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Permalink Reply by Nate Fischer on July 30, 2010 at 10:19am

Well having some previously bad history with recruiters of recruiters in looking for my current position. I generally anticipate very little from people who do this.

What I would expect and want is the professional courtesy of a peer. Be open and honest, and get straight to the point. Don't try to woo them, us recruiters do this all day long and quite frankly seeing some of our own tactics used on us gets old really quick.

It can't be easy. Cold calling is the probably the best method, and gatekeepers at staffing agencies are generally really good at ferreting out recruiters as they see and deal with them all day long in their office.

I definitely don't envy you guys, its a tough field, and I would seriously like to see some more professionals there rather than the "snakes" that call me every day.

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Permalink Reply by Susan J Wojtkowski on July 30, 2010 at 10:25am

How timely! I was recently recruited (I begin my new job next week) and I was rather confused by the way the recruiter operated. He was wonderful at keeping me informed of the process, but told me very little about the company (what he did tell me was incorrect), about the people I would be meeting (he didn't know what they did, told ME to ask them when I arrived!). He didn't "interview" me, at all..just told me the very basics about the job and wanted to see if I was interested. Also..there was no interview prep. In my case..it wall worked out..I did my homework on the company and the officers and prepared myself for the interview. I'm pleased to begin this new opportunity, but it really made me think about my own role as a recruiter.

Am I:
properly screening candidates?
familiar enough with my clients to be able to describe the company and its services?
do I know who my candidates will be meeting with and what their roles are, at the very least?
doing a thorough interview prep?

I think these are all KEY factors for a recruiter in developing a positive relationship with candidates.

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Permalink Reply by Bill Ward on July 30, 2010 at 1:49pm

Susan,

You hit the nail on the head. These losers who call themselves "recruiters" are nothing more than telemarketers trying to sell bodies rather than widgets. As recently as yesterday, I talked with an SVP that was hired 8 months ago at a large privately held company in Los Angeles. The firm that represented the company was a well known executive search firm out of New York. In his own words, "all they did for three months was sell me. I never met with anyone nor did they conduct any kind of interview or challenge anything on my resume." I'd love to say who the firm was, but I don't feel like getting sued.

If I were an internal recruiter, I would expect my third party agency to handle all of the things I might not have time to do..like meet every candidate face to face, challenge and verify everything the candidate claims to have accomplished, thoroughly check references (not the ones the candidate provides) and only send me a handful of very qualified candidates based on the hiring criteria that the hiring executive, myself and the recruiter have developed and agreed upon.

Keep in mind that whomever you hire (contingency or retained) is representing your brand in the marketplace. It goes without saying that they should be professional and can effectively engage the level of professional you are trying to recruit. In order to do that, they must have enough knowledge of your organization that they come across as more of an insider than some rinky dink recruiter who recites the company bio when asked about their client. This means allowing your recruiting partner to spend time with the executive that you are supporting in order to ask enough great questions to truly understand the good, bad and ugly. Without this information, recruiting and assessing potential candidates becomes extremely difficult.


Susan J Wojtkowski said:

How timely! I was recently recruited (I begin my new job next week) and I was rather confused by the way the recruiter operated. He was wonderful at keeping me informed of the process, but told me very little about the company (what he did tell me was incorrect), about the people I would be meeting (he didn't know what they did, told ME to ask them when I arrived!). He didn't "interview" me, at all..just told me the very basics about the job and wanted to see if I was interested. Also..there was no interview prep. In my case..it wall worked out..I did my homework on the company and the officers and prepared myself for the interview. I'm pleased to begin this new opportunity, but it really made me think about my own role as a recruiter.
Am I: properly screening candidates? familiar enough with my clients to be able to describe the company and its services? do I know who my candidates will be meeting with and what their roles are, at the very least? doing a thorough interview prep?

I think these are all KEY factors for a recruiter in developing a positive relationship with candidates.

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Permalink Reply by Mitch Sullivan on August 2, 2010 at 2:54pm

I expect my recruiters to be able to spell 'expect'.

OK, just to veer off the path that's signposted 'Mitch is being nasty', the point I'm making, albeit clumsily, is that I expect recruiters to be be intelligent and capable of compelling communication.

The sad fact is that most contingency recruiters know next to nothing about recruitment in its broadest sense. All they really know about is throwing candidates at job specs.

Companies have to accept their share of the blame though, because if they don't brief the agency well then they are limited to what they can do. Much of that is probably down to them not being capable of assessing which agencies are more likely to deliver.

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