Recruiters are your best friends when they see you as a potential fit for a job. They also can be as elusive as a yeti when you’re trying to get their attention because you believe you’re the perfect fit for a job.
We usually think of recruiters as people who reach out to potential candidates, not the other way around. But considering the U.S. Labor Department reported that 531,000 new jobs were added in October, with faster growth predicted in these final months of the year, recruiters can’t hire fast enough. If they’re that busy, how can you get their attention — and when should you try? Here are three steps to approaching a recruiter in a way that’s mutually beneficial.
A recruiter’s job is to understand each role deeply enough to a) find the right skills and capabilities for a job they’ve likely never done themselves, and b) sell you on the position so you’ll accept an offer if you’re the best final candidate. Recruiters are part salesperson, part cheerleader, part coach, part therapist, and part strategist to both candidates and hiring managers.
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Now picture a recruiter doing all that for multiple job openings at once. Let’s say they have five viable candidates per job opening and are managing 10 openings. Yes: Most recruiters are managing more than 50 candidates at a time, some of whom may be passive candidates who need convincing to consider new opportunities. If recruiters responded to every random inquiry, they wouldn’t have time to fill jobs. That’s why it’s so critical to reach out to them with a targeted approach.
You need to understand exactly which type of recruiter — internal, external, or executive — you’re reaching out to and what types of roles they recruit for so you can position yourself properly.
Internal recruiters are assigned to a specific area of their company — for example, engineering, marketing, finance, etc. So, if you reach out to a finance recruiter for a marketing job, you’ll most likely be ignored. Also, a referral from a current employee or someone who knows the recruiter will garner more attention than a generic email. Internal recruiters don’t tend to have databases of past candidates, so you should keep their name and email in case you find another applicable job at their company.
External recruiters don’t work for the company with the job opening and specialize in specific business areas. For example, some external recruiters only recruit lawyers, while some specialize in industries like entertainment. Many external recruiters don’t get paid if they don’t find the candidate who ultimately accepts the job. In some instances, they may be competing with an internal recruiter who’s also working to fill a role, and if the internal recruiter finds a top candidate, you may lose out if you’re the external recruiter’s candidate. But don’t ignore external recruiters — many are hired because an internal recruiter has exhausted their search and needs an expert in the field. External recruiters generally do keep databases of candidates because they may be recruiting for similar roles at numerous companies.
Executive recruiters can be internal or external and mostly hire VP-level and higher roles. They do a lot of sourcing for the right candidate and may even seek candidates for confidential roles that aren’t posted publicly.
This is the most critical step. Never approach recruiters asking them to help you. They don’t know you and you aren’t paying them! Their job isn’t to help you; your job is to help them do their job and fill roles. Approach a recruiter only after you’ve done your research, your LinkedIn profile and resume are updated, you’re ready to interview, and you understand whether the recruiter is internal or external and what types of roles they recruit for.
There are two reasons to approach a recruiter: