Frequently Asked Questions…
Why should I work with a recruiting firm like TalentSource360?
With so many employment tools at your disposal, it can be easy to lose sight of the benefits of working with a dedicated recruiter. In decades past, recruiters were viewed as the primary resource for many professional level skillsets. Through the evolution of job boards and the advancement of Corporate Recruiting/Talent Acquisition teams, many individuals are successful in launching their career through one of these resources.
Unfortunately, as schedules fill up with work and family, it can be hard to find time to effectively and confidentially search for your next role. Recruiting firms like TalentSource360 can be instrumental in alleviating the stress of a job search. Of course, it will take some time on the front end to select the right recruiting firm for you and put your search criteria together. Once you have found the right firm, you can rest easy knowing you have an agent working on your behalf.
Another benefit: Recruiters have intimate knowledge of their client companies and have influence in the interview process. While the recruiter does not necessarily have a vote in the decision to hire, the client company understands that a candidate presented by the recruiter has completed some level of screening and meets or exceeds the general requirements for the position. Both parties, company and candidate, can comfortably know the recruiter has evaluated the potential fit when representing a candidate.
What can I expect when working with a recruiting firm like TalentSource360?
While many employees are familiar with the concept of using a recruiter, there are some who have never had the opportunity or, even worse, have heard horror stories about someone else’s experience.
Working with a third-party recruiting firm can be very beneficial in your job search. However, as with any professional services industry, there are many types of “recruiters” out there and you should find one you like working with.
The ideal recruiter for you is someone who you feel understands your experience and how that experience is applicable to the industry, geography, and positions you are evaluating. Once they recognize the various options that may be available for your skill set, you can work together to identify which options will check the boxes on your “wish list.” An experienced recruiter should outline these various avenues and know exactly how to make you marketable for each type of position.
In some cases, this requires the recruiter to provide transparent and honest feedback to the candidate. While this candid feedback may not be what you want to hear, it can be vital to shaping your search and preparing you for a more successful outcome.
Once your search has been outlined, your recruiter will have the necessary tools to identify potential opportunities for your consideration. From there, you can review and evaluate them on a case-by-case basis until you feel comfortable bring introduced to the hiring team at a specific firm.
Why don’t recruiters share the client’s name right away?
Often, a recruiter will reach out to a potential candidate via email, phone, or some third-party site such as LinkedIn with a few details on a potential role they represent. The purpose of this inquiry is two-fold. Recruiters want to evaluate your interest in potentially making a move in the near future, and they are genuinely seeking referrals. Unfortunately, many candidates are simply too busy and would like to get right to the point with the hiring company name. So why don’t recruiters share the client’s name in an introductory message? There are several reasons why a recruiter may not.
1. Confidentiality
Perhaps the most common is confidentiality. To understand this, you must understand the industry. As with any industry that requires customers to survive, the third-party recruiting industry is competitive. Recruiters work hard to cultivate their client relationships and develop into trusted partners. There are very few industries in which firms would happily share their clients’ names with total strangers. Taking this into consideration when meeting with a recruiter will help you understand their reluctancy to share a client’s name before you have spoken.
2. Trust
The second and perhaps most controversial reason is trust. Unfortunately, this one is often poorly explained and makes the recruiting firm appear to be overly cautious or paranoid that a candidate would try and bypass them on purpose. While this can happen, it is quite rare that a candidate will knowingly bypass a recruiter and introduce themselves to the firm directly. More common is the accidental introduction made through common contacts or mistakenly applying to a firm after learning about the highlighted role through a recruiter. As innocent as such events may be, candidates must understand that this simple action could remove them from the process all together and eliminate their ability to be compensated for bringing said role to the candidates attention in the first place. Building a trustworthy and ethical relationship with your recruiter is paramount to a successful outcome. After all, you are putting your search in their hands and they are relying on you for a successful hire and payment.
3. Sensitivity
Recruiters may choose to withhold a client name at the request of the client. While most roles are highly publicized and often posted to the company’s website, others are confidential and may require some additional care when discussing. Recruiters can be hired to identify a replacement for an existing employee who may be underperforming, often at the senior and leadership levels. In such cases, a recruiter may require candidates to sign an NDA (non-disclosure agreement) requiring the candidate to keep any details of the company and their search confidential.
Why should I talk to a recruiter if I am not actively looking? Why do they reach back out if I already told them I am not looking?
Recruiters rely on information to effectively do their jobs, both from employers and employees. The amount of information a recruiter can gain from their employer/employee market will directly impact how credible they are with their active clients and candidates and thus how successful they can be.
When a recruiter reaches out to their network to share an opportunity, they are making as many touch points as possible with relevant contacts to better refine their search. Your input as a member of the talent community is helpful whether you should decide to move forward or not.
Now, why do recruiters follow up again … and again … and again? It all comes down to timing. In nearly every survey you see regarding why a candidate took the call and ultimately found a new role through a recruiter, the dominant answer is almost always the same: “They caught me at the right time.” Unfortunately, history has proven that recruiters cannot rely on a candidate to remember to contact them when they decide to job hunt. To combat this, recruiters maintain consistent contact to keep themselves top of mind when it becomes the right time for a candidate to make a move.
Why do recruiters reach out if they don’t have the right opportunity for me?
If a candidate has not spoken with the recruiter in the past, that recruiter will have little information on what the “right opportunity” looks like. They likely have very little information to go on such as résumé, compensation, and career aspirations, and want to get to know you better.
However, if a candidate has spoken with the recruiter before, and the recruiter continues to bring irrelevant opportunities to their attention, it may be time to find a new recruiter!
Why doesn’t my recruiter call me more frequently?
Remember: A recruiter’s success is defined by their ability to identify talent for their client. That talent should not only meet the requirements of the role but will be committed to operating in that role for a reasonable amount of time. As a result, recruiters must rely heavily on their data and experience to measure the viability of a candidate-client match. If they feel a specific candidate-client match is not going to be successful, they must prioritize their efforts and either keep recruiting or take a risk. In most cases, the recruiter decides to keep recruiting — an unsuccessful match not only prolongs the recruiting process but may damage a recruiter’s reputation.
A simple explanation: bandwidth. Recruiters have a limited amount of time to work on a search and therefore must prioritize who to call and when. In a busy market, a successful recruiter will have very little time to conduct frequent calls with those individuals he/she is not actively working with on a specific role.
Although this may seem like neglect to those candidates who are actively looking and want to be in constant contact with their recruiter, it is important to remember what makes a recruiter successful. In addition to forging relationships and building out their network, they must keep their eye on the prize — ultimately make placements with their clients if they are going to continue a successful career in recruiting. Remember, that same success is what makes them more impactful when it is their turn to operate on your behalf.