Recruiters play a unique role in any company’s hiring process. They are hired to find talent that a company can’t find for itself and, in a sense, the candidates they provide for consideration are their “inventory.” On the other hand, the more the candidate commands in terms of starting salary, the greater their commission.
From the job hunter’s perspective, being recruited can be viewed as validation of one’s worth, and it can certainly make the hiring process run smoother than having to take the normal route of endless networking, applying online and hoping to get some traction.
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Here are some touchstones to keep in mind when thinking about and working with a recruiter:
Find recruiters on LinkedIn who deal with your area of professional expertise. Click on the magnifying glass icon in the “Search” box, and do a simple search. For example, if you are in marketing, you might simply type in: “Recruiter AND Marketing.” You might then modify the search by adding a parameter in the location section on the right of your screen. You can even go deeper to find recruiters at a given company.
Tip: Start with a broad search and then gradually add limiting qualifications to it until you narrow down your results to a handful with which you can actually effectively deal.
Reach out to headhunters! According to a RiseSmart survey of recruiters conducted by practice development manager Kimberly Schneiderman, 73 percent of recruiters feel positive or very positive about candidates initiating contact with them for networking purposes. And, a surprisingly low 11 percent of those polled indicated that they rarely or almost never present people who are currently without a job to their client companies for consideration.
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Help the people you want to help you. When you get an introductory call from a recruiter asking, “Do you know anyone who would be a good fit for X role?” it’s headhunter code for asking: “Are you interested in this role?”
Even if it isn’t the right role or the right time for you to make a professional move, don’t regard it as an inconvenience and just slam down the phone!
You can bet that they will make the effort to keep and strengthen their relationship with you if you help them meet their current needs.
It’s not “giving up” your contacts or “ratting them out” when you say something like, “I know that John Smith is a leader in this field. You might want to reach out to him.” Or, “I’m not currently interested, but this could be a good fit for my friend who I know is currently dissatisfied with his role.”
If you’ve helped them, you can bet they will try to help you. And if you are their “sweet spot” type of candidate, they may actively seek to market you to their own current or potential clients.
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Take advantage of recruiters’ inside insights. They meet with hiring managers to gather information including the job requirements either “usually” or “always” 84 percent of the time, according to RiseSmart’s survey. It only makes sense that they want to get as much information up front as they can so that they can hone their search on candidates most likely to succeed.
At the same time, as they know more about the inner workings of the company than you’ll ever be able to find out on your own, they will likely be able to shed light on a hiring manager’s particular challenges, needs and expectations for a top-flight candidate.
A good recruiter should be able and eager to help prime you for an interview by answering many of your questions about a company, how its hiring process works, some of the personalities involved and more.
If you take the time to engage with a recruiter rather than just assuming you know everything you need to know to get the job, you’ll be better prepared for your interviews. You’ll gain a good sense of the kinds of things in your background that will resonate with your potential new boss and peers.
Keep in mind that when you succeed, your recruiter succeeds … and the same holds true in reverse if you’ve helped him or her along the way!
Happy hunting!
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How to Work With Recruiters to Win Your Next Job originally appeared on usnews.com
