Sorry, most likely recruiters are not going to find you a job.

I see a lot of people are talking about what recruiters do, and some of them are even recruiters! Folks certainly have a lot of opinions about our function and it is true that there are many ways of being a recruiter - agency, internal, retained, contingency, contract. All of those exist and some folk do them all and some folks do them all well and some folks are not really good at whatever they do.

I know.

I'm a self employed third party recruiter, which means companies compensate me when I successfully fill their roles. I present a candidate, people interview and then accept the offered job. Sounds simple. Once in awhile it is!

Sometimes because I am worth it people pay me up front to insure they get my full attention. Thats helpful to me.

But it is important to realize I don't find people jobs, I help companies fill jobs and that function includes shaping, positioning and finding clarity in communication.

Sometimes I can directly assist people in their job search and I spend a lot of time doing that because it is am important part of how I see myself making the employment ecosystem healthier, but that is more mission work than my business. I can be super helpful and I do a lot of coaching of candidate who ask, but even then they are the ones doing the work. I'm just a bit player in their efforts, and I never charge for it.

I pay attention to power dynamics and at this moment in time candidates - even highly sought out tech candidates - often need an advocate to navigate our cumbersome hiring practices successfully. I do that for candidates I represent, as well as protect my client companies from their own worst impulses which often stem from kludgy systems/practices, poor communication, and a lack of urgency and empathy in the process.

But my function - my actual business - is to perform a role effectively - to advocate for the individual and the organization, streamline communication and shape the process so everyone's happiness throughout is maximized which results in accepted offers and payment for me. When I began to hold myself accountable to truly see & deeply interact w/the individuals with whom I work - hiring managers, HR and candidates - when I resisted the pressure to reduce them to objects to use to get what I want, my business truly took off.

But I still do not find people jobs as my business.