Why Go Through an Executive Recruiter vs. Applying on Your Own?
"Why go through a recruiter," I used to wonder? At one point when I was in finance (esp. when the economy is bad), I became very ill of spending countless hours filling out applications online. It became so tedious and I often went into a black hole with no feedback. As far as I could tell, I was qualified...then came a year later an automatic rejection email. "A little late,” I thought. And if I interviewed, I always really appreciated feedback. Did they find another candidate? Was the position put on hold? It wasn't until after I became an executive recruiter did I really realize why it works! I didn't understand why I should take the time to meet a recruiter when it's a job I want.
Recruiters are a broker of people, essentially. We connect many candidates to many companies and can place people efficiently and effectively. We can provide insight into many different companies and give candidates our honest perspective on making a career transition.
Candidates come to recruiters because we can provide career coaching and advice. With me, I have been in the candidates' shoes, and I can recommend what a candidate would be good at having done many of the same things. It's a lot of probing to figure out what a candidate's goals and priorities are. And after meeting with candidates, I get a feel for personality and what clients the candidate would fit for culturally. I also prep my candidates thoroughly for each and every interview, and most candidates find interview prepping very helpful.
Recruiters also give feedback to candidates vs. them applying on their own and going into a "black hole"; we help candidates connect to a large number of different companies and in many cases we have direct relationships with the hiring managers. Even if I don't have a job, I can market a good candidate to clients who match up, and I have gotten a great number of candidates a job through marketing.
But why do clients go through agency recruiters, you might wonder? What's in it for them? Clients come to agency recruiters because we generally have the candidates already as we are recruiting talent each and every day vs. weeding through volumes of resumes submitted online. I know that when I post online, I am lucky if I get one or two candidates qualified for a particular position out of every 100 applications, so it can be overwhelming for hiring managers to recruit when they are already short-staffed and overworked. And often times internal HR departments have multiple priorities and do not have the bandwidth to start from scratch. If an agency does not have a particular candidate in the pipeline, it has the resources to go out in the market and find that candidate quickly.
Choosing a good recruiter can be tough with so many out there. Make sure you choose a recruiter who is open and honest and provides timely feedback. To set up an initial consultation contact: jen@caliberrecruiting.com
- Jennifer Granchi, Cofounder