The care and feeding of recruiters

Let me introduce myself. I'm a recruiter. For the purpose of this letter, it doesn't matter whether I work directly for the hiring company or as an independent recruiter. I'm a recruiter. I get paid to find candidates -- like you -- whom my company or client want to hire. Simple as that.

Or is it?

Perhaps not. At least it seems not, because there's so much about my job that I'd like you to know (that you might not know) so that we can work better together -- in your best interests and in mine. If we can increase the mutual respect we have for each other -- and for the challenges we each face -- I think we can accomplish a lot together. Certainly there are things about you I should understand better (I promise to read the accompanying article for that reason) but here's what I'd like you to know about me.

1. Whether I'm employed by the hiring firm or getting paid a commission by a client company, ultimately my success is measured by two things: filling all the vacancies I'm asked to fill and filling them with the best candidates. As a result, although I wish I had all day long to find out as much as possible about you, I don't. You can be a big help if you're clear on your objectives: kinds of positions you want (not "I'll take anything"), type of work environment you prefer and strengths you have that should make me want to present you. The less clear you are, the harder it is for me to do that.

2. For me, time is money. I have to turn up a lot of candidates in order to fill one position, so you'll begin to stand out to me if you're punctual when we have an appointment or phone call, not to mention how much of my respect you'll gain if you demonstrate, when we talk or email, that you know how to get to the point, stay on point and get off point. In a typical day I spend five hours on the phone, receive 1,000 emails, contact 100 people and still have to find time to keep up on industry trends as well as networking with my clients. There's no substitute for punctuality and brevity.

3. I might be a specialist or a generalist. I'll try to make that known to you, but you should make it a point to find out who I am. It may just be that we're not a good match for each other. Or maybe we are.

4. Your resume should be the best it possibly can be, no matter what your employment level. I see thousands of resumes each month and the good ones -- the really good ones -- stand out. Some of the bad resumes happen to be from really qualified candidates but because they're so bad, guess what? I never see them. Help me help you here. If you must pay a professional to make your resume great -- A+, nothing less -- do it. Remember, I have to present your resume to the hiring manager, and I don't want to present anything less than "great."

5. From the first moment our paths cross, there are certain behaviors you should exhibit. When you call, speak clearly and professionally. Over the phone, it's harder to understand you -- especially over cellphones. Take care with this. Always return my voicemails. When you email, write in complete sentences with no lazy abbreviations, goofy phrases or icons and symbols. Make your subject lines short and accurate. Make your emails short and to the point.

6. If I seem like the type of independent (in this case) recruiter who can help you, try to forge a strong relationship with me. You should be working with more than one recruiter because I can't possibly have the full reach into every company you want to approach. Understood. On the other hand, if your resume is on every recruiter's desk from here to the next county, this will result in a conflict where your resume gets presented to the same company by more than one recruiter. Know what happens then? You get eliminated almost every time, as the hiring manager won't go anywhere near that conflict.

7. I expect you to scrutinize me. You want to know how I work, what types of positions I fill and for what types of companies, what recommendations I have, and so forth. It serves you well to do this and, since I'm ethical and a good business person, I'm OK with it.

8. I'm paid by the client. Therefore my first allegiance is to them, not you. However, I want to be proud of the candidates I present, so if you'll understand where my business allegiance is while at the same time make me proud of you, we're liable to have a relationship in which both of us succeed.

With my best wishes that I can place you in a job while doing mine the right way, I thank you for being sensitive to my concerns.