What You Need to Know About Recruiters
Recruiters. They are the secret sauce that makes the job search and hiring world move along smoothly. Simply put, recruiters either work in-house or for an agency but there are many different terms for the various types of recruiters out there (and even more questions!) so this article aims to bring you some answers.
I’ve broken this article into the five most common kinds of recruiters: corporate, temp agency, contingency, retained, and executive search. Keep reading for some great tips from recruiting experts in each area.
1. Corporate Recruiters
Let’s start with the kind of recruiter most people think of when someone says ‘recruiter.’ That’s the corporate recruiter – also sometimes referred to as an in-house recruiter. These are internal company employees who lead the recruiting process for the company and are an employee of that same company. Corporate/in-house recruiters are paid a salary/wage by the company they recruit for. Once a new employee is hired, this kind of recruiter is sometimes also involved in new hire onboarding. I connected with Chris Graziani to get you first-hand intel on how this type of recruiter thinks. Chris is a Senior Technical Recruiter for Tinder and prior to that he was in a similar role at Meta for almost 6 years. Here’s what Chris had to say:
Q: What’s the best way to get noticed by a corporate recruiter?
A: First, keep your LinkedIn up-to-date. Second, my goal is to help you in your job search so reach out to recruiters with intent on the job you want by staying away from, “Do you have any jobs for me?” I have jobs but I’m just one recruiter in a larger recruiting function and often don’t have insight into every job at my company. If you want to go the extra mile, send the job description link you’re interested in along with your request.
Q: What’s your biggest piece of advice on working with a corporate recruiter?
A: Send your resume in PDF form please, not word doc.
Q: What’s one misconception people have about working with a corporate recruiter?
A: Sometimes it seems there is a misconception that recruiters dictate how much someone gets paid. In reality, the compensation team usually decides how much a company can pay for a role.
Love his advice. Straight-forward and easy to follow. The four other kinds of recruiters we’ll look at are all agency-based recruiters. Agency recruiters recruit for positions to be filled at companies that are their clients. To start, let’s look at the temp agency side of recruiting.
2. Temp Agency Recruiters
I’ve had many clients who ended up with their dream job by first getting a short-term placement at the company that ultimately led to a full-time, permanent role. The short-term placement was more often than not filled by working with a temp agency. Temp agencies are often also referred to as staffing agencies. This type of recruiter hires for temporary, seasonal, or contractual employees for their client company. This is a unique structure because the agency typically hires the employee and pays the employee’s wages and any benefits (and bears the entire employment burden of taxes, social security, workers compensation, etc.). The agency sends the employee to work for their client company, who in turn pays the agency for that employee’s time. The agency makes money by billing the employee’s working hours to the client then paying the employee a percentage of that pay. For example, a contract employee who makes $25/hr could be billed at about $32/hr and the agency is taking the difference. There’s huge variability in what the employee is being billed at vs. what they are taking home. Overall, getting into your dream company through a temp agency can be a great foot in the door as I’ve seen many times temp workers be perfectly positioned for full-time roles when they open up.
I connected with Abby Engers, who is the Director of HR Consulting at Boly:Welch. Abby is a former recruiter herself with ten years of experience at a Boly:Welch, which is a top recruiting firm with a strong history in temporary placements. I asked Abby to help us understand how temp agency recruiters think. Here’s what she had to say:
Q: What’s the best way to get noticed by a contract/staffing agency recruiter?
A: Make sure you have a good understanding of the types of contract roles and industries that the staffing agency works on. Then, follow the application process the agency lays out and include any context that might be helpful – location, timeline, salary expectations, type of roles you’d be willing to consider. You can also connect with staffing agency recruiters directly via LinkedIn or by asking your network for referrals.
Q: What’s your biggest piece of advice on working with a contract/staffing agency recruiter?
A: Temporary roles are often about timing and flexibility, so the more open you are, the better chance you’ll have at being placed. If you’re realistic about the salary rates, flexible on timing and location, and have aligned experience, you’re likely a great candidate. However, if you’re seeking a specific schedule, salary, location or you don’t have a ton of experience in the roles you’re targeting, you might not have as many opportunities run by you. It’s not because you’re not a great candidate – it’s just the nature of contract work!
