Game Changed, Not Over

Many of us experienced IT folks got spoiled by the marketplace.  All we had to do was announce our availability and companies - many of them represented by recruiters - would beat a path to our doors.  We were the talent and they could handle the grubby details.  It was our job to evaluate the set of opportunities laid in front of us and theirs to convey our preferences.

Now, our perception has changed. When they don't respond to our email or seem underwhelmed by our expertise - they look like roadblocks to us. "Don't blame the recruiter," says Stacey Jones, president of the Delaware Valley Technical Recruiters Network, "We work on behalf of employers and just follow their directions."  Recruiters have always been intermediaries in the process.

Recruiters are agents for companies. Sure, they certainly work on your behalf, but they get paid by the employer.  Their job is to cast the net, pick over the catch to select just a few of the very best, and then present them for consideration.  The company decides which, if any, deserve a closer look.  And there's a lot of competition these days, even for recruiters pitching to employers.

Stacey explained the situation from the recruiter's perspective.  Many companies, especially large ones, have a list of approved recruiting firms.  They'll release available openings to these vendors, who then compete against each other for the placement.  These are contingency requisitions, where the recruiting company is paid only if its candidate is hired. 

So each recruiter is looking for as close to 100% perfect match for employer-specified requirements as possible from the pool of candidates.  Well, that's me - say a lot of jobseekers - how come I don't get a shot at these jobs? Some of my readers assume that it's laziness on the recruiter's part.

Not so, says Marc Esten, Senior Recruiter for FullTilt Solutions. It's the need for speed that crushes recruiters and keeps them from getting back to you.

Timing is Critical

Internet recruiting changes everything, he explains.  "Now we can reach thousands of people instantly at a very low cost. More resumes means more qualified applicants. It's nothing to post an opening on a job board and have 100 responses the next day.  And the day after that and the day after that."  Little wonder Marc and his peers are overwhelmed.

That's why you may not get more than an automated confirmation for receipt of your resume. Especially if your application is received later rather than earlier.  Marc explained that once a number of good prospects for an opening are identified, recruiters don't have as much ability to respond to applicants who surface later in the process.

Unfair!  Well, maybe, but remember, recruiters are competing with each other to present the best candidates.  It's in their best interests to get first-mover advantage. So that means it's in your best advantage too.  Keep abreast of brand new postings and snap that resume out ASAP.  Also, don't just rely on email.  Make sure to follow up with a phone call.  Marc suggests that you be persistent and keep calling if you don't immediately reach the recruiter. (Remember that there's a fine line between persistence and annoyance.)

Search Tip: Use automated notification or agent functions available on job boards (JobCircle has one!) to notify you of new postings.  Then jump all over them.

Qualifications are Critical Too

Being fast is important, but you have to be both fast and qualified.  Marc continues, "There are degrees of qualification.  A lot of people stretch their skills.  If someone knows you personally at the company, it may compensate for lack of experience.  But otherwise, you almost always need to have all the major qualifications in the posting." 

Especially in this labor market.  Employers want what they want and don't like to compromise (though everybody with whom I spoke ripped up finicky employers and emphasized how hard it is to bring them to reality.) If an employer wants two years of Java programming experience, a recruiter doesn't present somebody who's had only 18 months.  (S)he certainly doesn't present somebody who has training but no real experience.

Marc urges jobseekers to scrutinize position announcements, not just skim them.  He says that at least 50% of the resumes he gets for each job wouldn't have been sent if the applicants had read the ads carefully. It's good to have stretch goals, not good to live in a fantasy world.  If you're one of the people who is mystified by the fact that you've sent out hundreds of resumes and gotten very few responses - here's a likely answer.

Search Tip: Look for minimum 90% fit between job requirements and your qualifications.  Don't waste everyone's time if you don't fit the bill.

Today, employers aren't hiring unknown folks to bring them up to speed. New hires are expected to be "production-ready" after some short orientation.  If you don't have the hands-on experience to hit the ground running, you're not a good bet.  I know it's harsh, especially for the new grads, but that's the way the market is right now.

Which Recruiter is Right for Me?

Good question.  You want to carefully evaluate a recruiter before you consent to have her/him represent you.  And, you'll want to keep tight control over to which companies and how you are presented.  Chris Martin of Aetea offered some very useful advice:

"Since most companies release their openings to multiple recruitment firms, it's likely that you'll see the same position listed with several of them.  You need to bring this up if you're working with more than one company.  Make sure you keep a list of what companies you've contacted directly, which ones have been contacted on your behalf and when.  This is important because, if you've been presented by a recruiter, you're considered to be 'their property'."

What this means is that for that specific job, you are a package - you have certain skills and experience and your expected price range is $X.  If another firm presents you -even as a slightly different package - it causes possible doubt.  Not just about the recruiters, but about you as well.

Says Chris, "You need to make sure that multiple recruiters aren't shopping you to the same company - even for different jobs. Or, if you applied previously, you'll need to make the case of why your value has changed, because of additional training or experience - especially if your asking price has gone up."

Search Tip: Keep accurate, detailed records of which companies you've approached, when, how, and for what positions.  Be ready to supply this information to any recruiters with whom you work.

All of the recruiters I interviewed had a lot to say about the unprofessional folks in the field.  They had a lot of good suggestions to help you weed them out:

• Don't ever consent to have your qualifications presented to an unidentified employer.  Insist on knowing who that company is beforehand.
• Don't permit a recruiter to represent you to an employer on the basis of a 5-minute phone conversation.  Make sure that you've established a mutual relationship with the recruiter first. A face-to-face meeting is best, but not always possible because of distance.
• Ask whether the recruiter is a direct vendor of the hiring company or a third-party recruiter.  Direct vendors may present candidates themselves; third-party recruiters source and present candidates to direct vendors. Obviously, direct vendors are preferable.
• Find out how the recruiter located you if you don't remember contacting him/her.  Some recruiters use webcrawlers to scout out resumes posted elsewhere and just scarf them up.

More

Recruiters are most effective for folks with at least two years of experience.  Not you yet?  The folks to whom I talked suggested that you concentrate on contacting employers directly.  So how's it going out there?  All the indicators tell me that the tough marked hasn't eased up at all yet.  Write to me at jamie@jobcircle.com and tell me about it.  Next month, Targeting Your Job Search.  Stay cool, literally.

Enjoy this article?  Read more of JobCircle.com's Career Coach articles.

Jamie Fabian spent more than 15 years as a human resources executive before changing careers to become a senior project manager for a growing IT consulting company.  Now in management consulting for a large Pharma company, Jamie would like to be seen as a hybrid of Tom Peters, Tom Jackson, and Tom Wolfe, but spends too much time working, driving carpool and watching mindless TV to write more than this column.  You can contact Jamie with questions and comments at jamie@jobcircle.com.