Have you ever tried to bake a cake from scratch without a recipe? Sure, you can probably eyeball the ingredients and estimate the baking time, but it’s a heck of a lot more stressful that way. That’s kind of what it’s like applying for a new position without the help of a recruiter.
Jobseekers are recipe-less bakers, often left to figure out what a company is looking for, its culture and day-to-day expectations all on their own. But, it doesn’t have to be that way. From my experience as a recruiter, I’ve found there are many misconceptions about what recruiters can offer for candidates, and how the process typically works. Below, I break down the need and benefits of working with a recruiter, some of which might surprise you.
Find your fit from the beginning
A survey conducted by PricewaterhouseCoopers found 72% of respondents would not accept a job offer before learning the workplace culture and what it’s like to work at the company. Deciphering company’s culture through a computer screen can only give you so much insight.
The first step in our recruiting process is to have an open conversation with you about your job experience in detail, covering everything from what types of work environments you’ve worked in, where you felt your best and what you loved and didn’t love about previous positions. There is a long list of factors we review with you before ever passing along your resume to a hiring manager. Some are more formal, like culture, size, flexibility, benefits, commute and career opportunities. Other questions give us insight into your hobbies and personality, which offers us a better look into which companies you might enjoy working with. We have similar conversations with every company we work with, and are therefore able to connect the appropriate and most-qualified candidates with the companies looking to hire people like them – creating a higher chance of good matches for both parties.
Your time is valued
One of the biggest stressors for jobseekers is the wait. Candidates are often left crossing their fingers that their resume will make it past the initial review and into the laps of decision makers. Even then, the process can drag on. A 2019 Forbes article shares the frustrations of jobseekers in that a three-to-six month hiring process was a common complaint.
“In between interviews, there are long periods in which they don’t receive any communications from the company. It’s not unusual for weeks to go by and then receive an email requiring an interview the next morning at a certain time, regardless of the applicant’s prior engagements and responsibilities.“
Working with a recruiter is like having someone put in a good word for you from the beginning. We send you directly to the decision makers to ensure your resume is in front of the right person, rather than submitting your resume online and hoping to get a response. And because we are aligned with what each company needs, hiring managers trust any recommendations we put in front of them, greatly increasing your chances of getting an interview. From there, we can set expectations throughout the interview process, like the interview timeline, provide valuable feedback and share insights that you won’t find from a job description. Our relationships with hiring managers and experience navigating the hiring process helps to keep things moving.
No surprises
There’s nothing worse than wasting your time with hours of interviews only to find out at the end that the position pays $20 thousand less than you’re open to. Our process involves ironing out all of the details before an offer is made – or in some cases before the first interview is scheduled. Once candidates are closer to the finish line, our goal is for an offer to come in exactly where the candidates expects and with the terms they have known and agreed to from day one. We want the process to have no surprises, so it’s an easy decision for both jobseekers and employers.
Lastly, building long-lasting relationships with recruiters allows you to have an on-call resource for career advice, question about the job market – and give you someone in your corner as your career progresses and shifts. So, when or if you decide it’s time for a career move again, the process picks up where you left off, making your next job search even more seamless.
So, you could bake a cake from scratch blindly, or you could open up the recipe book and do it with ease. Working with a recruiter means you have an experienced ally with you each step of the way, to offer interview prep, provide process transparency and work as an advocate for you with the hiring manager.
We love working with candidates of all experience levels, backgrounds and industries in the human resources, information technology, accounting and finance, administrative, sales, marketing and operations professions to place them in exciting roles with companies across the Kansas City metro area. If you’d like to learn more about what it’s like to work with a recruiter, or want advice on today’s job market, reach out to us today.
Morgan Philips is recruiting manager of the Administrative Team at Morgan Hunter, serving Kansas City-area employers to help them meet a range of hiring needs, from temporary staffing to direct-hire placements. Share your thoughts on Facebook, LinkedIn or on Twitter @MorganHunterCo.