Q: What’s one misconception people have about working with a contract/staffing agency recruiter?
A: Although contract roles are generally more flexible in their requirements than direct-hire roles, they still require experience. Also, most roles are full-time positions and often in-person – part-time and remote roles are very rare currently!
Great advice from Abby. Now let’s look at the third kind of recruiter: contingency.
3. Contingency Recruiters
Contingency recruiters (often just referred to as ‘recruiters’ or ‘agency recruiters’) get paid when they find the candidate who gets hired into a vacant role at a company. Like all agency recruiters, contingency recruiters don’t work for the same company they are recruiting for. Essentially the recruiter’s pay is contingent upon a candidate being hired. As a job seeker, these are great people to know because they are typically connected to many companies and hiring managers in the industry/industries they specialize in. I often tell my clients to work on building relationships with contingency recruiters who recruit for the type and level of position they’re looking for as it’s a mutually beneficial relationship (use LinkedIn to find them).
Dave Henry runs Talent Finders, which is a leading recruiting firm focused manufacturing and specifically on Engineering, Operations, Supply Chain, Quality, and Technical Sales. Dave has 20+ years of experience running the firm so I was keen to hear his advice on how job seekers can best work with contingency recruiters. Here’s what he had to say:
Q: What’s the best way to get noticed by a contingency recruiter?
A: Have an active LinkedIn profile with as much detail as you can offer. Recruiters use countless different approaches when running searches on LinkedIn, including searching by industry, field of study, and definitely keywords. If you design machines, be sure to include all of the various components within the machine that you design (i.e. valves, gearbox, cylinders, actuators, etc.). The more detail you have the higher probability you will be noticed.
Q: What’s your biggest piece of advice on working with a contingency recruiter?
A: Do your research and find recruiters who are aligned with your professional niche and also look for references or testimonials. Think of it as a vacation rental search; do you book homes with no reviews or a track record of negative comments? At least for me, I target homes with lots of 5-star reviews and that’s the way you should vet a recruiter relationship. That way, you have a good sense of what you are getting into before the relationship starts
Q: What’s one misconception people have about working with a contingency recruiter?
A: They are not all bad; however the majority are not very good. Do your diligence and partner with recruiters who have been doing this for a while and have a proven track record of success. In any given metro area there are probably 3 outstanding recruiters representing a specific professional discipline (technical sales, engineering, accounting/finance, IT, etc.). If a boutique recruiter is recruiting on all of these disciplines, it’s a huge red flag.
I love Dave’s analogy about home rentals. Just because someone is a recruiter, it doesn’t mean they’re the best recruiter for you to be working with. Read reviews, do your homework. Great advice. Now let’s look at retained recruiters. We’ll see some similarities to contingency recruiters.
4. Retained Recruiters
The next kind of agency recruiter to look at is retained recruiters. Like I mentioned, retained recruiters have some similarities to contingency recruiters in that a company pays the recruiter to find the right candidate for an open position. The difference with a retained recruiter is they’re paid an upfront fee (aka a retainer) to undertake the search and the remainder of the fee is typically paid once the recruiter finds the candidate and they are hired by the company. This type of recruiter is usually used for higher-level positions and companies often have a long-term relationship with retained recruitment firms valuing that they consistently deliver high-quality candidates. I’ve been fortunate to know Roy Notowitz for several years. Roy runs Noto Group, a purpose-driven firm specializing in senior level placements for companies that support active, healthy, and sustainable lifestyles. Side note: Noto Group publishes a regular newsletter that is phenomenal and I’d encourage you to sign up for it if you don’t receive it already. I asked Roy to go into detail on working with a retained recruiter. Here’s what he had to say:
Q: What’s the best way to get noticed by a retained recruiter?
A: Be honest and professional. When initiating contact, be upfront about why you’re reaching out. Maintain self-awareness on your true strengths, weaknesses, and capabilities. Retained recruiters will evaluate core competencies and leadership style as well as the scope and scale of previous roles. They will know if you are reaching. Think of it as a two-way relationship built on trust. You have to help them determine if your experience, approach, and leadership style lines up with their client needs and culture. At the same time you can expect them to help you determine if the client opportunity, culture, and compensation is a compelling fit. Even if you do not get the job, your professionalism and integrity could put you at the top of their list for future opportunities.
