I have a confession to make: I’ve had a bit of a spotty relationship with recruiters through my hiring history. I’ve worked with them as a hiring manager and as a candidate, and someday I’ll tell you the war stories. This time, however, I’m going to be less cynical than my last few posts and look at why I often loved working with recruiters when I was a hiring manager.
1. Recruiters Cover a Multitude of Sins
If you have never made a mistake during the recruitment process, please raise your hand.
As I expected, I didn’t see many hands out there!
As I may have mentioned before, I made a few horrific mistakes as a hiring manager, and I’m sure that I’ll make many more in my career before I’m done.
And I’ve had some pretty amazing recruiters cover up my errors. Whether it was asking me whether I was SURE I wanted to pass up this resume that looked like the candidate was a perfect fit (whoops – wrong pile!) or it was confirming interview scheduling that had fallen off my calendar, I’ve had recruiters save my bacon numerous times.
Somehow, none of them ever said “I told you so,” either!
2. Recruiters Do the Dirty Work
Honestly, recruiting can be a long slog. Going through hundreds of applicants, tracking what’s going on with each of them, and getting back to all of them can be downright tedious and painful. However, having a recruiter handle this piece is downright wonderful and painless.
Having a recruiter post a role and screen candidates down to a select few has saved me countless hours in the recruitment process. Having a recruiter with the job of telling folks they don’t fit? Even better – after all, who likes disappointing people?
3. Recruiters Are Magic (or so it seems)
Even after a few months of working at RecruitLoop, I still think that recruiters are magic. Or at least, no one has let me behind the curtain yet!
How are recruiters magic?
- I’ve seen recruiters take a 10-minute conversation and come up with a brilliant job ad.
- I’ve seen recruiters find the elusive unicorn or purple squirrel candidates – people I honestly didn’t think existed but who were perfect for my role.
- I’ve seen recruiters negotiate with candidates who I never thought would be able to take our hiring package.
And a ton more, but I think you get the idea.
4. Recruiters Are Actually Cool People
Okay, so this one doesn’t necessarily apply to every single recruiter, any more than it would apply to every Head of Growth (although I like to think that Heads of Growth don’t suck :)). But I have to admit that most of the recruiters I’ve worked with, both as a hiring manager and as a candidate, are fun folks to grab a beer with.
This actually makes sense if you think about it; good recruiters must understand people. Good recruiters MUST have fantastic people skills, or, well, they won’t be good recruiters. So you shouldn’t hate your recruiter – you should love him or her. You should like your recruiter enough to want to take his or her calls, right?
Oh, but if you don’t love your recruiter, I know a few who are pretty cool to grab a beer with 😉
Photo credit: JM Scott.
Author
Jenn Steele
Jen Steele is a dynamic, results-driven leader with over two decades of experience in the technology and marketing industries. As the CEO of KissMetrics, Jen is responsible for driving the company's strategic direction, growth, and overall success.
