When Should You Work with a Recruiter?

Many candidates will only talk to a recruiter when they’re unemployed feel like they’ve exhausted all other options. But the truth is, the best time to work with a recruiter is when you’re happily employed.

You might not be searching for a position at that time but start building those relationships before you ever need to use them.

It doesn’t have to be a long phone call or email – just long enough to let them know you’re not looking for something right now and assess how good they are at what they do.

The best part about working with a recruiter when you’re gainfully employed is that you both usually have the same goal — placing you with the right employer, even if that doesn’t happen right away. The trick is to be honest about your experience and intentions, then, when the right opportunity comes along, you’ll be on top of their mind - they also won't waste your time discussing opportunities that are not going to be of interest to you.

What kind of questions should you be asking?

Below are a few reasons to talk with the recruiter, and a few questions you might want to ask!

1. Ask questions

Is this recruiter working for one particular company? There will be more limitations with a recruiter whose interest is in filling a specific need. Some recruiters work with multiple employers within a specific industry - they will be of value for a wider variety of roles.

Some questions you might want to ask to ensure the recruiter you're working with is going to be a good resource for you;

• What do they know about your industry? Is there a supply-chain? Manufacturers? Processors? Distributors? (Carriers, Wholesale Brokers, Agencies?) Does the this recruiter specialize in working with a specific part of the supply chain? How can they help you?
• Have they successfully made placements in your industry?
• Do they represent YOU or do they represent companies? Do they have any retained agreements (up-front, paid contract to fill certain jobs with any specific employers) or are they contingent (independent recruiters who only get paid after an employee has proven to be a good fit)?
• Who pays the recruiter? Is it the candidate or the employer?
• Are these temporary, contract-to-hire, or direct hire roles? If you don't want to work in temporary or contract-to-hire roles, make sure they know that.
• If you don't have a role that fits your desired career or financial development, what happens then?

If you were to contemplate making an employer change, think about the deciding factors that would make it worthwhile to make a change;

• Career Development? Have you been in the same role for awhile, and ready for a promotion or something different?
• Reduced commute: Maybe an office or a territory that is closer to home (or remote)
• Better culture fit; At different stages in our careers, you'll value different things. Some of these cultural factors are the differences between employers.
• Greater income opportunity; Sometimes that means a more aggressive compensation structure, commission or bonuses and sometimes that might mean a larger base salary. All depends on what type of role you want to be in, and what the company values.

You do not need to be miserable to make a job change. In fact, sometimes the best opportunities appear when you least expect them, and better yet, the new employer and job will HAVE TO BE a BETTER fit in order to make a move since you're not running away from a bad situation.

2. Establish a relationship with a recruiter that can genuinely help you later

Working with recruiters that specialize in specific industries or with specific types of roles "Sales or Management" for example, often means that they'll most likely have multiple roles with different employers in that same industry - building a relationship with a recruiter that may be helpful later on in your career. A good recruiter knows how to manage a talent pool just as well as a job / client pool. Someone transactional, will look at your background and see it as can I help you (or themselves) NOW or NOT?

Once your recruiter gets to know you, your career goals, and your motivations - they can keep you updated the best fitting opportunities that best match up on paper.

3. Better understand your market value

One of the best ways to gauge your market value is to test the market. Talking with a good recruiter will give you an idea about how in-demand people with your skills are and what kind of compensation they command at other employers. If you feel or find out that your current employer undervalues you, you will have information and data to back this up.

4. Practice your interview skills for when it does count

Interviewing is a skill that takes practice. The more you do it, the better you will be. Interviewing when the stakes are low is a great way to test your interviewing skills with minimal risk. You will also find that interviewing is a lot less nerve-racking when you aren’t desperate for the job. You can use this experience to improve your interviewing skills so you will feel more confident when interviewing in the future.

5. Learn how other organizations work

Talking with other organizations can be a great excuse to learn more about how they approach the same work you do. Think of it as an intelligence gathering exercise. You can get insight into how your competitors operate, learn about new systems or technologies you may want to adopt, or get exposure to different ways of thinking that you might incorporate into your current job.

6. Help better understand your career goals

As busy professionals, we do not often have time to reflect on our careers, including talking about our strengths and weaknesses, successes and failures or thinking about where we want to be in five years.

The kinds of questions that come up in interviews and conversations with recruiters can be a good exercise in self-discovery and force you to take a step back and examine where you are in your career.

Even if you decide you are happy and don’t want to make a move, you may learn that there are new skills you want to develop or projects you want to take on that will help you grow in your current position.

Have you, in the past, spoken to a recruiter when you weren’t actively searching for a job? What was your experience? Let us know in the comments section!