It has been too long, and since two brains are obviously better than one, Amy Ala and Will Thomson have decided to write together again. If you haven’t read our posts in the past you can read them here and here. Both of us have 20 years of recruiting experience and we are corporate recruiters for highly recognizable worldly renowned organizations. We are here to share our experiences and knowledge to help the candidate.
As corporate recruiters, we hear the misconceptions about who we are and what we do for a living. Unless you go through an agency or a third party vendor, you will work with a corporate recruiter when you find your next job. We wanted to set the record straight. We are the ones that will ultimately be the person who gives you your offer, so please take notes. Here are 10 things you probably don’t know about corporate recruiters and you SHOULD.
- 1. We Want The BEST person for the Job– There is no magical secret here. We have clients. Our clients are our hiring managers. We want to make sure that the person being hired will not only do the job, but better the organization. This means you have to have the right culture fit, the right attitude,and the right experience. If you aren’t hired, you may not have one of these characteristics.
- We WILL Remember You – We may not remember every detail about you, but we are known for having steel trap minds. If you make an impression on us, and you don’t get the job- we will track you down when we have another opportunity. If we switch companies, we will STILL remember you. Our networks are among the largest in the world and it is in your best interest to leave a good impression. We truly want to see you succeed.
- We ARE NOT on Commission– There are some corporate recruiters that get paid a commission, but the majority of us are base and bonus. If we place 3 people or 300, our salary is the same. Believe us when we say it. It is in our interest to close out the position. Agency Recruiters and 3rd Party recruiters get paid for each person they place. We do not.
- We Know Way More Than You Think – We have been preaching this for a long time and writing it in almost every blog we write, but it is so true. If you think you can hide something from us, think again. We network like crazy, we do extensive backgrounds, we drug test, we read blogs, and we search social media. We know or can find out, so just be honest.
- We Can Not Change The Rules– We are employed by a company. There are policies and procedures. No matter how much we like them or dislike them, they are what they are and more often than not, we can’t do much to change them. Yes, there are exceptions, but we only want to use that card every once in a while. Just play the game. Do what we ask. You are more likely to get hired.
- We Want To Be Your Advocate – Contrary to popular belief, we never want to keep you from a hiring manager. So many applicants are encouraged to bypass “HR”, and to be honest this has us completely befuddled. As we said before, it’s in our best interest to fill the role quickly and with a great candidate. If you’re a great candidate, and you’re available, why on earth would we try to come between you and the hiring manager?
- We Want You To Partner With Us – Let’s face it – we know recruiting, and by extension sales & marketing. If a role is especially technical or outside of our area of expertise, we are going to rely on YOU to help us sell you to the hiring managers. Amy will be the first one to admit she knows just enough to application development and big data to be dangerous. Don’t be afraid to talk to us in layman’s terms about your accomplishments, and help us frame your candidacy in a way that the hiring manager can see how you’re the solution to their open position problem.
- We CAN Influence (For BETTER or WORSE) – Do you know why interview experts advise you to be nice to the receptionist? The reason is because the manager may ask how you behaved in the lobby. They may want to know how you act when you aren’t in “interview mode”. Recruiters also have conversations. We are able to sway an on-the-fence hiring manager by encouraging them to take a chance on a candidate OR NOT.
- …But It’s Not Our Call – We don’t make the hiring decision. Ultimately and unfortunately, it’s not within our power to decide who gets hired. We can facilitate introductions, persuade, and advocate for you, but the hiring decision is not ours to make. The hiring manager or a pannel will make that call.
- We Know Other Recruiters –The biggest myth of all is connecting with a recruiter means we are ONLY useful when it comes to finding a role at our current organization. Here’s the truth – Will and Amy work in completely different industries for very different companies, yet one of the first things we do when we have a new role is tap our network. Our network is full of other recruiters we know and trust. We do talk to each other! DAILY
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Well stated.
Thank you Jay for taking time to comment!
Great post! You’re a great team!
Thanks Jeremy!
Clinton, I wouldn’t know a good line of code if I came wrapped in Christmas paper with a giant bow. That doesn’t mean I can’t sniff out if someone is lying about being well-versed in C++, but I am not a technical person nor will I pretend to be. Thanks for commenting!
