Why Use A Recruiter? - back to resources

We’re asked this question repeatedly.  “I know how to find jobs and with the internet it’s pretty easy, why should I use a recruiter?”  Well, an NFL quarterback is in an even better position to find a job, given the finite nature of the potential employers.  And yet, all professional players have agents.  Why is that?

The answer is that finding “a job” should not be your objective. Finding the best possible job that meets your long and short term career goals should be.  While there may be a select group of employers, not every one will match your career goals and if you use your limited resources, how do you know that you’ve uncovered the best job?  In our NFL example, a quarterback may want a chance to get to the Super Bowl and is willing to be a 3rd string quarterback to get there.  Or, he may want to be a starter and he won’t be with every team.  So like the sports agent, the recruiter’s job is to come up with the best possible matches over what could be potentially hundreds of possible employers. How much time, effort and money does that involve for a full time employee?

And it’s important to have representation from the very beginning of your search.  Posting on job boards or blindly sending your resume before strategizing will be counterproductive and greatly reduce your recruiter’s ability to get your resume in the hands of the hiring manager. This is like representing yourself in court and calling a lawyer after you realize that your case is not going well.

Knowing the Companies
Everyone can research companies using the web but applicants should remember that the published information is only the side of the story distributed by the company’s public relations group. 

Recruiters know the job market and their clients and are like partners in the hiring process. They may have worked with them for years. They may have placed employees at this company before.  They have, or can gain access to, inside information to which the general public and potential employees do not. They know and understand the company’s unique hiring process and the people involved. They may know why a job is open and if it has been unfilled for a long time or if it’s a new opening. They may know who held the job last and why they left.  A recruiter may even know other applicants who interviewed for the same position and their feedback about the interview process and the thread to the questions that were asked. They may know of problems on a project and the key “unspoken” skills the manager “really wants”. They may know a manager’s preferences in hiring: Does the manager prefer specialists or does he have a need for someone to wear many hats?  Does he prefer to train people in his way of thinking or is he looking for someone from a competitor who can bring fresh ideas?  Does he have a particular bias for, or against, someone from a particular area of the country, university, or with a particular work background because of his experience with the last person he interviewed or hired who didn’t work out or really worked out well? You can leverage this “inside” information to your advantage over other applicants.

Reduced Risk
Companies that are not doing well or have few projects, generally advertise a few jobs but do not use third party recruiters either because they don’t have the money and/or hiring is not a priority. Usually our clients are willing to invest in our services because things are going well, they’re obtaining a lot of work and they need to staff for the long term.  The chance of being part of a reduction in force is reduced considerably because the company has made an investment in your future by hiring a search firm.

Advertised vs Unadvertised Openings
Applicants oftentimes stress how they’ve seen the same job posted over and over. The reason for that is because companies don’t always have jobs to fill but may want to advertise the company or brand name or give the appearance that they are hiring. We’ve seen companies in the midst of downsizing, advertising openings.  The reason for that is that they contract for a certain amount of job ads/postings per year and will use those up even when they are not in a hiring mode.

Then there’s the “unadvertised job market”. I’m sure you’ve heard of that before. While many jobs are advertised, companies do not advertise every job. In fact, oftentimes, they either advertise the least desirable, hardest to fill jobs or a composite of ideal skills to obtain resumes for either future use or to fill less desirable jobs. At other times, the manager knows he has to replace an employee weeks or even months before he submits a requisition so the job may never get advertised. Recruiters generally have access to the unadvertised jobs and can get your resume in front of the hiring manager before the job is advertised or posted. 

Leveraging Expertise
Recruiters spend hours every week doing the task of “job hunting”. Most potential employees find the whole process frustrating. Consider the time you spend on your job. You’re an expert.  Who would be better at doing your job, you or someone who only does it for a few weeks every few years? Recruiters have years of experience interacting with employers,  gathering information on companies and jobs, developing resumes, coaching applicants on interviewing, and negotiating.  Who better to act as your agent?

Interview Consulting
Most applicants only interview once every couple of years so their interviewing skills tend to get stale. Contingency recruiters get paid if their applicant receives and accepts a job offer and starts the new job.  It’s in the recruiter’s best interest to ensure that each applicant has the best possible information about a company, job and process so that they are well prepared for the interview.

Job Offer and Negotiation Stress
Some companies tell applicants that they only want to negotiate with the applicant directly.  Applicants feel good about this because it strokes their egos.  But do you think companies want to negotiate with applicants directly because they will drive a hard bargain and be a tougher negotiator than the recruiter?

Also consider that some companies make their best offer right off. They don’t haggle and they pay fairly based on market conditions. Others do not.  Which are which?  We have a track record over 16 years that allows us to know. How many applicants know a company’s negotiating stance based on their past hiring?

Recruiters act as your agent in dealing with companies. This is another reason why professional sports players, actors, singers and the like have agents.  The agent knows how and when to negotiate while being as impartial and unemotional as possible. The whole offer process can be stressful. The company has its idea of the value of a candidate.  That sense of worth sometimes is in sync with the applicant but oftentimes the applicant’s view of his/her worth differs significantly from that of the company.  During the negotiation process things are said that might be unflattering to each party involved.  Consider the pro sports GM who tells all of the negative aspects of a player’s game in order to make a point or bring a player’s salary expectations in line with other players.  Consider the player who feels “this is a cheap organization who doesn’t want to pay me fairly so I don’t want to play for them”.

Imagine what could happen when an applicant and company, speaking directly during negotiations, let their emotions and posturing influence the process. Let your recruiter be the buffer. This will protect your basic offer while improving your chances of successfully negotiating with the company.