a putt-putt team I would have been all-state in high school. Lest I digress…
Athletes have a whole bunch of do’s and don’t when they are being recruited by college programs. One of these is that they cannot use agents to negotiate or try to work up a shady side-deal. College athletics is a very shady business with lots of corruption, empty promises, lies and very questionable recruiting tactics from an ethical standpoint. Just like the job market!
The closest thing the job market has to agents are recruiters or as some like to call them, headhunters. Recruiters come in lots of different shapes and sizes and some can be very helpful and others are just trying to hustle and make a nice commission. I’m going to try and identify some traits of good and not-so-good recruiters and help you in knowing when to work with a recruiter and when to run away….fast!
A lot of recruiters like to post job advertisements without disclosing in the ad that they are a recruiter. I always found that to be a red flag. Some recruiters will simply go out on a job website, copy ads and then try and chase a commission down once they have your resumé. Of course you have to consent to them using your resumé, but it’s a practice that left a bad taste in my mouth. It reeks of laziness too. If a recruiter does post an ad but failed to spell check it, that is also unprofessional and shows a lack of care. If a recruiter cannot paint themselves in a good light, they probably won’t be able to do so for you. Pretty much, the best recruiters are diligent and want to work with their clients to hire the right person and assist in marketing you for hire. You are a commodity.
Some recruiters insist on completely changing around your resumé. Again, this is entirely up to you if you want to go that route, but in some cases the recruiter may have a relationship with the business looking to hire. They may have placed prior candidates with this particular employer before. That is a good question to ask a recruiter, “have you ever placed any other candidates with this company before?” A “yes” answer improves your chances of potentially landing the job.
Recruiters will ask a lot of questions, but you should certainly be diligent as well and interview the recruiter. Find out how long he or she has been in this line of work. Have they placed people in your industry before? Do they specialize in specific positions or levels? Do they place with large or small firms? If they contacted you out of the blue, find out how they got your resumé.
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Also, make sure to ask a lot of the important job and company specific questions that you would ask in a first job interview. How did the job become available? How long has the company been in business? If the recruiter cannot answer basic questions about the company, then they are probably not very thorough and it would be best not to waste your time with them.
Another good thing to do is to research the recruiter. Read reviews of the recruiter. Go to the recruiter’s website and see which industry associations they belong to. Also, take a look and see what other positions that recruiter has posted on their website or on a job-board.
Recruiters always tell candidates, “don’t work with any other recruiters because other recruiters could submit your resumé to the same employer, and that looks bad.” I never really understood that. It actually would look good for the you, the candidate because 2 recruiters thought enough of your experience to visualize you in that position. What it looks bad for is the potential pissing match for commission by the 2 recruiters.
However, if that does come up, I believe in honesty and it is ok to tell the recruiter that you are working with other ones as well for other positions. You don’t have to disclose them, but just let them know that you are seeing other people.
Some recruiting / employment agencies like to sell candidates on a temp-to-hire basis. There is nothing wrong with this, and it is a great opportunity for an employer to test someone out in a position with a lot less risk. It takes a lot of the recruiting headaches out of the hands of the employer as well and can get a better pool of candidates. If in the process of interviewing the job changes from a direct hire to a temp-to-hire situation and this was not disclosed up front, then this is another red flag. This means the recruiter was able to renegotiate with the employer to get a higher commission behind your back and at your expense. Also, the employer made this choice and screwed you out of benefits for 6 months and more job security. This might be a sign that this employer may not be one you would want to work with either.
Sometimes by asking up front and confirming and even stating that you are not willing to work on a temp-to-hire basis in your initial interview with the recruiter can save you some pain down the road. Basically, always come armed with questions. Moreover, if someone is dishonest, pulls the rug out from under you or is evasive in their answers then don’t waste your time!
One final parting thought. If you see a position listed and it is listed directly with an employer and then see it listed again with a recruiter, you have a decision to make. Using the recruiter may help to get you in the door faster with some influence. However, applying through the employer directly means that the employer can pay you more without having to pay out a commission / finder’s fee to a recruiter. Personally, I’ve always felt better as an agent for myself because I always have had my own best interests at heart. The choice is yours!