10 Tips From Corporate Recruiters That You'll Ignore Anyway

We have decided to do it. Yes, Will Thomson & Amy Ala are joining forces to write a post that hopefully will shake up the recruiting community a little bit. We are both corporate recruiters, we both have come from the agency world, and we both have placed a ton of people. We can't claim to have seen it all, because nothing, and we do mean nothing, ceases to amaze us in this crazy industry! We have seen the good, bad, ugly, and HORRENDOUS in the recruiting industry. We both have experienced our highs and lows.

Today, we want to talk about candidates. We have heard it all. We know what works and what doesn't work, so take a minute and read this post. We are writing this out of frustration because we do TRULY want to see you succeed. When you succeed, we succeed, and we are all happy in this world.

Sadly, most of you won't listen to our advice. The world will keep spinning and there will be another day. You will continue to live your stressed out, anxiety filled lives and we will be the receiving end of all of your complaints. We will be the ones that get the call saying you are miserable and it is all our faults.

We are sick of it, and here to help. In this post we want to give you 10 pointers. 10 things NOT to do in your job hunt. Now, this is just the beginning. There is more to come, but we figured baby steps are better than no steps at all. Oh, candidates. Do us a favor! Please, please, please LISTEN to some of the advice we have to offer. It will save us a heck of a lot of time and heartache for all parties involved.

1. Know What You Can Do. Recruiters are NOT mind readers! We have absolutely no idea what you want to do if you don't have any idea! Simply picking up the phone and calling us to "help find a job" is NOT going to help us. We are happy to strategize with you, talk about your previous employment, what you're good at and what you've accomplished, but we need YOU to tell us these things. A "master resume" that holds all your information and can be edited for different companies and positions is very helpful.

2. Be Easy To Find And Contact. It's not all about applying to jobs, though that's part of it. Do you know how much time the average recruiter spends on LinkedIn? We don't either, but we're willing to bet it's a LOT. If a recruiter comes across your profile and there is no indication of how to get in touch with you, we're likely to move on to the next candidate. Active job seekers should seriously consider how VISIBLE they want to be to the recruiters that are looking for them. Create a separate "work" email for your job search.

3. Follow The Process. Understand that for compliance reasons, we may ask you to do silly things like "send a resume" or "apply to this job". We will do EVERYTHING in our power to make the process easy, smooth, and with a definitive result. We, however, can't just set up an interview without some routine legwork.

4. Try To Be Flexible. How bad do you really want the job? We know you are busy and you probably have a very important job. We will try to accommodate as much as we can, but sometimes the accommodations can't be met. Managers and Recruiters are busy also and if you make yourself totally unavailable at odd times, chances are, we will find another candidate before connecting with you.

5. Respect Space & Time. Try not to be a stalker. A good recruiter will set expectations with you. We should clearly articulate when you should be hearing back from us. If we set a time to talk in an initial phone screen, be on time. Don't follow up with 15 phone calls and e-mails trying to reschedule if you have missed your opportunity. We understand things happen, but if it happens again, we have long forgotten about you.

6. Sending Random LinkedIn Invites to Recruiters Does Not Work We both receive countless LinkedIn invites a week. Yes we are connected. Yes we work at big companies. No, it will not help you to randomly connect with us. If you do send us an invite, GIVE US A REASON. Chances are we are recruiting a totally different skillset than you have so we wouldn't be able to help you anyway. We might, however, be able to introduce you to other recruiters who are looking for someone just like you. Help us by telling us what and who you're looking for!

7. Research The Company And The Position So often candidates are completely unprepared. Take some time to ask as many questions as you need to understand the role that you are interviewing for with your recruiter. Understand the organization. Understand the goals. Understand their backgrounds. Understand the direction of the company and how you will fit into the equation. When in doubt – ASK YOUR RECRUITER.

8. During The Interview Process, Don't Apply To Another Role Until Process Is Complete Simply put, if you are working with a recruiter and have applied and interviewing for a specific role don't ask about 4 different roles within the company. This just shows your lack of interest, or lack of confidence in the role in which you are interviewing. If you are working with multiple recruiters at a huge company, it is okay to talk, but just make sure everything is transparent. There can be exceptions to this, for example Amy's multiple Program Manager reqs. It may make sense to talk about multiple positions across different teams, especially when 90% of the roles need the same skillset and experience. Just don't try to be an Accounting Clerk and a Forklift Driver at the same time. Not exactly the same skill sets, even if you can do both.

9. Ask For Feedback, But Accept What We Can (And Can't) Provide. Sometimes the only thing we can tell you is that someone else was more qualified. Sometimes that's all WE know. It could be someone had an MBA vs just a BS. The other candidate may have gone to a "better" school, or worked for a bigger company... Feedback on things you cannot change may not be helpful.

10. Don't Shoot The Messenger. Remember we are often the conduit between you and the real authority, the Hiring Manager. That doesn't mean we don't have influence, and can't persuade the manager to take a chance (or not) on you. The interview and certainly hiring decisions tend to rest solely with the manager or team who will have to work with you. If the answer is "no", we're disappointed too.

Hopefully these tips help. We look forward to writing regularly together and would love to hear your input, so please SHARE on LinkedIn, SHARE on Twitter, SHARE on Google+!! Comment, Agree, Disagree- we want to hear you!

Will & Amy

@AlaRecruiter @WThomsonJr www.wthomsonjr.com

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Comment by Judy Vincent on April 17, 2013 at 3:57pm: One of the best articles I have read which so candidly frames my frustrations and pain points as a corporate recruiter. Having spent 15 years on the agency side, I learned how to be super accommodating and acting as a career counselor/job search advisor. However, when you move over the corporate side, your priorities shift, and it becomes increasingly challenging when jobseekers show a complete lack of sense and direction when approaching a recruiter, or, going one step further, referring a friend who is interested in the company where I work.

