Recruiters

The recruiter will take the job description and post it somewhere. They may do it themselves, and/or send it to one or more third-party agencies.

It’s important to note that recruiters are paid to place people into jobs. If they don’t find someone, they don’t get paid.

They have a lot of incentive to find someone the hiring manager will accept. Not necessarily the best candidate, but the one that will get them paid the most money for the least effort.

The problem with recruiters: They’re all different. They all have their own way of evaluating candidates. Ask three recruiters what’s the best way to get a job, and you’ll get five answers.

Recruiters aren’t the enemy

Let’s get this out of the way: recruiting is a tough job. They’re in the middle of hiring managers who may be unreasonable, and candidates who may be excessively aggressive.

The goal for both candidates and hiring managers is to fill the position. Nobody wants to work too hard at it.

Recruiters fill a valuable role in this process. They do a lot of the hard work.

Candidates don’t want their resume sent to someone who has no interest in hiring them. Hiring managers don’t want to sift through a stack of irrelevant resumes. Good recruiters vastly simplify the process. They know who is hiring, they know who is looking. They make the connection between the two.

That doesn’t mean they’re looking out for candidates’ or the hiring managers’ best interest. They are trying to make the most money they can for themselves and their company.

Recruiters aren’t your friend

Recruiters make their money from the company that hires their candidate. It is in their best interest to deliver a product that generates the most income.

That doesn’t mean recruiters are looking for “the best candidate”. It doesn’t even mean they’re looking for “a good candidate”. It only has to be their candidate.

The specifics of how a recruiter is paid vary, but they all revolve around placing candidates into jobs.

If paying a candidate less means they make more, then that’s what they’ll try to do. They may not offer the best candidate if they think they can make more from one who isn’t as good, but makes them more money, that’s what they’ll do.

Part of a recruiter’s job is sales. Ask, and some will even brag about it. It isn’t the whole job, though.

What are salespeople thinking about when they’re working?

A salesperson’s job

When someone goes to buy something, whether it’s a car, furniture, or anything that involves a salesperson, that salesperson isn’t going to sell you the best product. They sell what they have, or what they can get.

Sometimes they have exactly what the customer wants. Yup, they have a 2022 Jeep with a 4" lift sitting on 35s, right over there, it’s the color the customer wants, and it’s on sale.

Sometimes the customer wants something that isn’t available anywhere. Sorry, there aren’t any sub-compacts that can carry a 3/4 ton of 4x8 plywood sheets.

Many times the customer wants something pretty close to what is available. Maybe the color isn’t what they wanted, or it’s older than they like. If it’s good enough, the customer may buy it because they’re tired of looking.

A salesperson’s job is to convince the buyer that what they have is what the customer wants, and to be paid as much as they can for it.

Why a recruiter isn’t really a salesperson

A salesperson has an inventory that they are trying to sell. They have the items in their store, or in inventory. A recruiter is given requirements for candidates, and they have to go and find it. In that way, they’re more like an agent.

It isn’t until they have a selection of candidates that they become a salesperson.

The candidate is the product

If someone is selling a car, they can be paid more just by cleaning it. Things like broken electronics, interior lights that don’t work, or ragged windshield wipers drive the selling price down much further than what it costs to fix them.

Yes, that’s all superficial, but most car buyers don’t know enough to make informed decisions. They look at what they know. They don’t know about turbo-chargers, they know about radios.

This is true of recruiters, too. They don’t know what to look for, so they look at the resume. Is it formatted nicely? Does it have everything they expect to see? When interviewing, whether in person or over video, is the candidate well-groomed? Do they have a good attitude? They may have some notes as to what to look for, but that doesn’t mean they’re expert enough to make a real decision.

Many just “go with their gut”.