What about headhunters?

Hello Everyone!

This month I wanted to speak from some personal experience.

I am part of a facebook group for professional recruiters, and it encompasses all types of recruiters: Internal, third party recruiters ( TPR) and anyone else that works on acquiring talent for companies. Myself, I have been a TPR, and now I am an internal corporate recruiter at my day job.

What prompted this months blog is an incident that happened recently in the group. – Somehow, a random job seeker joined the page, and apparently his expectation was that he would get help landing a position somewhere.

I had no idea the guy even existed, until a post appeared that basically said “ I am leaving the group, I have been here for a few months, and have received zero help finding a job” Well then.. let’s cover a few things.. one, as always, pay attention to the purpose of the FB groups you join..in this instance,  the group is for recruiters to talk about recruiter stuff, not function as a job board.

Two, all job seekers need to know what recruiters do, and how they work. First, let’s look at the type of recruiters you can encounter out there:

1) Internal: These people are employees of the companies you want to talk to.. they screen resumes, and sometimes actively solicit people to join their company. They are a function of the HR department.
2) Third Party, or TPR: These folks are the independent recruiters, also known as headhunters…they can either work alone, or are part of a search firm that specializes in specific job titles, or specific industries, or they could be generalists, working on anything and everything, but still having specific requirements and roles to fill.

Some coaches who talk about this subject think it’s important to delineate between “retained” and contingency” search firms but that doesn’t mean anything to you, that is only a descriptor of how they get paid.. both types of firms interact with you the job seeker the exact same way, regardless.

Also, understand, we at the Five O’Clock Club teach that there are four methods to get interviews.. they are replying to ads, networking, direct contact, and search firms.

Of all these, search firms give you your LOWEST chance of success landing a position.

This is for several reasons, and this is why they frustrate you:
1) Recruiters are looking for specific resumes to fill specific roles – if that’s not you, your phone won’t ring. Doesn’t matter who you are.
2) Even if you find a headhunter who works in your industry, if your resume doesn’t explain what you do clearly and concisely, your phone won’t ring.. they spend less time looking at resumes than their corporate counterparts do.
3) Recruiters don’t get paid to care about you. Any mistake you make, any errors in how you present yourself, and it’s NEXT and they move on.
4) Your success with a headhunter depends on timing.. lightning has to strike as far as him having an opportunity that is for you, when you need one.
5) If you send them a resume and they can’t use you, or can’t make heads or tails about what you do, they won’t call you and say so.

So, to wrap up this month, these are the reasons headhunters will disappoint you, so don’t rely on them too much. Next month I will talk about the right way to approach and work with and manage your expectations regarding headhunters, and also their corporate counterparts.

Until next time, I wish you all the best

Coach Tom