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How to Handle Your Recruiter Finding the Right Recruiter If you are searching openly for your next job, you should ask for recruiter recommendations. Ask your close friends and co-workers, your current or former supervisor, or your current or former HR department. If your job search needs to be discreet (i.e., your current employer doesn’t know that you’re job searching), then your quest for a recruiter should be equally discreet. You should start by asking friends that you can trust with the information that you are looking for a job. And again, a former supervisor or former HR department might be more capable of helping you discreetly than your current ones. Keep in mind that the recruiter is working for you. Don’t be afraid to interview the recruiters that you have been referred to. This is especially true if your source for referral is an advertisement or someone you don’t know very well. Ask them about the size of their firm and their length of service in the industry. It is also quite appropriate to ask them for references from their client companies or their previous placements. Check out the recruiter's Web site and overall presence in the industry. And ask what services they’ll provide for you. Will they help with contract negotiations, employee contracts, or long-term career counseling? Some recruiters will simply connect you with the companies that are hiring, while others provide additional services. Decide what services you need, and make sure you get them. 1 Recruiter, 2 Recruiters, 3 Recruiters? If you are unemployed for whatever reason, you probably want to be employed again as soon as possible. For this reason, it is important that you work with more than one recruiter. Not every recruiter has every company for a client, or knows of every available and appropriate job. They simply can’t cover them all. To get maximum exposure to the jobs that are available, you need to be working with more than one recruiter. If you are discreetly looking for your next job, you should be working with no more than two recruiters. If it is most important that you maintain secrecy in your job search, the last thing you want to do is solicit the professional services of multiple people. You must make your confidentiality situation clear to your recruiters. Managing Multiple Recruiters Maintain ownership of your job search! If you are working with one recruiter or five, it’s important that you hold the reins of your search. After all, your job search is more important to you than anyone else! You can achieve this with a few simple steps:
Who Needs to Know You don't need to tell your recruiters that you are working with more than one. Again, your job search is your business. The only thing a recruiter needs to know is where your resume has gone, and your expectations for your next job. If you are maintaining a list of where you or anyone else has already sent your resume or made an introduction, then you should be able to avoid duplicate efforts. Some recruiters may want to know up front where your resume has gone and if you keep a list from the start, it will be easy to provide them with that information. Other recruiters will simply tell you about the opportunities that they have available, and as you are talking with them, you can tell them which companies have already seen your resume and to which companies you would like your resume to go. Be aware, though, that some recruiters will require that you work with only their firm. This is a decision you’ll have to make - whether you think that a single recruitment firm is the best choice for your job search. When to Start Looking The minute you decide to search for a job, you should find a recruiter. The right recruiter is many things: an information broker (someone who knows about the jobs that are out there), a networker (they know the right person to target with your resume), a trusted representative (they will follow your resume through the company, make sure it gets seen, secure timely interviews, and secure closure for you), and a negotiator (they will make sure you get the salary and benefits that are appropriate.) Too many people decide to get the help of a recruiter after they have already sent their resume everywhere they can and have gotten frustrated because they have heard nothing positive in a timely manner. When this happens, the recruiter can’t do much to help. Typically, the recruiter can represent you only to companies that have not seen your resume within the last year. If your resume got lost in the shuffle, there is little the recruiter can do for you at that point. But if you work with the recruiter from the beginning, they can help you to target the companies you are interested in, and work with you on your resume, your presentation and interview skills and even your career goals. Targeting Companies by Yourself If you are certain about your contact in the company being the right person to talk with and you feel comfortable representing yourself in the negotiation process, then there is no reason not to present yourself. However, if you don’t have a direct contact in the company, it is frequently better to let the recruiter make the connection for you. For example, a recruiter may be able to send your resume directly to that company’s Director of Technology, rather than just to a web "drop box" for resumes. It’s the recruiter’s job to have long established relationships in all the right places. Don’t forget that not every recruiter is going to have a contact in every company. If you have targeted a particular company, make sure the recruiter you are working with has the proper connections to ensure that your resume will get to the right people. The Companies Foot the Bill The companies pay for the recruiters services, not you! If a recruiter ever asks you for money, be wary. Most recruiting firms work on contingency and get a percentage fee of your first year’s salary. Again, this does not come out of your pocket and does not affect the salary the company offers to you. Companies determine their salary range for a particular position and then determine if they are willing to accept resumes from recruiters for that position. They can’t justify paying you less because then you would be out of line in your salary range within the level of similarly experienced people. The funds to pay recruiters typically come out of a budget item in the HR department called Hiring Costs. This budget item includes paying recruiters, advertising, relocation expenses, and starting bonuses. Another way for recruiters to get paid is on retainer. Under this structure, the recruiter is paid a fee on a weekly or monthly basis by the company. Depending on the amount of the predetermined fee, they may make an additional smaller percentage on anyone that the company hires. Some companies actually contract recruiters to work internally for them. If you’re curious about how your recruiter works with a specific company, ask them. Summing it up… In conclusion, while a recruiter can be incredibly useful to you in your job search, ultimately you are responsible for your own search. Keep these items in mind as you’re looking for that next job:
Mary Margaret Ipser is one of the leading recruiters in the game business, with successful placements ranging from entry level to Vice Presidents, and is the founder of Mary-Margaret.Com, a unique recruitment agency comprised entirely of game development veterans. Ellen Guon Beeman designed and/or produced over thirty titles for top game companies including Microsoft and Electronic Arts, prior to joining Mary-Margaret.Com as a recruiter." |
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