As a long-time recruiter, I can tell you that very few applicants truly understand the corporate recruiting process. The truth is, the entire hiring process can be a little mystifying. After all, you don’t really know what’s going on after you’ve dropped your resume or appeared for an interview. Connecting with the right recruiter can remove a lot of guesswork from the process, but not all job seekers understand what recruiters really do and how partnering with us can be helpful. Between the moment you send your resume and the moment you get the job, a lot goes on behind the scenes. I’m going to reveal some of that in this blog post.
Recruiters open up the world of un-posted jobs for you
If you’ve spent any amount of time searching for a job, you know that finding an interesting position with a good company is not an easy task. For one thing, most jobs are not posted online. Career coaching expert and president of Career Horizons, Matt Youngquist estimates 70-80% of jobs aren’t advertised publicly. This means you’re spending your time and energy competing with an overwhelming number of candidates for only 20% of positions.
Recruiters spend weeks, if not months, proactively building relationships with hiring managers of employer companies. They are tasked with vetting candidates for positions that you may not have access to during your job search. Working with a recruiter uncovers potential opportunities that, perhaps, you could never have found on your own.
They are dedicated to find the right match
Hiring managers often have their plates full with a heap of tasks, which leaves them with little or no time to assess individual candidates for a position. Recruiters, on the other hand, are a more dedicated force. They devote their time to understand a company, its culture, and its hiring needs. When opportunities arise, a recruiter should know why this position is available. It’s a part of the recruiter’s job to know the ins and outs of a position and what makes someone a good fit – not only technically but also culturally.
When you review a job description, you probably first sit down and evaluate how many of those boxes you tick off. You may be happy thinking that you match 8 out of 10 points mentioned in the description. But, what if the two points that don’t match are the ones most critical for qualifying? A good recruiter knows which areas of the job description are most important to the hiring manager and which ones are secondary. Working with the right recruiter gets you one step closer to being selected for a position.
They make the process more seamless than it is
One thing that jobseekers dread is the resume black hole. For the uninitiated, it’s a situation when your job application doesn’t get acknowledged by the employer and you never come to know if it was even received in the first place. Sound familiar?
Effective recruiters not only send your resume to the employer but they also have a clear understanding of the latter’s interview process and timelines. Having a strong relationship with the hiring manager puts them in a position where they can follow-up and get initial feedback within 24-48 hours. When you’re doing it on your own, you risk coming across as pushy or needy, which can ruin your chances of getting hired or put you in a weaker spot when it comes to salary negotiations, even if you are considered for the position.
Their job demands recruiters to be strong schedulers. This makes it much easier for them to find out what works for the candidate and the employer in order to establish a time and mode of contact for an interview that works for both parties. If a recruiter just passed all your contact information to the employer and left you with “the hiring manager will schedule an interview with you,” they are doing it wrong.
They know what goes on in the employer’s mind
Often, hiring managers discuss their concerns directly with recruiters. So if you’re not considered for a position, it’s likely that they know it. Unlike employers who’ll not breakdown the reasons why you are not a fit for them, recruiters are generally more honest. They will tell you whether it was a lower pay or more experience that got someone else the job you were eyeing. Knowing the truth can be helpful for your future job searches.
Plus, a candidate might never know if their recruiter is selling them to a client or not. In some cases, a recruiter may have more to say in a hiring process than you would have imagined. They can help hiring managers make more informed decisions during the hiring process. For instance, our agency has worked with multiple hiring managers for years, and many of them trust and respect our thoughts on a candidate. Sometimes they seek our honest opinion on a candidate prior to making a hire.
Though this happens when both parties share a relationship based on trust and mutual understanding, maintaining a good relationship with your recruiters may be beneficial for you in the long run.
They can help you strike the right deal
Recruiters can also help negotiate better compensation packages and benefits. Since they are a part of the hiring process, they have a better understanding of a company’s ideal salary ranges. Recruiters can also be a great buffer and utilize their relationship and experience with hiring managers to help get salary hikes.
A recruiter’s involvement in the hiring process is far greater than just sending your resume to the employer. Owing to their role, experience, and influence in the hiring process, working with a recruiter can get you that much closer to landing that dream job you’ve been trying so hard to get.
