I’ve been a recruiter for more than 45 years and, frankly, few people have more or better experience than I do.
Yet, I am not for everyone, nor am I interested in representing you. My focus is on serving my corporate clients — they pay me and you don’t: unless you are in my VIP Program, a service I created to allow me help more people and justify taking the time to do so.
Does this mean that I ignore individuals? Of course not. But the fact remains that my interests start off with the fact that I am paid to fill jobs for a living in service to my corporate customers. I don’t “place people”.
When you evaluate whom to work with, I would see who has a job that fits what I do. Are they with a firm that seems to have positions for what I do? What is the experience level of the search professional? (I am sorry to say that many have been schooled to lie when they answer that question. So listen to what they say in order to figure out whether to take their advice.)
A specialist or specialist firm does not guarantee success. Frankly, after I spent most of my career as a technology recruiter, several of my clients pushed me into a few other areas, making me more of a generalist with strong technology capabilities. Does that make me “less competent” than a specialist with three years or thirteen years experience? Obviously not.
If they ask to meet you, ask them what they will be screening for and what they hope to find out about you? Although many years ago, meeting you was designed to give you the “once over” to see how you presented yourself, most experienced recruiters are now capable of discerning what they need in a ten-minute phone call. Why be dragged in for a meeting that does little more than seek confirmation that you know how to dress and can string three sentences together?
© The Big Game Hunter, Inc. Asheville, NC 2010, 2016
