{"id":122,"date":"2022-11-20T18:54:34","date_gmt":"2022-11-20T18:54:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kdbcoaching.com\/stageing\/?p=122"},"modified":"2024-06-03T17:02:45","modified_gmt":"2024-06-03T17:02:45","slug":"how-to-interview-a-recruiter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kdbcoaching.com\/stageing\/how-to-interview-a-recruiter\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Interview a Recruiter"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"how<\/a>In another blog I alluded to interviewing a recruiter before you start working with them. \u00a0There are great people out there, but there are a lot of green recruiters out there who are great at email and uploading r\u00e9sum\u00e9s into applicant tracking systems, but they don’t really know how to move forward and aggressively or appropriately market a candidates background. \u00a0 To that end, this blog was originally published on my KDB Consulting website, and I have pulled over my list of the top things one should ask, or “How to Interview a Recruiter.” \u00a0 You can find the full original blog here.<\/a><\/p>\n

How to Interview a Recruiter:<\/h2>\n

<\/h2>\n

5 Things Every Candidate Should Ask a Recruiter Before Working With Them<\/h2>\n

What is your recruiting and educational background? \u00a0<\/strong>Did you know that agency recruiters do not have to have any particular training to recruit? \u00a0Many times, recruiters do not need to have a degree. \u00a0If they are degreed, they do not necessarily have a degree in the area that they are recruiting for. \u00a0 Many niche recruiters (accounting, finance, IT, engineering, science) may focus on their niche, but do not have specific training nor have they ever worked a job in the industry. \u00a0You want to make sure that if you have a professional or technical niche and need representation that you are asking questions that will help you ascertain your recruiters qualifications to represent your background appropriately and speak on your behalf to an end user. A few questions to get you started:<\/p>\n

    \n
  • How many years have you been a recruiter?<\/li>\n
  • Do you have a college degree in your niche?<\/li>\n
  • Have you ever worked in (the industry) or (specific job) you are recruiting for?<\/li>\n
  • What type of training does your firm offer you? \u00a0Do you get to attend continuing education or seminars?<\/li>\n
  • Do you belong to any networking groups for the niche industry you represent?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    Will you meet in person? <\/strong>\u00a0I don\u2019t know about you, but I work harder for the people I meet in person and have a connection with. \u00a0A voice on the phone is just a voice on the phone. \u00a0You want to look your recruiter in the eye and make sure that they are focused on you. \u00a0Just like they should be meeting you to see your professionalism, you should absolutely be meeting them to vet if they are professional. \u00a0Do they take notes on your background? \u00a0Do they ask appropriate questions? \u00a0Are they focused and off their cell phone or email when talking to you?<\/p>\n

    Every agency recruiter has a set number of candidates they need to meet on a weekly basis. \u00a0Typically, this number is anywhere between 8 and 15. \u00a0In order to make those numbers, many recruiters are forced to conduct their interviews over the phone. \u00a0 With today\u2019s technology, many recruiters are covering national searches or at least a very large territory. \u00a0With the constraints of time and volume, the face to face interview is increasingly falling by the wayside. \u00a0 Some candidates appreciate it because they don\u2019t like the application, interview and testing process\u2026 but\u2026 \u00a0Do you really like doing important business with people you have never met? \u00a0 Would you spend $20,000 \u2013 $30,000 on a purchase where you never met the sales person or got to kick the tires on the product? \u00a0Why then would you avoid meeting\u00a0your recruiter? \u00a0Do you expect a client to pay a recruiting fee\u00a0if the recruiter never even met you? \u00a0I wouldn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

    Please tell me about the last three placements you made. \u00a0<\/strong>Good recruiters make placements. \u00a0They are proud of the orders they fill. \u00a0They love the commission they get. \u00a0If your agency recruiter can not tell you about the last three placements you made. \u00a0Stop the interview and go home. \u00a0No really, stop and go home.<\/p>\n

    If they can tell you about their last three placements, you want to figure out if they were in your industry, functional job area and if they are at the same level you are in your career. \u00a0 For example, if you are a financial analyst and the last three placements were accounts payable or receivable, it might not be the right match. \u00a0If you are in IT and the last few placements were executive assistants, even if they were in the IT department, it might be a poor match.<\/p>\n

