I have had the opportunity to work with thousands of wonderful people as a Professional Search Professional. I have literally worked over a hundred industries for just about every position imaginable (I have considered making a reality show on some of the craziest jobs, not necessarily the dirtiest). In all these endeavors though there is a common thread; most of these people have had terrible experiences with recruiters. The question is ‘WHY?‘.
Though it usually falls into one of the following reasons, remember that staffing companies are here for THE COMPANY, NOT THE CANDIDATE. That is who hired them and that is who pays them, so 95% of the time they are trying to fill a job order, not find you a job {unless it is a professional firm that is hired by you or you are a STAR candidate}. Always remember this fact. There are companies that specialize in working with the candidate for a fee paid by you, so make sure you know which you are speaking to first.
What separates the good from the bad staffing partner is usually just simple communication with you. Most staffing companies move so quickly they move on and the candidate never hears back so you want to do several things to ensure you have the right experience.
1. First identify for yourself if you want a contract position or permanent (nothing’s permanent but let’s use that term for now), full-time position. I’ll focus on the permanent position primarily here.
2. Find an Agency that knows your industry. If I am an information technology sales professional I want to find a recruiting firm that specializes not just in information technology, but information technology sales.
3. Find an agency that specializes in permanent placement if you are seeking a full-time position. The industry is broken up between contract agencies and permanent placement agencies. Most will say they do both but the best permanent placement work the relationships differently than contract placement and have to learn the job much better.
4. The best (in my opinion) permanent placement agencies have individuals that ‘work a desk’. This means they work both with the managers and really understand the job order to fill plus they find the candidates themselves. Ask your staffing professional if he/she is the recruiter, do they have a personal relationship themselves with the company. Many agencies have a sales team and separate recruiting team. Nothing’s wrong with that but it is made for speed which usually means contract recruiting agency
5. DO NOT work with an agency that calls you out of the blue, asks if you are available and doesn’t tell you much more than that. They will send your resume into a company and you’ll never know it often times. If any staffing agency calls you, make sure you get the name of the agency and name of the recruiter who called and what the position is.
Once you find several agencies, now is the time to identify THE BEST FOR YOU. So find out the following:
1. How long has the agency been in existence and worked for that industry?
2. How long has that specific recruiter worked that industry personally? I prefer someone who came out of that industry but if they’ve recruited long enough they learn enough about it.
3. Find out if that recruiter is working with Human Resources or a Manager. Big Difference. If the Recruiter is going through layers of people you may never know what happened to your resume.
4. Have the recruiter spell out for you their process for finding you a job.
a. How many companies will they talk to on your behalf?
b. How will you and he/she communicate?
c. How often will you and the recruiter communicate?
d. What do they send the company about you?
e. Who handles the salary negotiations (the best recruiters always handle this for you)
f. Who do they handle the interview preparation with you?
f. How do they follow up with the company after the interview?
Now that you’ve found someone you want representing you, you have a responsibility as well:
a. First of all you should have 2-3 people assisting you but you need to let your agencies know this. Remember, who are they working for? THE COMPANY. They will get distracted by the best job(s) or that job that makes them the most money no matter how big their heart is to find you a job. You need to have multiple sources working for you BUT tell them that you have another partner.
b. Help them out. Let them know if you or your other agencies are calling on your behalf so they don’t send you to the same place. That may disqualify you in a company so ensure you know where they are placing you.
c. If you are interviewing, you must let your agency know this. If they find out themselves, you’re done with that agency plus they can speed things up with their clients.
d. Ask the recruiter lots of questions before the interview about the company, position, culture, manager, interview process, etc… If you chose the right recruiter, they will know this beforehand and you shouldn’t have to ask.
If you do these things and plan your search process beforehand (more of this in a separate article), you will have a relationship that could last you many years and if you’re lucky, create a new friendship.
There are so many good articles on this subject on the internet, so please research this topic with other blogs and websites.