A Day in the Life of a Recruiter

I just found this old practice video I put together when preparing a talk for job seekers on how to work with recruiters. When combined with these two posts it offers job seekers a realistic understanding of what's needed to get a new job.

• A 10-point Plan for Getting a New Job in 90 Days
• A Performance-based Interview Guide with Questions & Answers

Here's a quick summary of the video:

1. Biggest point: recruiters find people for jobs, not jobs for people. So don't waste your time sending them resumes unless you've been referred.
2. You'll discover the one question you must ask to find out if the recruiter is a gatekeeper or a career counselor. This is the same question you'll use to figure out if the recruiter has any influence with the hiring manager. If not, you'll need to find another recruiter or the back door.
3. Don't fall into the trap of filtering jobs based on Day 1 criteria. This is what you get on you day you start on new job, e.g., title, company, location, compensation. More important, don't let the recruiter filter you out either on the same criteria.
4. Force the recruiter to Think Backwards. (FYI - this is the secret to getting a better job and negotiating the offer.)

Here are a bunch of other videos for hiring managers, recruiters and job seekers. Only watch them if your team doesn't make it to the Sweet 16. They'll help you forget. My team (UCLA) made it past the bubble, but it might soon burst.

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Lou Adler (@LouA) is the CEO of The Adler Group, a consulting and training firm helping companies implement Performance-based Hiring. He's also a regular columnist for Inc. Magazine and BusinessInsider. His latest book, The Essential Guide for Hiring & Getting Hired(Workbench, 2013), provides hands-on advice for job-seekers, hiring managers and recruiters on how to find the best job and hire the best people. His new video program provides job seekers inside secrets on what it takes to get a job in the hidden job market.