The one thing to keep in mind during this process is that executive recruiter, even if he or she is working for an independent company, will not have your best interest at heart. In fact, the recruiter, while they may act like they're on your side, is working for whoever pays them and that's usually the company or organization you're applying to for a job.
Because recruiters work for the hiring company, that's where their allegiance lies - not with the job-seeker. Their first goal is to make their client happy, and because they don't get paid until the position is filled, they care more about that than getting the candidate more money.
In terms of what works best for job seekers, the success rate for recruiters has dropped nearly 50% between 2005 and 2009, according to an annual survey by CareerXRoads. The survey of more than 200 employers shows that the percentage of hires made through referrals has remained consistent over the last five years with 27% saying referrals were the biggest factor in external hires in 2009 compared to 27.1% in 2005. However, recruiters working for third-party agencies, accounted for only 2.3% of external hires last year, compared to a 5.2% success rate in 2005.
You also need to keep in mind that there are no licenses or rules that govern who can call themselves an "executive recruiter" or even an "employment agency." As a job seeker, you are responsible for vetting the recruiter. While a certification isn't a requirement, there are recognized certifications professional recruiters can attain and be certified as a Temporary Staffing Specialist, a Personnel Consultant, or a Professional in Human Resources. They require previous experience and the passage of an exam.
Something you need to be wary of is the recruiter or search firm that charges you for helping with the job search.
Here are some things executive recruiters do that they don't want you to know about, courtesy of Smart Money magazine.
Recruiters will sometimes take out ads for great jobs that either don't exist or are simply not available. They do this to build up a stable of candidates and is considered a practical way of doing business because some assignments offer a bonus for filling a key job fast. For the job hunter, it's frustrating, misleading, and raises false hopes at an already anxious time. The effort isn't totally lost because just because there's no job now doesn't mean there won't be one later. So if you're a job-seeker, one way to beat them at this game is to identify those companies and positions you're interested in and seek out recruiters who work with them. This is particularly true for anyone seeking an upper management job, for which companies typically rely on an established relationship with a recruiter or recruiting firm.
Recruiters do a background check of your credit history and legal records. So it's important to make sure that the information they have is accurate. It's estimated that 80% of credit reports contain errors, and 25 percent have what's considered to be a "serious error" such as false delinquencies or accounts that did not belong to the consumer, according to a 2004 study from U.S. PIRG. To ensure you'll be judged on your own merits, check your credit report for errors and take steps to fix what you find.
The executive recruiting business isn't doing very well these days either. In Orange County, Calif., for example, the 20 largest employment firms saw revenue drop almost 20% in 2009, according to an Orange County Business Journal survey. Therefore, a lot of experienced people have left the field, which means you often don't get the best help in your job search, particularly when you work with smaller firms. Some larger national and international firms are doing better. Revenue at Adecco, the world's largest staffing company, rose 16% in July and August and revenues at Manpower and Robert Half International are up 15% and 6% respectively in the last three months.
Recruiters are using computer programs to scan applications for keywords. So even if you submit your resume on expensive stationary, it still gets scanned by a recruiter or staffing agency. To get through the computer gatekeeper, applicants need to make sure the relevant, searchable words are on their resumes. For example, if you want to work in the entertainment industry, listing a past job at Sony Pictures on your resume isn't enough; the word "entertainment" must be there too. If you don't know what the appropriate keywords are, just look at the job description. They'll be in there under the "must have" criteria.
Some recruiters hold out the promise of a permanent job if you're successful in a temporary position, but don't fall for it. Since temporary employment trends hit bottom in September 2009, the U.S. Department of Labor says the service and professional sectors have added 392,000 temporary jobs. But the CareerXroads survey showed that positions advertised as temp-to-perm accounted for just 1.6% of all hiring in 2009.
Using a recruiter could also get you fired. Not all recruiters are careful, and the last thing you want is to have your resume land on the desk of your current boss. So you need to make sure the recruiter does not have permission to release any paperwork without your permission. There are some aggressive recruiters who pull resumes off LinkedIn profiles and job boards and circulate them without getting the candidates permission - or even letting him know.
If you're willing to relocate, don't count on a recruiter you've been working with in your home city to help you find work outside the area, even if you're working with a national search firm. Recruiters at big firms have little incentive to spread your resume around to other locations. Mainly, it's because they'll have to split a commission with the colleague that helps you land a job. Instead, you send your resume yourself to the branch offices in the places you would like to go.