Your likelihood of a successful interaction with a recruiter increases significantly when you've done your homework, simply put. If you reach out with a targeted, clear email, even if I can't help you, I am more likely to respond. Maybe it is a throwback to my agency days, but even if the person is not a fit for my company, if they have shown that they did some prep work before contacting me, I will see if there is anyone else I can refer them to.

Well done, Will & Amy! I have shared this with my LinkedIn network.

Comment by Will Thomson on April 18, 2013 at 9:47am: Thanks Judy for your comments & we appreciate you sharing! It helps corporate recruiters when you have an idea of what you want to do. My suggestion to any candidate is before beginning your job search or approaching a company, have your "elevator pitch" ready. Know what (or have a strong idea) what you are going after and how your skills will help the company your interested in. If you don't have these basics down, it makes it very difficult for corporate recruiters to help candidates.

Will

Comment by Will Thomson on April 23, 2013 at 4:13pm: Here are a number of responses from Linkedin's Door 64 group (Austin High Tech) Feel free to comment on their comments. It is interesting that some of the tips were "ignored anyway"

Jimmy Kerrick • #8 is a very good point, but job seekers need help in this arena. And I as one who practices the idea of trying to have just one interview process active at a time would appreciate help from recruiters and HR personnel in this regard. When you tell someone they will hear from you in a certain length of time, please contact them, don’t just relegate their emails to the trash bin and ignore them. If they are not in contention for the position let them know. They need to move on to the next application process so they can at least have a chance of finding employment where they would be a better fit. It is only common courtesy.

Jean-Louis Carrara • Like so many things, these are helpful communicating rules that will be broken by both sides depending on the people and situations, thank you for posting them. As for the candidates, we have to show energy and motivation, and still not get too attached to the result. With enough motivation (and time), we can always identify and reach the hiring manager.....

Will Thomson, • Hi Jimmy, thank you for your response. I 100% agree with your statement. Recruiters absolutely should let candidates know when they aren't selected for a role. Sometimes bad news is hard to hear, but it helps both parties move on.

Will Thomson, • Hi Jean-Louis, thank you for your response also! Looking for a job is a full-time job. It is hard not to get attached to the end result. We wouldn't be human if we didn't. I think everyone reading this (including myself) have been disappointed at some point in their lives by not being selected for a role. Hopefully though, this showed some insight inside of a recruiters head and it helps others land their dream job.

I just completed my personal website and you can subscribe to weekly updates at www.wthomsonjr.com.

Cliff Collard • Much of that advice is a 2-way street. Respect and trust are things that both sides need to build.

- If I tell a recruiter that I have not been in a particular role for 3 years and I don't do it anymore, stop emailing me job reqs in that area.
- If I list my availablity over then next week, don't try to schedule something in a time I have specifically told you I am not available. You are asking me to disrespect the person who has scheduled a meeting with me in that time block.
- If I block out time for you, show up!
- If you send me a LinkedIn Connect request, I WILL ask how we know each other if I don't remember meeting you. You can avoid that by gently reminding me in the connect request.
- The first time you contact me about an entry level job, I will give you the benefit of the doubt. The second time, I will assume you don't know how to read a resume.

Will Thomson, • Cliff, thank you very much for the response. You bring up some very valid points. Unfortunately, in the recruiting industry, there are some recruiters that aren't great. Check out this article. Very interesting and sad to say the least. http://bit.ly/13poQNU I like to think there are more good than bad, but I think a lot of recruiters get generalized.

Recruiters should not try to get you into a role that you are not interested or a fit, but there are a lot of recruiters who simply try to fit a round peg in a square hole rather than finding the right opportunity. A candidate wants an opportunity that is interesting, exciting, and builds on your current skill set.

I 100% agree with you regarding Linkedin requests. (BTW- I just sent you one because I like your comments). I receive countless requests without a reason and that really bothers me. When I ask "Why", you would be astonished by the number of people who don't have an answer or won't bother to return the e-mail.

I am going to respectfully disagree with you about interview times. If you want to interview and if it is a fit, both parties have to be willing to give a little. Sometimes managers schedules are so tight that you may have to rearrange your schedule to interview. We will try to accommodate every way possible.

When Amy and I wrote this article, we were really referring to people trying to get into a company, not a recruiter trying to convince someone of joining a company. I can only imagine the frustration of fielding tons of recruiting calls in the high tech industry because you have the word "Java" in your resume.

Again, thank you.

Will

You are right on about my perception of the Recruiting Industry. There are good and bad - experience helps distinguish between them quickly.

My comments about interview times were more a general complaint about scheduling, including phone screens. The dialog commonly goes something like:
Appointment seeker: We need to meet for an hour. What is your availablity next week?
Me: Preferences are Tuesday or Thursday afternoon. Any Morning will work and I can probably reschedule my conflict on Friday.
I am not available Monday or Wednesday afternoon.
Appointment seeker: Then how about Wednesday at 9am?

I am simply amazed that scenario plays out more often than choosing from the 80% of the time I can be available.

Comment by Andrew Watson on May 9, 2013 at 2:18am: Amy & Will, this is really a great post. This post is really very helpful for each & every employee. I appreciate your ideological research behind it. I think being a staffing service provider, we should take care of both the categories employee & employer. I hope, I am making sense. Thanks for sharing this required points with us via this post. Please keep writing. I will be reading you regularly......:)