An insight into dealing with a recruitment company from an employees point of view.

You’ve had it with your current job. You’re out of there. You are on the market. You see a role with a recruiter that interests you.  You call all the contact numbers, you send an email. Nothing.

Now let’s look at this from the recruiter’s point of view. Many recruiters in the IT sector are paid only if they fill a vacancy. In this competitive, commission-based work, recruiters need to have a large number of vacancies to raise their chances of filling some of them. Twenty vacancies can easily lead to a 100 applicants which is a lot of CV’s and phone calls to respond to personally. This is not including applicants who are already on “the books” of the agency.

Recruiters are working for their clients. If recruiters had time they would lovingly attend to everybody who contacts them but initially a recruiter focuses on the people who appear - on paper - to best fit the brief.

Interviewing only 20 people a week takes a minimum of 20 hours so how does a recruiter decide who to see?

Your goal when contacting a recruiter is to get to a quick “yes”. Being seen by the recruiter is important in your battle.

Unfortunately a good resume is still what is needed. Regardless of how important you are in your patch now if you want to get out of it then you need a good resume. Up-to-date, accurate, well presented. Would you hire this person? On paper is often the first way you sell yourself.

Little things can make a difference to a recruiter:

* Lave a message with your preferred way of contact rather than all of them.

* Check which companies and which roles the recruiter specialises in. It’s good to put time into a recruiter who really focuses on your sector. If the recruiter is too general it’s unlikely they have a very strong relationships with the clients and can be using your CV as a way to get them into the company.

* Even if you would not describe yourself as a sales person, you are now, and you’re the product. So get hold of the top recruiters - call early, call late. Wait outside with a bunch of flowers ..(truly, this happened to me).

* If you are not sure what to emphasize ask the recruiter what are the main things they are looking for and then send in your CV.

* Sell yourself early in the CV as recruiters don’t read, they skim. It’s worth tailoring each CV for each role you apply for, pointing out the most relevant, compelling experience you have for this particular role.  Make a heading early in the CV outlining relevant experiences for the role you are applying for. Change this each time you apply for a job.

* Describe what the company you currently work for does as well as your particular role. If it is a large recognizable branded company, your division needs to be described in more detail.

* If you really want to put your photo on your CV, make sure it’s up to date.

* Stay in touch with the recruiter by their preferred method of contact. Try and remain charming with the recruiter even if you’re very irritated by them. If they don’t like you, they won’t sell you.