OneTeam - Team Builders Plus Newsletter

One of the most frustrating activities a job seeker can engage in is the active, often exhaustive pursuit of recruiters. The scenario typically unfolds like this:

“Hello Trent, my name is Earnest Bucks and I work for Commissions All the Time Recruiting. I found your resume on one of the job boards and I have an opportunity that might interest you.”

Trent has been unemployed for 6 months, so this call could not have come at a better time. He can barely contain his excitement.

“Tell me about it!” he says.
“My client is looking for a marketing manager with at least 8 years experience in the Wall Covering business,” says Earnest
“I have nine years!” Trent thinks to himself.
“The main focus of the job is to roll out a new product line to East coast territories including New York, and Philadelphia.”
“I’ve worked those territories!” Trent’s mind is racing.
“The key component to the job spec, however, is that the candidate must know web development tools such as, So Cool App and Totally Killer App.
“I trained a whole staff on So Cool App and Totally Killer App,” Trent says.
“I see that from your resume,” replies Earnest, “lets talk some more.”

Thirty minutes later the phone call ends with the recruiter requesting another conversation the following Tuesday at 3:00pm. For the next week an excited Trent finds it difficult to focus on the day-to day chores that make up a job campaign. He can’t help it because this job is perfect. It has his name written all over it.

Tuesday comes and goes without a call. Trent leaves a voice-mail late that afternoon and the following morning. Wednesday and Thursday pass without a call back so Trent sends a quick e-mail Friday morning. Over the weekend Trent is upbeat. “I’ll reach him this week. He’s just busy,” he says. The following week Trent calls every day. They are not returned. Trent’s frustration level boils. “I am perfect for that job! What happened?” Meanwhile, nearly two weeks has been lost due to scattered attention to his job search campaign.

Maybe the company cancelled the search or the recruiter found someone else who had Trent’s level of experience, but also worked for the client’s competitor. Perhaps an internal candidate got the job or the recruiter moved to another search and the person taking over never saw Trent’s resume because he had his own candidates already lined up.

What happened? It really does not matter what happened. The problem is not that the recruiter failed to call back. The problem is that Trent put his emotional eggs in a recruiter basket. Shocked at the turn of events and with mounting determination and frustration, Trent pursues the recruiter in vain.

Recruiters are essentially salespeople. They sell people to job openings and earn a commission if a position is filled by their candidate. A recruiter will typically have at least 5 candidates for a given position, a few more as back-up and additional prospects in the wings. I have known recruiters to cultivate 30 candidates before the search is finally filled, all of them well qualified. Does it matter to the recruiter which candidate gets hired? No. Only that one of them does. Recruiters will spend a lot of time and energy with clients who are likely to earn the recruiter’s commission. Recruiters will spend next to no time with people who they perceive will not earn their commission. Last week Trent was a viable candidate for a commission check. This week he is not. There will be no call back. If this sounds harsh, well, it is harsh. Bedside manner is simply not a recruiter’s game. Commissions are his game.

Nevertheless, recruiters are a very important component to a diversified job search. More than one-third of the people I have worked with have landed terrific opportunities in conjunction with recruiters. Most recruiters are honest, hardworking professionals. Recruiting culture, however, simply does not include paying much attention to resumes (human beings) who do not represent an immediate commission. Accept this reality and you will spare yourself a mountain of anguish.

With this in mind, adopt a recruiting strategy that is as cut and dry as the recruiter’s approach to you. You are now only interested in reaching enough recruiters so that one will have an opportunity that benefits your career, and by definition, earns the recruiter’s commission.

Working with Recruiters
There are three types of recruiters for conducting a job search campaign: Retained, contingency, and in-house recruiters.

Retained recruiters are paid an up front fee (a retainer) by the hiring company that is typically equal to 1/3rd of the position’s total cash compensation. Retained recruiters typically handle opportunities that pay from $90k and up. They have exclusive “rights” to filling the spot, there is no competition.

Contingency recruiters are paid on a “contingency” basis, meaning only if they fill the spot. A contingency search will often include many different recruiters racing to cross the finish line first. This group typically covers a salary range from $45k to 95k.

In-house recruiters are employees of the hiring company itself and conduct searches at all levels. In-house recruiters are more likely to have in-depth information about the core needs of the job and are, generally speaking, easier to reach with follow-up calls.

There are three methods for attracting a recruiter’s attention:

1. Post your resume on job boards
The key to posting your resume on job boards is updating. Update your resume every 24 or 48 hours and your resume will be seen by significantly more recruiters than if you do not update. Why? Because, while job seekers look at the latest job postings first and then search earlier listings, likewise, recruiters look at the most recent resumes first. Resumes posted a week or so prior are already presumed to have been checked out and rejected. Older resumes will only be looked at if the most recent crop does not satisfy. With tens of thousands of resumes posted each day, it is best to be fresh. Updating does not require that you change the resume’s content. Many job boards now feature a Refresh button that will do the trick. If not, simply open your resume online, delete a letter, un-delete the action and save. Nothing changed, but your resume is now updated.

2. Create a customized cover letter
When answering a job posting, link your qualifications with the job description. Simply create a table with two columns. Title column one as “Company Requirements” and column two as “My Background.” Place the key sections of the job description into column one. In column provide a short example that illustrates that you have accomplished this type of task in the past. Attach this Ideal Candidate cover letter with your resume and send away. Recruiters (and human resource departments) will appreciate the extra effort taken to connect the dots between their requirements and your qualifications.

3. E-mail blast your resume to hundreds, even thousands, of recruiters
An e-mail blast is the most controversial method of reaching recruiters because it smacks of spamming. This practice may annoy some, but a mass e-mailing of your resume will very likely hit one or two recruiters who will be glad that you reached them. You may have to mass e-mail hundreds of recruiters to find The One, but that’s all it takes to turn your job search around. Job boards like Ritesite.com provide recruiter e-mail blasts as part of their membership package. Research sites like http://www.careersearch.net, (also fee-based) provide access to recruiter lists.

Once your recruiter mailings are out, forget about them. With recruiters, live in the moment and expect no more. Good luck!

Dan Silver is the Director of Career Development at Team Builders Plus, in Cherry Hill, NJ. With over ten years experience coaching more than 1000 executives from widely diverse backgrounds, Dan specializes in innovative approaches to interviewing, networking, and executing diverse campaign strategies. Dan conducts training programs and coaching sessions to help people both better navigate their careers within their current organization and find a best-fit job for those in career transition. To learn more about the Career Development services offered by Team Builders Plus email Dan Silver or call 856.596.4196 ext. 207.