It’s a Candidate’s Market. So Why Does Working with a Recruiter Still Benefit You?

The current unemployment rate is 3.9% according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. That is a huge improvement over the unemployment rate of 10% this date in 2009, a little less than a year after the U.S. economy fell apart, which is also when I graduated college. This was not an ideal time to graduate college, to say the least. I fell into recruiting then out of necessity when I started a temp agency to help my friends and I find temp work to pay our student loans and basic living necessities, and I found the value in the recruiting world then, and never looked back.

The job market is not the same now as it was in 2009, and that is a great thing. However, while slightly changed in this new market and reality, the value of working with a recruiter is still ever-present.

Recruiters live and breathe the job market.

It is in the job requirement for recruiters to stay constantly up-to-date on what is on trend and competitive within the geographical region and field that they are recruiting for in regards to compensation and level of experience. Recruiters have valuable insights into what your salary should be in comparison to what the market rate is in your city, and will fight to make sure that you receive that because ultimately, they make more money if you make more money. Additionally, talking to a recruiter might enlighten you as to whether you’ve been underpaid and if you should be asking for more than you initially would have thought to.

Recruiters have relationships with companies that you do not.

Most good recruiters have an established relationship with the company and hiring manager that is hiring for the job that you are a candidate for, so if you are presented to a company through them, it will hold a lot more weight versus just being one among a few dozen resumes that apply directly. It’s a “fast pass” to the hiring manager’s desk, in a way. Additionally, recruiters want you to succeed and do well in your interviews. They have an insight into what the hiring process is like and what types of questions you should expect. They will prep you, and you will go into that interview more prepared than any other candidate that was not represented by a recruiter, and thus you will have a competitive edge.

If you aren’t a perfect fit on paper, you will still be considered.

If you have a resume that is not “in the box”, or needs some explanation as to why there is a gap, or why your experience is relevant even though it does not seem relevant on paper, recruiters do that work for you. I have personally been an in-house recruiter at a highly competitive and in-demand company that received multiple direct applications per day, and I had to reject resumes that didn’t appear to be an exact fit due to the fact that I didn’t have the time to consider resumes that weren’t exactly in line with what we were looking for. I probably missed out on some great candidates because of that, but it is the reality of what it’s like to be an in-house recruiter at a company that receives a multitude of relevant resumes every day. Recruiters send your resumes with a blurb about you describing why the company should consider you despite appearances and because they have vetted you; it’s an “in” that you would have never gotten without a recruiter.

Offer negotiations are awkward. So don’t do them.

When it comes down to salary negotiations, you will not be alone if you work with a recruiter. Any good recruiter will know what you are looking for, where else you are interviewing and what you are being offered there, and properly communicate that to the hiring manager, so that when it comes down to offer time you are getting the best offer possible and you don’t have to deal with that uncomfortable negotiation part. Again, recruiters make more money if they get you more money, so they are on your side. It is also in recruiter’s job requirement to communicate everything ahead of time to all stakeholders, so by the time you receive an offer, all of your needs are met and no back-and-forth is needed.

Recruiters facilitate a seamless interviewing process.

In a candidate’s market, recruiters also know that their best assets are that, the candidates. So, they will get you in front of as many opportunities as possible, and push the hiring company to move the process along as quickly as possible so that the client doesn’t miss out on hiring you because their process was lengthy or slow. We are the necessary middle men so that you don’t need to be.

You will gain access to jobs that are not available to the public.

A lot of companies do not want to overwhelm their team by posting publicly. Boutique and bespoke recruiting agencies, such as my company, have access to jobs that are not available to the general public because the hiring company trusts us to only send them the best of the best and not overwhelm their team with unnecessary interviews with candidates that have not been vetted thoroughly. If you only rely on job posting sites to gain insight into what jobs are available, you are only seeing half of the jobs that are out there.

Recruiters can be your spirit guide.

A good recruiter is your safe place and pseudo-therapist throughout your job search process. Interviewing is hard enough as it is. Having a person that has your best interests in mind, that you can talk to honestly and be transparent with about your doubts and hesitations throughout your experience, that also has knowledge and understanding to bring to the table, is comforting and necessary in your job search. You need to communicate those hesitations to someone, but certainly, not the hiring manager, and the process of doing that will leave you feeling educated and at peace when it comes to the time that you finally accept or deny an offer.

People call us headhunters, talent managers, and recruiters. But in reality, we are advocates, advisers, and friends. Even though I am a recruiter myself, my first move, whenever I’m ready to embark on seeking a new opportunity, is always to reach out to a recruiter that is knowledgeable of my career space to help me on that path. I think that everyone should do the same.

Don’t believe me? Check out this testimonial from one of our candidates that we just placed: “In today’s job market, working with a recruiter(s) gives you better odds at finding a job while also letting someone do a lot of the work for you and so that you can focus on your life and enjoying the interview process”.

Julie Olsson is a Recruitment Manager at Captivate Talent, a talent solution consultancy that focuses on placing top sales and marketing professionals at growth stage technology organizations. Contact Julie to learn more about job opportunities in the sales and marketing space.