Job seekers, I have a message that you may not want to hear about staffing firm employees. The message probably reads as an illogical bit of psychobabble, but please play along.
It is not a recruiter’s responsibility to find you a job.
Yes, so in case you were wondering, your college career services department lied to you. It is not a recruiter’s responsibility to take care of your future and your bank account. It is not their job to find the perfect job for you. It is not even their job to place you.
Their job is to fill the positions on their desk before another staffing firm beats them to the punch. As tried and true as the sky, even the most altruistic recruiter is only calling you because you may represent dollar signs to them.
So what does that mean to you? It means that if they are the “middle man,” you had better help them along. It means that if you want them to place you in that shiny new position, you’ve got to do a large chunk of the heavy lifting. No, recruiters are not lazy. They are busy trying to fill multiple jobs. You’re just trying to fill one. Do you see the imbalance here?
Here are a few ways you can make a recruiter’s life easier.
- Don’t bristle at requests to edit your resume. Yes, you worked really hard crafting it. Congratulations, you’ve fulfilled the bare minimum requirements of participating in a challenging job market. So instead of whining about having to continue to put effort into your career; do what it takes to make yourself the most appealing candidate for each specific position you pursue.
- Be prepared to speak at a fifth grade level about your career. Yes, you know all of the jargon in your field. There is a chance that the recruiter who contacted you is seeing these terms for the first time. Don’t be arrogant. Humbly explain what you do in a clear fashion.
- Don’t try to impress the recruiter with your brilliance. Your job is to try and convince her that the job posting on her desk has one true fit: you. To accomplish this, speak succinctly to your experience related to the tasks involved in the role. Don’t embellish too much. That makes you sound like a mouthy jackass instead of the talented professional I’m sure you are.
Put yourself in their shoes. They have pressure coming down from account managers and clients. They want to fill the job. They may even want you to be the one in that desk come Monday morning. But you have to be the offer that can’t be refused and not just another candidate.
Honeywood Communications 