My Networking Isn’t Working!

Executive recruiters can be great allies in a job search. However, those who choose to rely on them often find they wasted a lot of time in their job search. It’s important to understand who recruiters are and how they work so that you can have a mutually-beneficial relationship.

1) Understand That They Aren’t Working For You

A recruiter might be a great human being and care deeply about matching you with a good job. But you need to know that recruiters get paid by the company, not you. That’s a good thing for your bank account, but it also means their ultimate responsibility is to the company who pays the fees, not to you. Sure, good recruiters strive to make everybody happy. But most of the time, they will not actively market you. If they can match you with a job order from a company, they’ll do that. But they won’t be looking out for you beyond that. The exception is when someone has a rare skill set for which there is a big demand.

2) Find Out if You’re a Viable Candidate

Companies pay executive recruiters a hefty fee, somewhere around a fifth to a third of the candidate’s salary in their first year on the job. Companies only part with that kind of dough for people with very specific skills and backgrounds. They usually want top performers who have a stable work history in their industry. They’re looking for a tiny percentage of the available candidates, which means most of us are not what they’re looking for.

Don’t get me wrong. This doesn’t mean that you’re not talented or that you’re not a great employee. There may well be lots of employers who would love to hire you. But recruiters may not be the vehicle that will take you to that great job.

Here’s a quick example to illustrate. A client from Glencoe (we’ll call him James) was an outstanding executive—a true top performer. But he was laid off when the bottom dropped out of the market in his industry. He decided to change industries, and was confident that recruiters would find him a great job as they had in the past. James spent ten weeks waiting around for calls from recruiters. Those calls never came. Finally, he got one of the recruiters on the phone to ask why no one was presenting him. The recruiter said, “You don’t have any experience in this industry. I would lose credibility with my client companies if I presented you.” James wised up, found a career coach to learn how to approach employers directly, and soon was hired into another great job.

Do include recruiters in your job search plan, assuming they see you as a qualified candidate. Research to find the best recruiters.

3) Don’t Treat Your Recruiter Like a Career Coach

If you’re confused about what to do next in your career, don’t talk to a recruiter about it. Sure, some recruiters will help you because they’re good people, but as I’ve said, it’s not their job to resolve your career issues. Their job is to find highly-qualified candidates who are eager to help them fill job orders.

Generally speaking, if you need coaching on your resume, LinkedIn profile, or verbal presentation, you should use a career coach. Some recruiters do help with these things, but you’re usually better off having a coach who is responsible to you.

4) Be aware that there are different kinds of recruiters.

All recruiters are not alike.

Employers hire Retained Recruiters to find top candidates. These recruiters are guaranteed payment for finding candidates. They generally deal with searches in the $100,000 to $500,000 and up range.

A Contingency Recruiter generally works with searches for positions ranging from $50,000 to $100,000 range. Their compensation is not assured. They may put in a lot of hard work and walk away with nothing for their efforts because employers only pay them if and when they hire a candidate that recruiter has presented.

While contingency recruiters can be very helpful, there are pitfalls. First, you don’t want to get caught in a tug of war between two or (shudder) more than two contingency recruiters, with each claiming the fee for hiring you. A client from Highland Park lost a job because of a very ugly and unprofessional spat between two recruiters who both claimed her. The employer decided to steer clear and hired someone else.

If you’re after a job at a larger company, the fee paid to the contingency recruiter will generally not impact the hiring budget. But, if you’re talking to a small- or medium-sized company, being represented by a contingency recruiter may put you at a disadvantage. The employer may think, “If I hire a candidate who found me without using a recruiter, I can save that big recruiter fee.”

What does this mean for you? Be sure to ask if the recruiter is working on a retained or contingency basis. Some recruiters do both retained and contingency. If you find the recruiter is working on a contingency basis, be clear about which positions you’ve found on your own and which the recruiter has found on your behalf.

A third type of recruiter works in staffing companies. Their job is not to find the cream of the crop, but rather to find people who are good, competent workers. IT is just one area where these recruiters often work. They’ll hire when a company wants a number of workers for a few months or so.

Lastly, corporate recruiters work to find employees to present for internal jobs within the company where they work.

5) Be sure your self-preparation is top notch.

You can’t rely on the recruiter to do it all for you. You have to first impress the recruiter and then the employer. If you can’t speak powerfully about yourself or your resume is mediocre, you’re not going to get the job.

6) Introduce yourself

It’s helpful to make a crisp introduction by phone that will make a clear and memorable impression. Since they get a lot of phone calls, be patient and persistent to get through. When you reach the recruiter, ask what kind of interactions they prefer. You don’t want to be a pest, but the recruiter may appreciate a call every so often to let him/her know you’re still looking.

7) LinkedIn Deserves Special Attention

LinkedIn has become the recruiter’s bread and butter. Many spend much of their day searching for candidates on LinkedIn. If you don’t have a great profile, you’ll get passed over. Cutting and pasting your resume into LinkedIn is just not good practice. You should spend twice as much time crafting your LinkedIn profile as you did for your resume. If you don’t know what you’re doing, hire someone who does.

8) Be Your Own Recruiter

A job search is too important to delegate to recruiters—unless you’re happily employed, but open to new opportunities. You must be in the driver’s seat in your search. Talk to recruiters and get their help, but don’t rely on them. You should be your own recruiter, beating the bushes for opportunities with an effective networking campaign. This is especially the case in a tight job market when employers find top candidates knocking on their doors without having to pay recruiters.

Don’t neglect direct approaches to hiring decision makers, direct mail approaches, networking approaches, ads, postings, and so on. Think about where you would like to work and connect with people at those companies. This is a better approach than waiting for a recruiter to contact you, and hoping you’ll like the company who is hiring. You can also tap into the hidden job market—finding opportunities before they are advertised and those that never will be.

An anecdote from one of our clients

A client from Evanston recently struck gold in the hidden job market while networking with a vice president at a large corporation in his area. The VP spotted some experience on our client’s resume that intrigued him. In a recent job, our client had managed a certain type of program. The VP said, “We’ve never had a program like that here. I think it would be a great idea. Do you think you could start one?”

Our client gave an enthusiastic, “yes!” There was zero competition for that job.

Take responsibility for your own job search. What happens to you and your career is much more important to you than to someone else.

Steve Frederick and Jack Chapman have been helping people find fulfilling work with great compensation for over 20 years. Call us 847-409-4660 or send an EMAIL