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Re: Are recruiters all over you? |
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Written by Chintan Rajyaguru
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Saturday, 14 January 2006 |
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My blog entry about recruiters on Dec 16 at http://chintanrajyaguru.com/blog/index.php?blogid=1&archive=2005-12-16 caused at least one recruiter to respond. Here is a summery of some important points she made: - We don't send out job descriptions because we solicit long term relationship with the candidate and he/she might be a perfect candidate for the job we get next week
And here are some other points that other recruiters have made over time:
Here is a modified version of my response I sent to the recruiter who, in addition to the above points, also sent me a sample email and asked for my feedback.
There are all kinds of recruiters in the market, when a candidate receives an email from a recruiter, he/she doesn't know whether the recruiter is interested in the candidate as a person or just wants to collect yet another resume. When a candidate doesn't get the job description, it appears there is no real opportunity and the recruiter just wants another resume.
What is the solution for the recruiter? Don’t talk about the resume or the job, focus on the candidate. Talk about the candidate. When I was not looking for a job two years ago, I received a call from a recruiter who said he had found me on monster.com and was interested in learning more about me. He explained to me what his firm did and that he would like to establish a relationship with me even though I wasn't looking at the time. At the end of the conversation he asked me if I could send him my resume. I did and guess who did I call the next time I was looking?
Calling every candidate might not be possible. The recruiter could still send an email but the strategy remains the same: focus on the candidate. The reason I responded to the recruiter who asked for the feedback based on my blog is that she clearly indicated that she had read my blog. Similarly, the recruiter could send an email that says something like, "Your background in XYZ is very impressive. I would love to know more about your role on ABC project and your overall professional background. I would like to give you a call…" The projects are candidate's babies and who doesn't love to talk about their babies?
I believe the recruiters and the candidate (whether actively looking for a job or not) should have a healthy relationship. The candidate's challenge to participate in this process is time and surroundings. A candidate might be dealing with more than one recruiters especially if the market is hot or if the candidate is actively looking. Every time the candidate needs to talk to some one, he/she needs to find a place where no one can hear or wait until it's after the business hours (when the recruiter may not be available). Every time some one contacts a candidate he/she gets excited only to later find out that there is no real opportunity. This gets pretty frustrating. In old days, all the recruiter had to say was, "I have a job" and the candidates would come running. That seems to be quickly changing. |
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