How To Get the Most out of Your Recruiter Relationship as a Jobseeker

A good job recruiter in today’s era of hiring is much more than a judge of job description and resume compatibility. They deeply understand client and candidate motivations, potentials, and industry ecosystem to play the best employment matchmaker possible.  

You leave plentiful opportunities on the table forgoing a recruiter relationship in your job search, so the staffing experts at CSS Professional Staffing Group have provided a guide overviewing how best to work with a recruiter. Continue below to leverage these recruiter relationship tips today.  

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The recruiter’s advantage  

You find yourself on the job market combing through site after site both native and third-party scrolling through listed job opportunities. It turns out though, a solo job hunter will miss about 70 percent of all available jobs that are not publicly listed. Furthermore, 80 percent of all roles are filled with the assistance of a professional or personal connection.  

Alyssa Mastrangelo, CSS PSG National Recruiting Director notes that “If you’re not working through a professional recruiter in 2023, you’re missing out on way over half of the open market opportunity. Recruiters, also commonly known as recruitment or talent consultants or associates, are the matchmakers of the employment world with personal insight into both the clients they serve and the candidates they place.”

Similarly, if you are house hunting without a broker, you miss out on non-publicly advertised properties that brokers have exclusive access to on their Multiple Listing Service, or MLS. Your recruiter is your broker, your personal job shopper with exclusive access to roles you could never find on your own.  

Benefits of job searching through a recruiter  

We’ve already noted the insight into exclusive, non-publicly advertised roles that recruiters have access to, so here are more game-changing benefits for job seekers who chose to enlist a recruiter for employment services.  

  1. Recruiters are often industry experts and specialize in a specific niche of candidates. Finding a recruitment agency specializing in a field like, say, call center support, has never been easier and will hyper-focus your job search on only applicable roles.  

  2. Recruiters will advocate on your behalf to hiring managers and clients who have multiple stellar options. Being honest and open about your experience and ability will allow your recruiter to sell you into your dream job. You should be as open about your employment with your recruiter as you are about your health with your doctor.  

  3. Once you’ve established rapport with your recruiter, you will be kept on a hotlist so that even if the first role the two of you pursue ends without an offer acceptance, you’ll be fresh in their mind when a similar opportunity arises.  

  4. Recruiters offer industry insights not only into your particular job search but insight into the ecosystem of your industry as a whole. This means they have information about companies on the rise to track as well as how you stack up against competing candidates. They can even provide you with valuable information on the most important skills to acquire for your particular job search.  

  5. Once you’ve landed an interview, your recruiter is there to prepare you not only for the types of questions you’ll be asked but traits and tendencies of the hiring manager themselves as well. Your recruiter may even have insight into why previous interviewees succeeded or failed based on past hiring manager feedback.  

Your recruiter is there to be your advocate and to provide pertinent information about your market, your interviews, and your competition, so it’s imperative you cultivate a trusting, honest relationship. With this relationship comes the aforementioned benefits.  

Job seeker and recruiter relationship ethics  

To enjoy the benefits of job searching with a recruiter, you’ll need to abide by a set of ethics grounded in honesty and openness about your situation. This will give your recruiter the clearest view regarding the position, salary, benefits, length of project, location, etc. that you prefer as a candidate to line you up for the most applicable opportunities. Some other ethics to abide by are: 

  1. Consider your first interview with your recruiter like your first interview with the end manager. If you speak casually, dress casually, and generally come off like this interview isn’t the real deal, your recruiter will sense it. And that recruiter will, 100 percent, every time, pull another resource who acts in a more professional manner to submit to a role you’re looking to fill. 

  2. Be responsive (and this will come up again when you evaluate your recruiter for fit). If you are unresponsive to your recruiter reaching out about opportunities, you’re almost sure to miss out. Not to mention there are other candidates who may be prompter than you that your recruiter is also already working with. At the end of the day, respecting people’s time is paramount, and a recruiter waiting on interest from you as the job seeker is likely to take your silence as disinterest, and in the worst case, insulting.  

  3. NEVER apply to the same role with multiple recruiters. This will automatically disqualify you from the requisition and worse, will scar the reputations of both recruiters, damaging their relationship with the client and with yourself. Again, honesty is key here, so avoid double submittals.  

  4. Always inform your recruiter if you are in contention for another competing role separate from the one you are working on together. This will allow your recruiter to sell you in more effectively to the role the two of you are working on. If you are a hot commodity with competing hiring managers, you’re likely to be offered sweeter deals resulting from a bidding war between employers.   

Assessing recruiters  

Though you should do all you can to genuinely make a recruiter want to work with you, you need to evaluate your recruiter as well. Use the tactics and ethics listed above to test your recruiter on their honesty, timeliness, network, and industry niche among other components to make sure you’re getting the best advocate acting on your behalf to employers.  

To get a clear picture of whether or not a recruiter is a good fit, ask about what motivates them to be a recruiter, what their industry or function specialty is, what their client portfolio looks like, recruitment experience, and more.  

Partner with an expert CSS Professional Staffing Group recruiter to land your dream career  

To land your dream role at your dream company, reach out to the recruitment professionals at CSS Professional Staffing Group and begin your employment journey. Specializing in Human Resources, Accounting and Finance, Office Support, and Call Center Support, CSS PSG has been a staffing industry leader for almost 20 years with stellar client reviews. Connect with CSS PSG today to make your career dream a reality!  

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