potrero view

July 2010

Get a Job!

By Mauri Schwartz

The View asked Hill resident and career expert Mauri Schwartz, President / CEO of Career Insiders, www.CareerInsiders.com, to answer questions from job seekers.  Submit your questions to editor@potreroview.net.

Q: What advice do you have about using a recruiting agency?
A: Having been an independent recruiter for many years, I’ll say that a good recruiter can be very useful to a job seeker, and worth every penny s/he is paid by an employer to find top talent.  When jobs are plentiful, many people become recruiters with the objective of making a lot of money.  In today’s tough economy, you can bet that the recruiters who are still in business are the good ones.
A good recruiter earns his/her fees by reviewing resumes, pre-interviewing candidates, and presenting only thoroughly qualified candidates to the hiring manager, saving the employer time and money.  That same recruiter will also do everything possible to prepare candidates for interviews.  And he/she will be your advocate.
Keep in mind that a recruiter is hired and compensated by the employer.  In most cases, they are paid only if the employer hires their candidate.  This means that they’re working for the employer, not for you.  If you’ve met with recruiters and found them less than responsive, don’t forget that you aren’t paying them anything and that they won’t get paid for working with you unless you’re a solid match for a position for which they’ve been hired to recruit.
Sadly for recruiters in today’s market, employers are keeping most of their hiring responsibilities in-house to save money on fees.  Even if a recruiter has been able to get positions from employers, the candidates they submit will be competing with those that the employers have found on their own.  As a result, for two equal or nearly equal candidates, the one who comes with an added price tag – the recruiter’s fee – will be unlikely to receive the job offer.  Given this scenario, you’d have been better off submitting your resume directly to the employer. 
But don’t try to double dip.  Once you’ve given a recruiter permission to submit your resume, it’s unethical to send it in directly yourself.  And it’s unfair to the recruiter, who may have worked hard to advocate for you.  Employers will avoid getting involved in such a sticky situation, and you’ll lose out. 

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