College Grads - Complete Recruiters Handbook
So, you're going to graduate and are in the process of sending your resume out to many jobs. Well, it just so happens that certain of the ads you applied to is through a recruiter. Besides as an online media consultant, I run a recruiting firm who deals with executive level job seekers. Which means our company only places jobs which are $100,000 base salary or above. For several reasons including ethics, we do not place recent college graduates.
Coming out of college, I strongly claim that you do not use a recruiter for the first job. There are exceptions such as for example Heidrich and Struggles as well as ManPower, though you can find not many. Actually, I wish most colleges would stop letting recruiters post 3rd party employment openings. If it is directly for that recruiting firm and the positioning offers compensation, then it is an exception. We'll enter what it is prefer to work with a staffing firm later in this article.
Personally, before I graduated college, I had no idea what a recruiter was. That's, until I got staffed by one in a job which I would leave in 4 months to, ironically, start my very own recruitment company.
How do recruiters receives a commission:
Recruiters receives a commission two various ways:
1. Contingency contracts - a contingency contract is whenever a company pays a recruiter (typically 15% - 25% of the bottom salary) to find them an employee. With a contingency contract, the recruiter only gets paid if they place somebody for that one position.
Therefore, if your base salary is $35,000, then the recruiter would get $7,000 in commission once you officially became employed with the business. Actually, the $7,000 would go directly to the recruiting company and, depending on what firm's commission policies were, the recruiter would get a certain % of this money.
2. Retained contracts - nowadays, recruiters are less inclined to obtain these contracts, nonetheless it is whenever a company pays a recruiting firm upfront or in stages no matter if they make the placement. It is unlikely that a firm will be retained to obtain recent college graduates.
3. Guarantees - recruiters almost always give their clients guarantees. These guarantees, pretty much, are a type of risk management therefore the employer does not have employment applicant leave and is left with a hefty bill. The standard guarantee is 3 months prorated on a 30/60/90 days basis. Prorated guarantee explained:
Let's assume, to create it easy mathematically, that the recruiter is charging 20% of the base salary and is focusing on a 30/60/90 pro-rated guarantee. So, if your base salary is $30,000, then your total fee the recruiter would receive is $6,000. With the aforementioned guarantee, the payment schedule would be the following: $2,000 once you were at the business for 30 days, the next $2,000 once you were at the company for 60 days, and the final $2,000 once you were at the company for 90 days.
Common sayings that recruiters use to manipulate recent college grads:
1. "Do this favor for me personally" - this is how recruiters will, in an indirect manner, tell you that if you go to a job interview, then they will still work with you. In return, inquire further for a favor. Politely request they pay attention to the dial tone for a while. If you say it in a dry manner, there exists a chance that they will for some seconds. Not just a bad trick.
2. "This company is the greatest" - if the company was really the best, they would not be going through a recruiter for his or her recent college graduate hires. Companies like Google, Apple, Goldman Sachs never have to utilize recruiters for recent college graduates. https://inspireselection.com/ with this particular statement, quickly go to hoovers.com and ask the recruiter what the business's revenue was the past year.
3. "We have a special on this job" - because of this they will have a "retained contract." This may or may not be true, however there is absolutely no reason to announce this to everybody. More likely than not, I would be skeptical. First, inquire further if they have a "retained contract." Then, to see if that is true, research your facts. Look at all the career boards such as Monster or Hotjobs and observe how many postings there are. Again, refer to the "What I should not do to a recruiter" section as, in every case (no exceptions) it is unethical to circumvent a recruiter.
Red lights:
1. Never work with a recruiter who is going to charge you money. There is not one single exception to this rule. A recruiting firm shouldn't sell resume services for you either. You need to find your personal resume writing service. In case a recruiter asks you to pay any type of fee, promptly report that organization to your university.
2. The recruiter won't let you know the company's name. In case a recruiter is hiding the company name from you, just how much else are they hiding? Can you ever purchase a car without knowing the brand? Remember, that is your career, you have to be in the driver's seat.
3. The recruiter wants to put things on your resume that you are uncomfortable with. If the recruiter is helping you with some formatting, then maybe you have a good recruiter, however if they want to put certain claims of knowledge on your resume which you are uncomfortable with, promptly tell your university.
4. The recruiter will not do a full interview with you. This means that the recruiter is "chucking resumes" at their client. "Chucking resumes" is a term which I coined as some recruiters will keep sending resumes no matter background or fascination with order to staff a posture. Should this happen, promptly tell your university.
5. The position they're filling does not pay a base salary. For anyone who is ever approached by way of a recruiting firm to interview for a posture which does not pay a base salary, tell your university because no reputable recruiting firms work on commission only positions.
I sent my resume into a recruiting firm but nobody answered:
That is par for course and will not reflect either positively or negatively on the recruiting firm or you qualifications. The reputable recruiters are paid by their clients to get someone very specific. Therefore, unless you are actually in the right place at the right time, you probably won't receive a call. Avoid being discouraged and, again, these are waters you probably shouldn't be treading.
For example, if my company is focusing on a biotechnology software sales job, we have been not likely to call everybody who submits their website because we have an obligation to get somebody specific.
How do I be seen by a recruiter?
Again, I do not advocate recent college graduates using recruiters, but here's how to increase your odds:
The subject line of the email ought to be: Auburn University '10 - Major: Physics NY, NY
As you can see, your college goes first, then your graduation date, in that case your current location. The reason why this works is basically because recruiters receive so many resumes each day which read "resume" they don't have enough time to look at them. I can't speak for every recruiter, though that is my personal recommendation.
Important: usually do not send your resume into a recruiting firm more often than once a month. Also, usually do not do a mass email to a bunch of recruiters at once.
Do I want a resume cover letter:
No. This is one of the primary myths about resume submission. Actually, it is quite annoying to receive a cover letter as you have to scroll right down to see the applicant's resume. When submitting a resume right to a company, they are going to expect it, so be sure you achieve this. Though, most employers won't read every resume cover letter sent. To improve your probability of having it read, do the cover letter in bullet points.
Ways to gauge whether a recruiter is worth speaking to:
How intelligent and knowledgeable do they sound?
Just how many openings does the firm have? How good are those postings? Most recruiting firms have their open jobs posted on the website. If you visit a company taking every job available, then you may not want to work with them.
Questions to ask a recruiter:
Remember, be polite, but get your answers. If the recruiter will not want to answer your inquiries or is rude, report them to the university.
1. Just how long has this job been open for?
2. How many times gets the recruiter worked with this company?
3. Do you know how many people are interviewing because of this job?
4. Do you have any strategies for the interview?
5. Why would you be a good fit for the work?
Remember, be polite.
What you should not do to a recruiter:
Recruiters are in business to staff individuals. By no means, should you consult with a recruiter, then circumvent them and go directly to the company. Despite the fact that I don't love recruiters who use recent college graduates, this gives you no right to go directly to the company. Business ethics are not stressed enough in some classes, but if you desire to be successful, learn them quickly.
Working at a recruiting firm:
Just like any other industry, working at a recruiting firm can be either rewarding or unchallenging and uneventful.
The typical day at a recruiting firm consists of doing research on your clients, gathering pertinent resumes and interviewing candidates. If you opt to work at a recruiting firm, make certain you are not staffing an industry which you aren't interested in. Also, in case a recruiting firm wants one to cold-call potential prospects, decline the position. Nobody in a HR division has time for this. Make sure the recruiting firm includes a good business plan.
Recruiter Lingo:
CV - curriculum vitae - this can be a fancy word for resume.
Placement - this is whenever a recruiter successfully staffs a worker at their client's company and receives the next commission.
Headhunter - another term for a recruiter, however as of late, recruiting firms have not used this term
C-level recruiters - the term "C-level" identifies the titles at firms which begin with a "C" - 95% of the time, these are the executives at the business. So, CEO, CFO, COO, CTO are high-up titles in a company.
CEO - Chief Executive Officer
CFO - Chief Financial Officer
COO - Chief Operations Officer
HR - human resources department of a business