If you haven’t had much exposure to the industry, it might a bit of a mystery to you what recruiters actually do for work. Perhaps you think they are your saving grace ready to snap their fingers and offer you your dream job at a moment’s notice. Maybe you see them as the annoying notification that pops up on your phone spamming you with career “opportunities” you’d never be interested in.
The truth is recruiters are always trying to come up with inventive ways to reach great clients and candidates – some tactics proving to be more effective than others. Still, when you do find yourself lucky enough to come across a quality recruiter, the positive impact they can make on your career or business development is undoubtedly life-changing.
Director of Folk Recruitment, Neil Smith, and our very own Graft Talent founder and director, Melanie Parker, have shared their industry insight to help you understand what a recruitment experience should be like so you can find a recruiter worth your time and trust. Here’s our list of things you should be on the lookout for when choosing a recruitment agency!
1. You are spoken to like a person instead of a product
A recruiter’s primary job is to represent you to either the company you’re applying for or the candidate applying to work for you. The only way they can do that is if they care to fully understand your professional background, where you are in your career now, and what you are looking to do next.
“It’s so important to differentiate yourself [in recruitment] as providing a service, not making a sale,” said Neil, “You’re having a conversation with someone; it’s supposed to be as informal as possible because that’s how you get to know human beings.”
2. They ask you questions about YOU
This seems obvious, but when recruitment turns into a numbers game for the person who is supposed to guide you through a job application process, you may find yourself feeling like just another name on a checklist. A good consultant wants to hear your story and asks the questions that will get you to tell it.
According to Melanie: “Whenever we speak to people who’ve applied to work with us, we tell them, ‘Let’s just put that job to one side for a minute and focus on you.’ We ask about the kind of culture they want or what working environment would suit them because what they tell me then imagines how I’m going to drive the search for them.”
3. They consider you beyond the role you applied for
The simplest way for a recruiter to go about their job is to call you about your application, make a decision to accept or reject you on the spot, and then move on. However, someone who really knows their industry, clients, and candidates will always see a wider scope of possibilities for you.
“By the time you’ve reached the end of the conversation you might find that the role a candidate applied for is actually not right for them,” said Neil, “There then might be other clients you want to speak to and say, ‘I’ve met this candidate, I think you’ll really like them, would you like to speak to them?’”
Granted, it will not always be the case that they have your perfect company listed in their big book of shiny contacts. But the beauty of a great recruiter is that if such a role or client comes up in a month, three months, or even a year – now that they know you, you’ll be someone they keep in mind.
4. They’re talking to you about company culture and development potential
“Whenever we place someone, the best part is watching them really add value to a business,” Melanie shared, “Especially if they’re on the more junior side, it is also getting to watch people gain great experiences for their own learning and development.”
Indeed, a quality recruitment agency will know the ins and outs of the companies they work with. By the time your recruiter is on the phone with you, they’ll have discussed points with the client about company culture, why they are hiring, and the best strategies for the search. It is this depth of knowledge that allows them to paint a clear picture of what work life would by like for you if you were to join that team.
5. They won’t send you roles you don’t want
When a recruiter is focused on hitting their targets and getting commission, that can often lead to the practice of sending a mass of job adverts to anyone who’s CV looks slightly related and pushing them all to just take it. As Melaine sees it, “A person is more than what is on their CV and you shouldn’t assume anything about what they want until you’ve built a relationship with them.”
Your recruiter absolutely should be staying in contact and sending you updates – but that doesn’t mean offering you a new random role every few days. Instead, you want to be receiving more general check-ins to ensure that the times they do send you a job it’s something you will want to consider.
6. They have a network of people who clearly enjoy working with them
Look at online reviews, reach out to someone who has worked with the agency, stalk their social media pages. There are so many ways to figure out what others think so you can already have an introduction to the agency before even reaching out.
According to Neil: “At a certain point of [our recruitment careers], we started worrying less about finding candidates or clients out of nowhere because people already know Graft or Folk are going to give them such a good experience.”
7. You develop a real relationship with them
Whether or not you and your recruiter manage to land the perfect job for you, by the end of the process they should have a holistic grasp of your skills, passions, goals, and maybe even the insecurities you’re working through. How could you not have a deep relationship with someone who knows you on that level?
The bottom line is that your career or your company are big investments worth care and attention – it only makes that you work with people who are going to understand that the way you do. When you work with agencies like Graft you will end up with so much more than a new job or a strong CV, you gain a long-term partner that values being in your corner.
Looks like you are now equipped with the information you need to find the right agency to help shape your professional future! Are you ready to take that transformational next step?