Top 3 Preliminary Questions to Ask a #Recruiter Upon 1st Contact

I did a brief post last week about the importance of qualifying #Recruiters you’re reaching out to in order to ensure you’re not wasting your time following-up with the wrong people. This is important because if you’re devoting your time and energy trying to connect with the wrong people – then that’s lost time and energy. You need to be focusing your efforts on reaching out to the right people who have the highest chances of assisting you.

I get a lot of contact and communication from job seekers via phone calls, emails, and #LinkedIn messaging – sometimes I can assist them; other times I can’t, because I’m not actively recruiting for their skill set. If you’ve been following me for a while, you already know I’ve written in the past the importance of taking the initiative to reach out to #StaffingAgency #Recruiters to introduce yourself using the phone.

So this article assumes you’ve called in, finished your introduction – and now comes the qualifying part. Note: there are many great qualifying questions to ask, however what I'm discussing here are in my opinion the most important ones.

The 3 MOST important preliminary questions you need to be asking after you’ve introduced yourself over the phone so both you AND the #Recruiter can determine if there is a potential for the both of you to partner up for your search, are:

1. "Based on what I’ve told you about myself, are you actively recruiting for someone with my background at this time?" This is the primary question you need to be asking to see if there is an immediate opportunity here for you and the #Recruiter to work together. If there is something immediately which might be a great fit for you, the conversation can now shift to discussing the available and relevant opportunity/opportunities. If the answer is “No”, then move on to question #2.
2. "Have you recruited for my skill set in the past?" This question speaks for itself. You’re trying to find out if they’ve ever recruited for your background in the past. If they’ve done so frequently in the past, then you can anticipate them recruiting for someone like yourself at some point in the future.
3. "Are you anticipating recruiting for [insert your skill set] roles in the near or distant future?" Asking this question allows you to figure out if they can help you at some point in the future and also helps you figure out how often you should follow-up. A #Recruiter who frequently recruits for your skill set should be assigned a higher follow-up priority level vs a #Recruiter who only occasionally recruits for your skill set. Practice your judgement here.

#1 above would be the ideal scenario for you, however if not, you don’t want to write-off the #Recruiter right away. You still need to find out if it makes sense to keep in touch over the short-term or long-term which is why you want to follow-up with #2 and #3.

BONUS: Even if the Recruiter is not actively looking for your skill set, if your end-goal is to setup a more detailed discussion with the #Recruiter so you can REALLY sell them on your value as a viable candidate for future roles, the above 3 questions will help set-up closing them on that:

“Mr/Mrs Recruiter – I understand you’re not currently actively recruiting for someone with my background, however given that you have recruited for [insert your skill set] in the past, and from what you’ve told me, you’ve recruited quite frequently for these type of roles as well – I’d like to schedule a more detailed discussion with you so I can let you know more about my accomplishments and the kind of value and results I’ve gotten for previous employers/projects, which I can potentially deliver for your Clients when the need arises for someone with my background.”

Remember: as important as it is to be reaching out to #StaffingAgencies over the phone and introduce yourself, you also need to be asking the right preliminary questions to help you determine who can assist you and who can’t.

Thanks for reading and be sure to Comment/Like/Share!

Wishing you the best in your #JobSearch!

Dean Kulaweera - #TechRecruiter

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