Recruiters
Recruiters can be extremely valuable to your job search. Why? First, they very often have an "in" at some great companies that you don't... if there's an opening and the recruiter says, "Hey, this is someone you should look at," that's going to carry more weight than if you show up and say, "Here's my resume." Second, many companies prefer to hire only through recruiters... so for those particular jobs, the recruiter is the ONLY way to get to it.
To use recruiters to help you get a job, you need to know how they work. There are two basic types of recruiters: Internal and Third Party, or Contingency Recruiters.
Internal recruiters work for the company. Their job is to recruit for that company and only that company. You'll usually find them only in bigger corporations.
Third party, or contingency, recruiters are more like free agents who can work with multiple companies. They are paid by the client when a candidate is placed in that company. So if they find the candidate who eventually gets the job, they get something like a "finder's fee" for doing it.
The recruiter's mission is to provide their client (the company) with the type of candidate the client asks for. So if you show up and say, "Hey, I want to work for that company... introduce me," that's not going to work unless you have the skill set that company has asked to see. It doesn't have anything to do with you and how wonderful you are... it's just a matter of you being a match for what they asked for.
What all that means is that a recruiter isn't going to spend much time with you if they don't have a job that you're a match for at that time. They will put you in their database for the future; if a job opening comes in that matches your skill sets, they'll call you. (And here's a hint: If a recruiter calls, call back quickly. They move fast to fill a spot.) Generally, unless you're making more than $40,000 a year, a third party recruiter won't be looking at you at all.
Your relationship with a recruiter fits into kind of a weird slot... they are both a networking contact for you that happens to have a lot of reach and influence and they are your very first interview with the company. When they call you to discuss an opportunity, consider yourself in phone interview mode. If you don't represent yourself well, they probably aren't going to keep moving you forward in the process and introduce you to the company. If you're on the fence, they might give you pointers, though.
If one opportunity doesn't work out through your recruiter, they will probably keep you on the short list for other opportunities (which is what I mean about networking). If you find a good recruiter, build and maintain the relationship throughout your career. If you have a good working relationship with them, you never know what opportunities might open up for you as a result.
Peggy McKee is a career coach and the CEO of Career Confidential, a website dedicated to helping job seekers find a job fast. See the website here => http://careerconfidential.com/blog/
Find links to 25 fast job search tips in the entire Fastest Way to Find a Job Series here => http://careerconfidential.com/fastest-way-find-a-job-series/
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