To be sure, search consultants play a key role in the job market, and it's possible to enjoy a mutually beneficial relationship with them. However, recruiters say that first you must realize that they're paid by hiring companies, and that's where their loyalties lie.
"Candidates are not our clients; the company is our client," says Herman De Kesel, a retained search firm, "it's probably good to establish a relationship with recruiters. It helps your networking."
Before you start, understand the difference between contingency and retained search firms. Contingency recruiters work primarily on middle management and professional-level openings, and are paid only if they successfully fill a position. If you have highly marketable skills, they may shop you around to clients in hope that one will hire you and pay their fee. Retained recruiters, on the other hand, typically work on higher-level executive openings, and receive a fee for conducting a thorough search, regardless of whether any of the candidates they locate are hired. Thus, unless you fit one of their assignments exactly, there's no profit motive for retained recruiters to make employers aware of your existence.
Indeed, if you're actively looking for a new position, sending a generic resume to hundreds of recruiting firms-contingency or retained-probably isn't worth the time, search consultants say.
"We get dozens of unsolicited resumes from job hunters each day, but I don't think I've placed more than three or four of them in 15 years," says a retained search firm. "The chances that you'll match [a current senior-management assignment] and happen to be the best candidate for it are very unlikely."
Instead, you're better off conducting an aggressive job campaign in which you target appropriate employers and research their hiring managers' needs. And to make sure all your bases are covered, try to build fruitful, long-term relationships with a few recruiters in your field throughout your career (instead of just when you're job hunting). To do so, heed the following advice from search consultants.
Preparation
- Get noticed. If recruiters never call you even though you're a skilled executive, you're either not all that good or you're not all that visible.
- To appear on headhunters' radar screens, you must be in the right place at the right time. Consultants often work from a target list of 100 to 150 companies that are highly regarded in their industry, and select candidates who occupy conspicuous positions at A-list employers.
- To increase your chances of attracting a recruiter's attention, try to work more closely with peers and customers and become more active in your company or industry association. For example, you might call your company's marketing vice president or public relations director and volunteer your services. Say you're willing to serve as a contact name on press releases and be quoted in trade-journal articles. You might even develop relationships with journalists who cover your industry, or write some essays yourself.
- Identify suitable recruiters. Search consultants say that all resumes sent to their firms are reviewed, and most are entered into a database of candidates that gets checked at the start of each assignment. Rest assured, then, that any firm which has your resume will find it and call you if you fit the qualifications for a position it needs to fill. If you can't abide such a passive approach, research and network to locate recruiters who are more likely to take a special interest in you.
- If at all possible, try to establish some kind of personal connection with the recruiter. Some people are way too premature in describing their whole job history, others launch into a litany of questions that probably aren't germane. It's best to focus on strategic ideas and issues, not on minutiae. And while it's important to be honest, you don't have to reveal your entire background from the start. I'd provide the same level of disclosure that the recruiter offers.
- If you're unemployed, though, don't try to hide that fact. It's always a turnoff if someone tries to disguise his or her current situation. Ultimately, we'll find out anyway. Never lie or embellish your background. When you're discovered, we'll never deal with you again.
- Follow up professionally. If the first conversation goes well, the recruiter will ask for your resume or CV, and possibly for references. Over a period of about 20 days, the recruiter will narrow the slate of candidates and present the top finalists to the employer. Perhaps five will be invited for in-person interviews. During that time, you may have additional telephone interviews and your references may be checked.
- This process can be lengthy, so be patient, recruiters say. Use this time to research the company so you can ask intelligent questions and make sophisticated observations in interviews. And fell free to update the recruiter periodically on your progress during this time. Even if you don't get this job, if you handle yourself professionally, you'll have a friend in the recruiting ranks when you're through.
- "What did you think of my resume?" Get advice from your first boss or wife (may be the same person), or from Aunt Alice the English teacher, but don't expect the recruiter to be your personal career counselor.
- Expecting too much. Remember that the recruiter is paid by the other side and is really interested in you only if you can be converted into a bank deposit. Don't expect him to return your calls or give you an interview (but expose yourself to enough and you'll get some action.)