    You also want to make sure that your recruiter is excited about their placements. \u00a0Was there joy from the deal? \u00a0Are they positive about their relationships with the client? \u00a0You want to look for excitement and not just submitting r\u00e9sum\u00e9s. \u00a0Even recruiters get burned out sending r\u00e9sum\u00e9s to a black hole, and trust me, there are a lot of black holes in recruiting. \u00a0Recruiters must close business to thrive.<\/p>\n

    Have you been to the company you are recruiting for? \u00a0Do you know the end user this job will be reporting to? \u00a0<\/strong>Very often an agency recruiter will cold call you and ask if you are interested in having your r\u00e9sum\u00e9 submitted to a client. \u00a0Assuming you have met and vetted your recruiter, before you agree to the submittal, you want to ask them if they have ever visited the company and if they have met the end user.<\/p>\n

    Back in the old days before the downfall of all things hiring, also known as VMS, or Vendor Management Systems, recruiters were almost always allowed to set foot on the clients soil and meet end users. \u00a0They were considered an extension of the hiring team and were essentially a consulting insider. \u00a0Some recruiters have done a great job and are still allowed on corporate campuses, so they are closer to the hiring managers and the action. \u00a0Other agency recruiters are forbidden by their contracts from setting foot at the client (generally the idea here is to keep things neutral and fair) and are only allowed relationships with a third party administrator. \u00a0A r\u00e9sum\u00e9 may only be submitted through a technology portal and the recruiter may never get to talk to anyone about their candidate. \u00a0You need to decide if you are comfortable with the neutral technology driven scenario. \u00a0Industry wide this has a very low job fill rate, so manage your expectations on success.<\/p>\n

    Like the point I made above about meeting your recruiter and having a better relationship, a recruiter who has set foot on the company grounds will have a much better understanding of the corporate culture. \u00a0If they have a true working relationship with the hiring manager or end user, even better. \u00a0 The best scenario is that in addition to the company visits and end user relationship\u00a0they have also met you face to face. \u00a0In my unscientific percentage, they have \u00a0increased the chance of placement by 70% because they actually know the client and the candidate and can picture you together.<\/p>\n

    How long have you been working with this client? \u00a0How long has this job been open? \u00a0<\/b>One of my mentors once told me that the first job order or requisition with a new client was just an audition. \u00a0Usually, a recruiter does not fill the first job order they have with a new client. \u00a0This actually does not have much to do with the recruiter, but more to do with how long the order was open before the recruiter received it. \u00a0A job that was open for a day or two is much easier to fill than one that is open for months. \u00a0Companies tend to bring in new staffing firms at the mid to end point of an open job, so if your recruiter is working with a new client on their first order, chances are there is a low fill probability. \u00a0That does not mean you should not have the recruiter submit your r\u00e9sum\u00e9, it just means that you need to manage your expectations. Just like any other professional relationship do your research and due diligence.<\/p>\n

    Remember, when you work with an agency recruiter, their professionalism and presentation skills are what the client company sees first. \u00a0Make sure they understand you and your industry and they are the appropriate first introduction to your skills and abilities.<\/p>\n

    For more information about working with recruiters or picking the best recruiter for you, contact KDB Coaching today.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    In another blog I alluded to interviewing a recruiter before you start working with them. \u00a0There are great people out there, but there are a lot of green recruiters out there who are great at email and uploading r\u00e9sum\u00e9s into applicant tracking systems, but they don’t really know how to move forward and aggressively or […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":124,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[113,114,43],"tags":[],"yst_prominent_words":[169,176,119,33,168,172,175,171,32,174,173,31,162,164,177,170,88],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kdbcoaching.com\/stageing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kdbcoaching.com\/stageing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kdbcoaching.com\/stageing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kdbcoaching.com\/stageing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kdbcoaching.com\/stageing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=122"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/kdbcoaching.com\/stageing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3127,"href":"https:\/\/kdbcoaching.com\/stageing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122\/revisions\/3127"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kdbcoaching.com\/stageing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/124"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kdbcoaching.com\/stageing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=122"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kdbcoaching.com\/stageing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=122"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kdbcoaching.com\/stageing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=122"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kdbcoaching.com\/stageing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=122"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}