The do's and don'ts when working with a recruiter

If you read my most recent blog post, you have come to realize that working with recruiters can be a little more complicated than it might first appear. Here are some do's and don'ts when working with a recruiter:

DO

1. Put your best foot forward. This recruiter is screening you to see if you are the best fit for their client. They are interviewing you.

2. Call for interview prep if needed. This recruiter wants you to do well so they can make a placement and get paid. They will have the buzz words that the employer is wanting.

3. Be punctual and professional. While the recruiter might have hidden motives, they are the gatekeeper to your possible future employer.

4. Ask how they got your name. If they can't be specific keep your guard up.

5. Work with multiple recruiters if you are in an active job search. Multiple recruiters will represent multiple clients. Keep track of your recruiters and the interviews you go on. More than once I've had recruiters fight over who should get credit for the hire. The recruiter that gets you the interview is the recruiter that should get credit.

6. If you feel that the interviewer has objections or apprehensions, bring these up to the recruiter so he or she can work through them.

7. Follow up and be enthusiastic. If this recruiter likes you and sees your true value, he or she will be excited to place you with other opportunities that come along.

8. Express apprehensions with your recruiter. If you see red flags, tell the recruiter so he might investigate and better qualify what's really going on. If you're not interested, tell the recruiter so you don't waste anyone's time.

9. Define the roles, responsibility and pay with your recruiter before moving forward.

Don'ts

1. Do not tell the recruiter the specific names of other companies you are interviewing with. This will only mean competition for you. If your recruiter learns of another hiring company, he or she will likely contact that company and try to find candidates for the open position.

2. Don't reveal all your cards. After the interview, you might present one or two generic questions that the hiring manager asked you but not all of them.

3. Don't rely on the recruiter to communicate with your hiring manager. Be sure to get the card of each person you interview with so you can facilitate your own communication without relying on the recruiter for everything.

4. Don't give just anyone your resume. It has important, personal information about you. The more people that know you're looking, the greater chance your current job will be jeopardized. Make sure that you indicate several times that it is NOT okay to contact your current employer for a background check!

5. Do not give references to your recruiter. Give them directly to the hiring manager. You could be handing your recruiter a list of potential candidates to call through.

6. Do not try to facilitate the payment arrangements between your hiring manager and your recruiter. This has happened and it's a red flag that your recruiter is unprofessional and likely a jerk. It happens!

7. Don't call a million times a day. If you're waiting to hear some feedback, once or twice during the week is acceptable.

8. Do not go behind the recruiter's back to the hiring company. Once the recruiter tells you the name of the company, it is not okay for you to pursue it on your own or tell another recruiter about the opportunity. However, if you tell the recruiter that you're interested and that you want an interview, it's fair game. If another recruiter contacts you with the same opportunity you might tell them that you're working on that with another recruiter but you'll keep him updated. If the original recruiter hasn't lined up an interview after repeated requests, tell the second recruiter you'd like to pursue the opportunity. Not only will this make the recruiter mad and possibly get you blacklisted from all recruiters, it puts the hiring manager in a tough spot when determining who to credit. Sometimes, a hiring manager will decide to go with another candidate rather than deal with the hassle of fighting the recruiter.

What recruiters don't tell you

I love learning about careers. I love helping someone figure out what he wants to do in life, put together a resume and then prepare for the interviews. I'm one of the strange ones that enjoys going on an interview... although I haven't officially been on one in ages. As you might suspect, I thought these interests would lend well to a career in recruiting. For a few short weeks of my life, I sat behind a desk calling random people telling them about "great" opportunities. I would leave my overzealous messages and wait for the return phone calls. Why did I do this for such a short time you ask? I suck at lying and I hate it. My boss told me that I just didn't like being on the phone... well, if you ask my parents, you couldn't pry the phone from my hands when I was growing up. If you ask AT&T, they would likely tell you I'm one of their best customers. I loved being on the phone. What I didn't like was lying to every single person I talked to during my short recruiting stint. Getting fired from that job was a dream come true... I just didn't know it yet.

Recruiting firms are working for the hiring client, not you. I must note that there are exceptions to this rule. Some recruiters will look for jobs specifically for you if either (a) you're a fantastic candidate with a rock solid resume or (b) you agree to pay a lofty sum of money. In either scenario, you're probably better off looking for a job yourself.

Here's how it works. Lets use the Acme corporation for an example. The recruiter, let's call him Carl, calls through a bunch of companies promising to find great candidates and at least one that the company will want to hire. Of course this service doesn't come for free. If Acme agrees to hire one of these candidates, thousands of dollars will be owed to the recruiting company. So, Acme agrees to these terms in writing and the search begins. Recruiter Carl sets out to find the star employee by posting on the Internet, looking through linkedin.com, networking, etc. Here's the part you might not know. The best employees are usually already working. Carl knows this so he calls companies that produce the best type of candidates for Acme company. He targets companies that train their employees well and have rigorous interview and hiring policies. He seeks companies with a proven track record of success that only hire the best. Here's how the conversation might go:

"Hello, thank you for calling XYZ company. How may I direct your call?" Receptionist.

"Oh, I'm hoping you can help me. This is John and I recently went to a luncheon where I met one of your employees. I was really hoping to connect with her but I can't remember her name. It's right on the tip of my tongue. I know I'd remember it if I heard it," Carl.

Carl waits for the receptionist to start rattling off names. Carl writes these names down and keeps searching. He knows that Acme likes to hire young, attractive men and women that are recent college grads with a few years experience tucked under their belts. He continues but this time, he gets more specific.

"No, I don't think that was her name. She was younger, probably about 24 or 25. Tall, blond, very sharp," Carl.

"Oh, you must mean Cindy. Let me put you through," Receptionist.

"Thank you. What is her extension if I get disconnected?"

Cindy isn't in the office so her voicemail picks up.

"Hello Cindy! My name is Carl and an anonymous source told me that you'd be great for a fantastic job opportunity I have. My client is a fortune 500 company that doubled their profits in the past year. They're one of Fortune Magazine's top 100 companies to work for they're offering a very attractive package with realistic first year earnings of at least $100,000. If you could please call me back at your earliest convenience I'd really appreciate it. Thank you and I look forward to hearing from you soon," he hangs up and records Cindy's name in a log indicating what company she works for and the date he contacted her. Then he waits for her to return the call.

Carl has never met Cindy. Never seen her and likely never will. He has no idea what her qualifications are, if she's happy in her present job or if she would be a good fit for Acme. What he really cares about it placing Cindy at Acme and getting paid for the placement. Heck, he'd be better off if Cindy didn't work out and Acme came running to him to replace her with another candidate. Carl continues this method of searching for at least another few hundred calls before he eventually does find a couple candidates to interview and hopefully a hire. Since he has Cindy's extension, he can call through other extensions that are close in number to hers where he can offer up the same word track as before. His dream would be to get a dial-by-name directory of all the people in her department. After all, most people don't tell their co-workers about recruiter calls and opportunities. You'd be surprised how many times I arrived at an interview only to see a co-worker waiting in the lobby to interview after me. Recruiters love to throw a bunch of candidates from one company to see if one will stick.

Cindy does call Carl back and Carl starts seeing dollar signs as he realizes that Cindy is exactly what the company is looking for. He arranges an interview but tells Cindy that she must call him before and after the interview for prep and follow-up. Carl knows what the client is looking for and knows what buzz words to give Cindy in order for her to shine in the interview. These may or may not be words that Cindy would normally use and this might be a company that will be a great fit or maybe not. What matters is that Cindy is sold on the job and pumped up so that she can go sell herself in the interview. Carl takes special time to make sure that Cindy creates phrases to use that incorporate these buzz words and qualities and he teaches her things to avoid. Perhaps he got these avoidance topics directly from Acme when he asked about things that made other employees not work out in the past. Cindy goes on her interview and excitedly calls Carl afterwards.

"Hi Carl, the interview went great! I think they really like me. They want me to come back next week and meet the rest of their team," Cindy.

"That's great Cindy. When is that interview scheduled for? What questions did they ask you?"

Carl sits and writes down ever single question that Cindy can recall. He takes careful notes about the details of the interview so that he can properly prepare and educate his next candidate. These details aren't necessarily to help Cindy but to help Carl place a candidate if Cindy doesn't work out.

Carl talks to the hiring manager at Acme and learns that they really like Cindy but they have another candidate with more experience. They will continue to interview Cindy but they do have someone else waiting in the wings. Carl decides not to tell Cindy about this because he wants her to remain excited and energized about the prospect just in case the other candidate doesn't work out or decides not to accept the job. In fact, when Acme begins to stall with Cindy as they await an acceptance from candidate B, Carl makes excuses for the hiring manager, telling Cindy that he is out of town and not to worry about not getting a call back yet.

Meanwhile, Cindy has been distracted from her job that she was otherwise happy with and she has started to question if there's something better. Her productivity starts to slide as she works with recruiters and starts to interview. She may or may not find something that makes her happier. The more likely scenario is that her boss finds out that she's looking and she jeopardizes her existing job. Unfortunately, I know this from personal experience.

There are good recruiters out there that genuinely want the best for you. I would argue that this is the exception and not the rule.

Another tactic that recruiters often use is to post a job opportunity that doesn't really exist. Recruiters love to build up their "resume bank" to have great candidates waiting for prospective hiring managers. A bait and switch technique, many candidates will call about a posting, send in their resume and then be told that the job was filled. If the recruiter has another, less sexy client, he will often try to pass off this "new opportunity" to the candidate. Sometimes the recruiter won't even call the candidate back. Why would he when he has a resume to file and follow up on for the next hot opportunity that comes by?

Stay tuned for the do's and don't when working with a recruiter.

Get it write!

If you're like me and have an "s" in your name, you might still be reeling from learning to write. I remember how frustrated my mom would get when I'd continue to write my S's backwards. Luckily, my daughter doesn't have an "s" in her name but she's still struggling to control her pencil the right way. I went in search of tools to help her learn and here are some helpful hints.

• http://desktoppub.about.com/od/lessonplans/ig/Free-Print---Cursive-Fonts/Penmanship-Print.htm This website allows you to download a free font that places numbers on those hat, belt and shoe lines that you hear your kids talk about.
• http://www.otideas.com/Items/PencilGrips.htm Pencil grippers can help your child learn to hold a pencil properly. This site has some for purchase... shop around as these seem a little pricey
• Use short and fat pencils. Think about the size of your adult hand in relation to your pens and pencils. Now consider how small a child's hand is. You can purchase these pencils at your local Children's bookshop.
• Make it fun! Consider using a white board and markers. Mix it up on paper by using markers, crayons, glitter and glue or sidewalk chalk on a sunny day