Wednesday Wisdom: Lying Sack of Recruiters

Dear Claudia,

I’m in a job search mode and have been dealing with recruiters for a while now. My question is this: is recruiting a place where people who can’t make it in other jobs end up? My friends and I all have stories of recruiters who think they’re so smart because they’ve mastered a few phrases but cannot for the life of them get below the surface about specific work questions. It’s like the TV show “The Pretenders” where Jared successfully pretends to be anyone he chooses – except in the case of recruiters, they try but fail miserably each time.

It seems to me that recruiters are trained in lying – as in telling us a company is a great place to work when in fact it’s more like a slaughterhouse or the boss is a recovering pedophile! Why don’t recruiters ever receive functional training – as in finance or marketing or programming? At least then they wouldn’t come across as complete idiots.

Claudia, can you explain to “them” that they need to improve their games?

Disgusted

Dear Disgusted,

Oh where to start? There’s a call for two answers to this question, and since I couldn’t decide I’ll give you both:

Of course there are bad recruiters out there. Of course they talk trash and don’t know their elbows from their earlobes about the jobs they represent to candidates. And definitely, the game needs to improve. A lot. Everyone has a story tucked up their sleeves about evil recruiters; my personal favorite was the guy who bullied candidates with a stopwatch in hand to see how fast he could piss them off. His reasoning? The manager was an a**hole, he was just weeding out the ones that wouldn’t make the cut anyway. He was a walking public service announcement, that guy.

It’s sad, but ours is a profession with a low bar of entry. We don’t have proficiency exams like accountants or lawyers or even project managers, and there is no Board of ethics that we’re held accountable to. Many don’t even know the extent to which federal and state laws affect them. But you can make an amazing amount of money as a recruiter if you play your cards right, and unfortunately that doesn’t always translate to being skilled at what you do. It’s one of the reasons why candidates like you keep meeting the low hanging fruit. And this leads me to my second answer: It’s your job search, tied to your career. Nobody has a higher stake in the outcome than you do, so stop whining, get a stopwatch of your own, and start firing the bad ones. If you're not sure how to assess a good recruiter from a bad one, RBC is an excellent forum to engage in that conversation; put up a post and I'm sure you'll get an earful.

One other thought. If you’re relying heavily on recruiters and job board postings to learn about opportunities, you’re running a one-dimensional job search my friend, and missing out on the good stuff. You either need to learn how to network or take a refresher course pronto, and I strongly recommend that you practice the behavior daily. Who knows? In addition to some most excellent peers, you might even meet a few really great recruiters in that process – connected in your industry, knowledgeable of your skills, and talented at making matches – and never have to look hard for another job again.

**

In my day job, I’m the Head of Products for Improved Experience, where we help employers use feedback to measure and manage competitive advantage in hiring and retention. Learn more about us here.

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Dan Nuroo on May 27, 2009 at 8:20am

I"ve always found it interesting that people who "do" the job, think that Recruiters need to know their profession inside out to be effective or credible in Recruiting for it.

My problem with that is that their is normally so many facets in every industry, for the Recruiter to know about each area with intimate detail, surely diminishes their effectiveness.

I have Recruited in the IT world for a dozen years or so now. I'd like to think pretty effectively. However, put a line of code in front of me, and I have no idea, and to be honest I don't care. My job is to understand the business, it's needs and find appropriate people for it. I can find tests, or other people to find out the level of their technical know how.

That said, who knows what I would have been doing if I wasn't recruiting... I did work in a service (read Gas) Station during University

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Permalink Reply by Tom Dimmick on May 27, 2009 at 9:41am

Claudia and Disgusted -

Claudia, I think you have hit the ball squarely when you note that a job search is the responsibility of the job seeker. A common misconception exists that recruiters work for the candidates. That is almost never the case. The hiring organizations that pay the fee that provides the livelihood of the recruiter. That does not mean that candidates aren't essential to the process; they are, but the only time a candidate ever has control over the process (such as it is) is when the candidate has bona fide job offer in his or her hand. As a result, your comment is very much on point.

So "Disgusted", what can be done? There is a great resource for clients and candidates; it is called the "Kennedy Book". It is produced annually and is a compilation of all of the listed recruiters. Its actual title is "The Directory of Executive Recruiters" and it is filled with information about the recruiters contained therein. Candidates must do their own research on the companies they are considering and the recruiters that represent them. The Kennedy book is an excellent tool for the latter and will assist candidates in setting their expectations.

Finally, I think that candidates need to use their own limited powers to weed out bad recruiters. There are enough blogs out there for candidates to post their complaints. In addition, a candidate's email to the hiring company outlining unethical treatment does have significant impact. Recruiters live and die on the basis of their reputations and relationships.

In summary, be clear of your role in this process, do your research and use the influence you have. Having done all that, move on to the next opportunity.

Tom Dimmick - DK Search, Inc.