Strategic Approaches to Job Selection and Avoidance

This is the fourth in a series of eight articles geared towards recruiters but which provide important insights for job seekers.

As recruiters, we all want to work on the jobs that will pay the most.? It’s only natural.? It’s also foolish.? Compensation, while important, should not be a factor in deciding what assignment to take.? The potential for success is the only thing that is important.

Let me use myself as an example:

My background is in the non-profit sector.? When I first became a recruiter, I only worked on job orders for non-profits.? I understood the mentality.? I knew how to speak with the employer (client) and applicants.? Since I had worked for a variety of non-profits, it did not matter if they were community- or health-care-oriented.?

Then one day a for-profit client knocked on our door.? The boss gave them to me.? It was not a great leap as they were looking for an executive assistant.? Whether the search is for an EA for a non-profit trying to find a cure for a disease or a for-profit real estate development company, an EA is an EA is an EA.? No problem.? But then came the requests for me to find them facility managers.? When asked if I could do it, my response was, “If I could find and place neuroscientists, I think I can find facility managers.”

It is all a question of process.? If the recruiter delves deep into a job description, if they are not afraid to ask questions, if they understand the client’s corporate culture, their niche should not matter.? The skill set of the recruiter is always the same.? Of course, if the job is totally foreign to them, and they simply cannot understand the job description, it would probably be best to pass on the assignment.? On the other hand, ignorance can be a positive.? For example, I am not a neuroscientist or an IT expert, but when conducting searches in those fields, an important consideration was whether applicants could explain their work to an average person.? In other words, if I could not understand them, I did not submit them!

That said, there may be searches that are simply not a good match for a recruiter, for personal, not professional, reasons.?

For example, if the recruiter is anti-abortion, working with Planned Parenthood would not be a good idea.? By the same token, if they have a deep, even spiritual, dislike of guns, conducting a search for the NRA may not be their thing.?

If the recruiter really does not care what the client does, then it’s just an assignment and the recruiter’s aim is simply to be the best professional they can be.? But, if they are passionate about the client’s work, for example, if they have a relative with Alzheimer’s, they would no doubt care deeply to do a great job if the client was the Alzheimer’s Association.? Either way, the recruiter would have an important incentive to be successful: their professional reputation or their loved one’s life.

The important thing about choosing a client is to ideally believe in what they are doing or, at a minimum, not to oppose it.? As long as the recruiter will not have a crisis of conscience working for a company, be they for-profit or non-profit, there is nothing wrong with expanding one’s niche.? After all, if all a recruiter does is one type of search, all they will have is one type of client.? In the past that may have been a good business model, but not today.? Today one has to be open to new challenges.

One final thought:? Refusing to accept an assignment because you do not feel you will be able to do a good job for the client, will be appreciated.? I know from personal experience that such a rejection can lead to other assignments which would never have been offered if the first had been a failure.

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Future Articles:

• The Crucial Role of Interview Preparation in Candidate Placement
• Thoughtful Debriefing with Candidates
• Cultivating Advisor Relationships with Premier Candidates
• Efficient Candidate Vetting
• References
• You Accept One Job and Another is Offered
• LinkedIn's SSI