Q: What’s your biggest piece of advice on working with a retained recruiter?
A: Research before reaching out. It's important to thoroughly research the firm, its industry specializations, and the types of roles it typically fills. Approaching a recruiter without knowing whether they work in your industry sector or discipline is a common mistake.
Q: What’s one misconception people have about working with a retained recruiter?
A: Retained search firms are hired by companies, not job seekers which means that they are not set up to market you or help you to get interviews with their clients unless you are an exact fit with a search they have in progress and assuming that the client is still at the stage where they are accepting new candidates into the mix. Even if you are an exact fit, recognize that there are always several really strong candidates and only one opening. So it is a bit like musical chairs for the final few candidates. Don’t take it personally and recognize that the recruiter informs hiring decisions but does not make the hiring decisions.
Roy’s last comment is really important – realize the difference in how different recruiters intend to market you (or not). Understanding how the different types of recruiters work will help you manage your expectations and set up successful working relationships with them.
5. Executive Search Experts / Headhunters
The final kind of agency recruiter is the executive search expert or headhunter. I’ve worked as a career coach for several years and this is the type of recruiter than is the most misunderstood in my opinion. Like temp agency recruiters, contingency recruiters, and retained recruiters, executive search experts work for a client company to fill an open position. What they do is often called conducting an executive search and it is typically done for the highest-level positions such as CEO, COO, or Vice President. The goal of a headhunter is to find the best candidate possible. If the ideal candidate is currently gainfully employed, the headhunter may convince the target candidate to consider the position they're looking to fill. Headhunters can be paid like contingency recruiters or like retained recruiters – it varies. It’s common for headhunters to receive a fee that equals a large percentage of the candidates first year pay if hired. For example, if a headhunter is recruiting for a CEO position with total compensation of $400,000/yr, the headhunter may be paid over $100,000 (typically about 1/3 of the base salary) as a one-time fee. If you’re feeling like there’s overlap between retained recruiters and executive search experts / headhunters, you are correct. The difference is retained search experts usually work in larger firms with many clients and executive search experts / headhunters usually work independently in smaller firms typically on 1-2 clients at a time. Side note: headhunter is becoming an outdated term but I’ve included it because I commonly get asked about this kind of recruiter.
Shelly Gourlay is a legend in the recruiting world with over 30 years of experience across Nike, Columbia Sportswear, and most recently with her own executive search firm, Gourlay Consulting. I featured Shelly in my book, Made To Hire, a few years ago, so I knew exactly who to ask when I wanted to bring the voice of an executive search expert to this article. Here’s what Shelly had to say:
Q: What’s the best way to get noticed by an executive search expert / headhunter?
A: Make sure your LinkedIn profile has as much detail as possible. LinkedIn is a database, and search professionals are looking for people with a combination of experiences and talents. A brief summary is not enough!
Q: What’s your biggest piece of advice on working with an executive search expert / headhunter?
A: Executive search consultants are looking for talent that is a match for their client on ALL levels – professionally, financially and culturally. Be honest and forthcoming about your goals and objectives, because if you are not, you will leave critical questions in the search consultant’s mind.
Q: What’s one misconception people have about working with an executive search expert / headhunter?
A: Search professionals are always focused on the needs of their current clients, so if you don’t get a response, you are likely not fitting the specific requirements of those projects. It does NOT mean that you’re not a fit for some future role, so take heart and don’t consider it a failure if they do not immediately answer.
Such great advice!
Hopefully you found this article helpful. One thing that stood out for me across all this advice is the importance of LinkedIn. I know from the many conversations I’ve had with recruiters, they are very active on LinkedIn and if you look at a recruiter on LinkedIn, odds are they will also look at your profile. I always tell my clients to make sure their profile is recruiter-ready before they start searching. If you need help with this, I offer a quick turnaround on my LinkedIn Review Service, which gives you personalized feedback on how to majorly up your game on LinkedIn.