Signs of a good recruiter:

A good recruiter is a professional who enjoys helping a company of any size find the right candidates across a crowded room.

A bad recruiter is motivated only by the commission they are getting today, failing to bother with the long game: a good recruiter invests in getting to know your business and offer you support when you need it, whilst giving you space when you explain you’re not interested. If this doesn’t sound like the service you are currently receiving, and if instead, you are faced with pushy salespeople who care little for your situation, this attitude betrays short-sightedness: recruiting is a relationship business.

Good recruiter checklist:

• Can be trusted
• Is discreet
• Contacts you as promised
• Maintains lines of communication throughout the process and informs you of any developments / changes
• Is direct and honest – managing expectations; including the market, your salary offering and the candidate landscape
• Shows up to meetings and always follows up
• Asks the right questions
• Understands your business structure, team, requirements, culture
• Knows how to sell the benefits of your business
• Has been working with the same candidates for years, builds networks and is well-connected
• Can be recommended via word-of-mouth
• Is skilled at negotiating an offering that suits both candidates and clients
• Is polite to their candidates – never undermining their skills or career prospects

Bad recruiter checklist:

• Has no intention of getting to know your situation
• Is pushy in their sales approach
• Has a poor grasp on the job description and your business
• Cares little to develop a long-term business relationship with you
• Unable to determine exactly what the business is looking for
• Takes advantage of candidate’s lack of experience and insists ill-suited jobs are actually right for their candidates. This typically leaves them with a poor portfolio of candidate placements, leaving a pattern of candidates leaving a few months after they started.
• Is indiscreet, or gossips. You should be able to talk to a recruiter about the challenges your team faces; if a recruiter reveals confidential information about other business’, chances are that they talk to others about your company.
• Promises the moon and isn’t realistic in managing your expectations
• Doesn’t follow up. If a candidate doesn’t succeed past the interview stage, they still deserve a callback and a clear explanation as to why the company chose not to hire them.

If the recruiter does their job right, they will be keen to continue working with you on future opportunities and will leave you with a trusted and reliable point of contact the next time you are looking for a job or looking to hire.

This post originally appeared on the ISL Recruitment blog.