Oh recruiter oh recruiter where art thou recruiter?

• OK, so I've been unemployed for little over 4 months and tried several resources and paths to find the perfect career to fit my lifestyle and personality. During my unemployment or as I called my "mini vacation" I made sure I took care of everything needed to set myself up for success:
• Resume was updated and looked at by a professional.
• Resume printed out on soft and hard copy ready to present to potential employers.
• LinkedIn updated and clearly stating that I was looking for a new career & opportunities.
• Contacted professionals I personally knew by letting them know I was looking for a new career.
• My job interview clothing laid out and ready to put on when needed.
• Updated my Monster.com, Indeed, Recruit Military, Remote.com
• During this time I went to networking events, worked on myself, my craft, my network, meet with recruiters, went to job interviews and spent a lot of time with my family & friends. From encouragement from my girlfriend, friends, family and deep reflection I focused on what I really wanted in a career instead of just finding a job. Every so often I would get frustrated but with good diet, exercise, faith and not giving up I knew I would eventually find my new career.

Fast forward to today and I can tell you several lessons and key points I learned on my time off: Using a recruiter to find a new career is a waste of time. I am not saying all recruiters are bad but I feel a majority are terrible at their job and forgot how important networking is and helping the job seeker. Here's how: from my experience I had to do most of the calling and keeping in touch, repeating on what I wanted in a career, logistics from home to work and just recruiters forgetting about me. I talked to a Director of Business Development who works with recruiters about my concern and obstacles of using a recruiter and he said, "recruiters are not focused on helping the individual job seeker but focused on the large contracts from corporations". He took it upon himself to find the right recruiter and use his network to aid in my career search.

At the end it was old fashioned networking that landed me my new career which I am very grateful. If you want to control your career destiny skip the recruiter route and ask friends, family, your network, mentors and professionals you know to help you find your job or career.

Carpe Diem,

Michael Td Roberts