Why Recruiters are Good for Job Seekers

This is my perspective on why you should be building good relationships with Recruiters/Account Managers.

1.    The current market

If you’re anything like me, you are probably tired of hearing about the effects of COVID_19, but we definitely can’t ignore it and it has affected all of us – some good, and some bad. 

In the recruitment industry we have definitely seen a seismic shift and in most respects, the market has moved from a candidate-centric market to a client-centric market. In a nutshell, this is not great for the job seeker.

Companies have felt the pinch, as have employees; their budgets are being cut, recruitment has reduced dramatically, and where we do find that there are pockets of recruitment, companies are being extremely cautious with their selection during this time when we are still working remotely.

To put this into perspective - I recently put out an ad for one of the roles I was recruiting for, and within 2 days I had over 1000 applications. That’s a lot of CV’s to sift through!

2.    Relationship with the client

Good recruiters spend an inordinate amount of time trying to understand clients and their business – ethos, culture, technical environment, who’s who in the zoo – who makes the decisions, and the list goes on. We form good partnerships built on trust. In many respects, our clients become our friends.

So, when we receive a job opportunity to fill for our clients, we will have inside knowledge that is usually not captured on the comprehensive job spec that you will see advertised. Without an in-depth understanding of the role and how it fits into the organization, it is extremely difficult for the job seeker to position their application.  How will your CV stand out from all of the other applications? (Ah CV’s – that’s another topic completely).

3.    Positioning the candidate

This is where a Recruiter can add real value to you, the job seeker.

There is no way you can expect a prospective employer to wade through the length of every CV that lands in their application in-box, particularly if the relevant information is hidden somewhere in your CV (in some cases, assumptions need to be made, because it isn’t clear in the CV).

Understanding the employer’s needs and challenges, the recruiter will be able to extract relevant information that will get the CV noticed. Even more so when the recruiter has that all-important trust factor built into their relationship with the client.

So this brings me to my last point to close this circle.

4.    Relationship with the candidate

This is what you should be expecting from any recruiter who makes contact with you.

Having worked in the recruitment industry for basically my whole career, one topic rears its head over and over and over; viz Do I as a recruiter reveal who my client is upfront with the candidates, or not?

My take on this topic is definitely a big “YES”. This is why:

In this business, relationships are key from every aspect. Those of us who have been in the recruitment industry for any length of time will understand that eventually your candidates become your clients, and that’s why building a rapport with every candidate is high up on my list of Recruitment 101.

Treating my candidates with trust and respect generally ensures that this behaviour is reciprocated (okay, to be honest, there are cases where it isn’t reciprocated, but that is a small percentage and I prefer to not focus on those relationships). Withholding information such as who your client is, restricts the ability of the candidate to make an informed decision about whether to engage with the recruiter or not.  So to me, it’s a no-brainer!

In conclusion

It’s not a bad idea to be kind and forthcoming to any recruiter who can show you they are worth their salt. Make sure you are working with recruiters with whom you can build a rapport. Take time to build a solid relationship. I’m sure you’ll see that you will be rewarded at the end of the day.