Taming the Recruiter Beast: 5 Tips to Preserve Your Sanity and Land You a Job

This article was guest-blogged by Dear John Thain, who wrote John Thain a letter in December 2007 and has yet to hear back. He has now taken his career into his own hands.

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“The secret of steel has always carried with it a mystery. You must learn its riddle, Conan.

You must learn its discipline. For no one – no one in this world can you trust. Not men, not women, not beasts.

[Points to sword]

This you can trust.”

-Conan’s Father, Conan the Barbarian

Having dealt with recruiters a lot recently – who hasn’t? – I’ve gotten into a certain rhythm and discovered some tips that become apparent with much trial and error.

Regardless of whether you’re newly unemployed or you’re sitting in a terrible place looking to move somewhere better, the rules of taming the recruiter beast are the same.

Oh, and I’ll be using “Recruiter” rather than “Headhunter” throughout because it conjures up images of the brutal kid in dodge ball.

Disclaimer

Keep in mind these are tips intended for a person who needs to use recruiters to find a job. Networking always works better than going through a recruiter, but in this market, lots of people will need to deal with recruiters to find a job at all.

1. Get a referral or at least the name of a person who has worked with the recruiter before.

This is by far the most important tip. It’s definitely a two-way street; I’ve had numerous co-workers send recruiters my way.

These co-workers vouch for me to the recruiter and vice versa. This tells the recruiter than you are worth their time and that they can vouch for you to their clients (the people who pay their fees are their clients – you’re just a candidate).

Likewise, it tells you that you can trust this person with your personal details, sending your resume to them, and giving them your compensation info.

I know many people who trust their recruiters and continue to use them for job searches when things head south.  One guy I know got hired from a rating agency, had a great run at my firm, got hired by a good bank, and was then hired back by my firm a few months later – and his recruiter helped him navigate the entire process (I don’t recommend such a circular path).

The recruiters that call and either don’t identify themselves or trick you into talking to them (“Hi, I’m calling from the CEO’s office, I need to speak to the distressed small-balance commercial mortgage loan trader.”) are scam artists and can’t help you.  Usually these are the very junior people at smaller recruiting firms – if they close one person they get to eat.

2. Don’t approach a firm, approach a specific recruiter.

I was making a transition recently, and was given a list of firms that specialize in the area I wanted to move into.

I called up the firms and asked to speak to a recruiter without a referral (usually armed with an online listing from the website).

These firms all had a “process” – send your resume and a cover letter to a certain address, and they will get back to you if there’s a fit. I often received form responses or no responses.

This was highly ineffective – I’m sure these firms placed my resume into a huge database and forgot about it.

When you’re dealing with institutional processes you should remember that, in general, a firm’s attitude is, “If we’re supposed to know you then we already do.” Part of the way around this is referrals and responding to a recruiter on specific listings; calling a recruiting firm’s main number almost always fails.

Keep in mind, too, that there is only marginally more success dealing with a specific person – often they have assistants filtering their calls and emails.

3. Meet face to face.

If you are serious and they are serious then you should meet. This is largely psychological – you become more than just a resume.

The recruiter can see your personality in action, gets a much more detailed sense of your experience and capabilities, and stands a chance of actually remembering you.

Be as personable as you can, shake hands, and if you’re funny, be funny. This is a form of networking like any other. I’ve heard from plenty of people who remembered me from a meeting, but I’ve never gotten an email or call from someone who just found my resume on their desk from a long time ago.

4. Know the job market.

When you’re looking for a job, do you just throw your resume up somewhere and wait?

Absolutely not.

When you’re buying a car, do you just walk into a dealer and say you want a car?

Absolutely not.

You go online, research prices, options, colors, safety ratings, consumer reviews and dealerships. And the same tactics apply when dealing with recruiters.

Know what kinds of jobs are open in this environment. Go onto their website, where many list their current openings, and see what they are listing; talk to other people in a job search as well.

Finally, when you’re speaking with a recruiter, ask them questions about the current environment: “What are you seeing?” “What kind of firms are hiring through you and your competitors?” “Are firms just interviewing lots of people or are they hiring?”

This information is required for managing expectations, optimizing your time and resources, and seeing what recruiters’ competencies are.

5. Transitioning your career through a recruiter is very difficult and ill-advised.

When a firm gives a recruiter a listing they specify what they’re looking for. The majority of recruiters don’t have a deep relationship with the client giving them the listing.

So, what would the hedge fund, PE shop, or investment bank think if they get a smart person whose resume doesn’t match their listing?

At the very least, the recruiter’s client will view them as incompetent.

As one recruiter told me, “A firm doesn’t come to a recruiter looking for someone to ‘take a chance’ on.” Very true. You’ll need to network your way into a new job description more often than not.

In boom markets this is different; when skilled labor is in short supply they are more willing to take people with no experience and train them once they demonstrate potential.

No Recruiter in This World Can You Trust

Recruiters are a necessary evil. Put in more cynical terms, they might be on Conan’s list of people you can’t trust – along with beasts.

To tame the recruiter beast, you need to define your goals, plan for how to get what you want, and avoid going in circles and wasting precious time and resources.

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This article was guest-blogged by Dear John Thain, who wrote John Thain a letter in December 2007 and has yet to hear back. He has now taken his career into his own hands.

http://dearjohnthain.wordpress.com/

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