The following is part three of a four part series outlining the value of utilizing a Recruiter in your job search.
Previous Posts have discussed the Benefits of Working with a Recruiter and Where to find a Recruiter to work with. Now that you have committed with working with a Recruiter and you have found someone that you are considering working with, you need to take the time to look into their background to make sure that they are a good fit for you to be working with. Part three will discuss what to look for when screening a possible Recruiter before you allow them to represent you.
More than Two Years of Recruitment Experience
Recruiting is not for everyone and there does seem to be a high amount of turnover for people in these roles between the first two years so if someone has made it past that timeframe they must be doing something right. While I am not saying that there are not any quality Recruiters with less than two years of experience, I would recommend looking into the amount of experience your potential recruitment partner has and take this into account.
If you like a Recruiter with less than two years experience it is fair to ask how many people have they placed with the client or in general to get an overview of their past success. It is also fair to ask what they might have done prior to recruitment and how they feel it helped them prepare for their current position. Recruiters with over two years of experience have been around to see the challenges that arise in a typical hiring process and they can share best practices and better set your expectations to possible issues that could occur during the process so that you are not blindsided should one arise.
Stable Job History
Again, not all qualified Recruiters will have two years experience so in these cases I will always talk to the Recruiter or look at their LinkedIn profile to ensure that they have a stable job history. Just as you would like to see if you were hiring this Recruiter for a full time position, you don’t want to see a candidate who has worked five jobs in five years, or large employment gaps without a specific reason.
The goal is to find a Recruiter committed to you and their work, not someone who will work with you for a few months and then move off to another venture that forces you to start over with your search for a personal Recruiter. Just as you are being interviewed for the job the Recruiter is looking to fill, you are interviewing the Recruiter to represent you so don’t feel funny to ask questions about their work experience.
An understanding of the Technology
It is very common for a professional Recruiter to find themselves in a position where they are working to fill a technical position that they might not fully understand from a day-to-day perspective. Commonly a newer Recruiter will be coached to ask specific questions and mention specific terms to let the candidate speak to their experience with a given technology, although the Recruiter might not actually know if what the candidate is saying is fully accurate or not.
While it is not essential for a Recruiter to be fully technical to be successful, do make sure that the Recruiter has a basic understanding of the technology that they are recruiting for and are not wasting your time with positions that do not match your expertise or interests.
Look into their Company
While a great Recruiter can be responsible for finding you a great job, a poor company backing the Recruiter can quickly make your employment less than ideal, especially when working as a contractor. Make sure that you take the time to research the company the Recruiter is working for and read their reviews online. Do they have a smooth payroll operation? Do they offer benefits? Do they take care of their contractors? Do they have a reliable point of contact that you can reach out to in case of timecard issues? These are all fair questions to bring up during the initial conversation with a potential Recruiter to feel out their back office operations.
There are pros and cons to working with both a large and a small staffing agency although completing some due diligence on the front end and conducting thorough research will hopefully help mitigate any potential headaches that will come once you have been on-boarded with the organization.
Quality candidates will always be in demand for Recruiters to work with although it is important that as a candidate, you are willing to take the time and do some research to ensure that you are selecting the right Recruiter for your long term goals and not just the flashiest option who does a good job at selling themselves.
In the final part of this four part series we will look at what to do next now that you have selected the individual Recruiter that you will be working with on your job search.
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