Don'ts in Recruiter-Candidate relation (in Japan at-least)

Thanks for the encouraging response to my first post last week.. it made me write again... :-)

This time I am writing about working with recruiters, esp in Japan. Recruiters represent the candidate to the client, and so they need to know the whole situation... they are supposed to be the friend, the partner, with whom the candidate should share every details about his/her job hunting activities and other details which might affect the job search. I have worked as a recruiter, so I don't understand why would or why should the recruiter NOT know about what the candidate is thinking... recruitment industry is not really about a one time relation, ... its more a long term relation...  and Transparency works the best!

DON'Ts for Candidate:                                                                                                           - Not sharing the past application history for same position being discussed.          -  Not sharing the current applications in process.                                                         -  Not sharing any other information that directly affects job related decision.      (The recruiter might negotiate and make things work as per your plan, only if he knows it)                                                                                                                                 

Also the recruiters should be friendly, and not so aggressive that the candidate cannot find the partner in them... if the candidate feels that the recruiter is pushy, he/she would definitely not share the information, which might go against taking the job in question....

DON'Ts for Recruiters:                                                                                                            - Not being personal and                                                                                                      - Not confirming the exact fit for position with the candidate.                                    - Not trying to get all related information, past and current applications (the candidate might just forget, or not know what is important to be shared)                  - Trying to close the candidate even if it is not the best option! You might close the deal but if the candidate is misfit in the place, you ought to miss on the long term relation with the candidate, have a negative brand image in market and also in the company's mind.

Also personally, I believe working with more than 1 recruiter at a time is a good idea, as they would have different positions, but they both should know about the other and the position that are in process!! Also working with too many recruiters at the same time does not make a positive impact either...So we need to make a clever decision!

As far as recruitment is concerned, its a very competitive industry and though at times the aggression can win, in the long term the relations win... after all its a part of HR - Human Relations!! :-)

P.S. this article is heavily impressed by my opinion!! also will make sure that the sketch is better next time.