Hey Will, this is a cool article. I think you’re still pulling from your agency ways, tho. It’s cool to do that, but the purist corporate ‘cruiters aren’t as magnanimous – and you may find you regret that down the road now that you’ve joined the corp side.
Hi Jon,
Thank you for responding. I really enjoy the corporate side of things. Most everyone I know in the industry is honest and noble. Like any industry, there are some bad apples, but I don’t know many. I know some excellent agency recruiters and excellent corporate recruiters. The same argument could be made on the agency side of things.
Will
What Will said. Definitely bad apples on both sides of the recruiting fence, and frankly I think the BEST corporate recruiters cut their teeth in agency.
This …is hard to believe. It doesn’t ring true. It might be the catch phrases, like, “partner with you,” and “be your advocate,” which have been used so much that they’ve lost a lot of their former meaning, but I think it might be that it states that recruiters are super smart and have perfect memories and are such good people that they want strangers to succeed but it doesn’t defend this position. It also might be that there’s nothing surprising in this article. I clicked in expecting to have misconceptions dismantled, and there was nothing here.
I once went to a job hunting seminar led by two former recruiters, and they spent most of the time telling us how we could avoid inconveniencing and annoying recruiters. I remember thinking, “That’s nice, but that’s not my goal. If I can get a job by annoying the recruiter, that’s fine with me.” I felt like I was primed to behave in a manner that would help others at my expense, and that wasn’t what I’d signed up for when I’d paid the fees.
What if instead of “Don’t hide things from us because we’ll find out (with our superpowers)!” you also say, “Don’t hide things from us because this is what happened when someone did,” or “Don’t hide things from us; here’s how that’s to YOUR advantage” or “If you have something that you might want to hide, here’s one way to address it that doesn’t involve dishonesty”? That might make a lot of this easier to buy.
This article doesn’t claim to be about job hunting and it isn’t as thickly laced with, “Don’t do this (because it’s bad for ME)” and “Do that (because it’s good for ME)” but it really reminds me of articles that are.
hey DRF – fair enough and I absolutely see where you’re coming from on this. Can we interview you for a follow up post? I’d love to hear about misconceptions you’re hoping we can pick apart as well as share some specific “cautionary tales”. The challenge with addressing all that stuff is a post quickly becomes a novel and we would have lost readers after the first few paragraphs. 🙂 Feel free to email me directly at alarecruiter@gmail.com or get with Will. I’m sure he’s with me in that we’d love to tackle this deeper with you. Thanks!
“It’s not my job to find you a job, it’s my job to find the best person for the job I have” – corporate recruiters mantra
Thanks Dan for responding. Yes, corporate recruiters need to find the best person for the job we have available. That being said, we listen. We remember you. If you leave a lasting impression, we will look for the right fit within our organization and we are very likely to pass it along to another recruiter. We want you to succeed in your role, not fail.
Every recruiters mantra. Don’t let the agency guys kid you on that.
Amy – thanks for another helpful article, not as lighthearted as your others, but good reminder of the relationship needed. I heard you speak at a Redmond worksource event and have been following you for those treasured tips.
Wil – thanks and hope to begin reading up on your thoughts as well.
Keep writing. Thanks.
Thanks Fay for commenting. Looking forward to seeing you back- We plan on writing a lot this year- Will
thank you Fay! So nice to hear from you and glad you liked the article. Will’s a great partner. 🙂
Amy
I enjoy the іnfo on your web site. Much thanks.
Thank you Diego! I am glad you liked it. Will
Great article guys! Thanks! MM
Thank you Mary-Margaret! Very much appreciated! Will
Since most of the corporate recruiters don’t get commission, they are not motivated to fill the role. They take their own sweet time. I agree that they have to search for someone who is fit culturally, right attitude all of it but recruiters are not in front of the client, its very easy to sit in the backend and say no right attitude etc. I feel paying for closing very position or giving targets will definitely put some pressure. Every group works in a diff way. Its up to the HM to decide the right attitude, skills etc. in fact HM will have a better idea than recruiter if the candidate will be a right fit or not for their specific groups./company