Erin Berthon

Erin Berthon, MA     Career Manager, Wilkinson College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences, at Chapman University

A good recruiter could be the most important person to help you land a job. If you’re questioning whether to work with a recruiter and what they can do for you, here are five reasons you should consider working with one!

Recruiters Work with all Experience Levels and are Free

A great place to start looking for a recruiter is on Linkedin. You can find recruiters who work specifically for a social media platform, or you might see recruiters embedded in companies and organizations. You want a recruiter who specializes in your niche. The recruiters’ job is to develop close and collaborative relationships within specific companies, which can help job seekers find the appropriate position (and job level) for which they are qualified. Connecting with a recruiter is a great way to have direct access to available jobs at a company that appeals to you.  Plus, you never know what you can learn from the recruiter about a company or position, and it’s free!

Recruiters Offer Career Advice and Expertise

Since recruiters work closely with companies’ hiring teams, there are other perks to working with a recruiter. They see themselves as career coaches who help, communicate, and guide the candidate through the entire process. The recruiter can help you tailor your resume for a specific position. They can help you stand out from the other candidates. I met a recruiter once who came to Chapman to do mock interviews specific to an internship at a company. This experience was helpful to students interested in that internship because some of their questions were not your standard interview questions. Recruiters can also answer questions you might feel uncomfortable asking the company or organization. For instance, understanding who the competition is, how much they are paying, what is expected in this position, and knowing the next steps. Recruiters should be a place of comfort and career support.

Recruiters Can Get Your Foot in the Door

“A recruiter can help cut through the job algorithm, often described as a black hole of resumes” (Omar Garriott, author.)

There are a million job boards out there, and by connecting with a recruiter, they can bypass all the technology that prevents your resume from landing on a desk of a company where you may be the most qualified, but your resume missed a “buzz” word. Another advantage of a recruiter in your network is that this person can keep an eye on all possibilities without you having to do the work. This happens all the time, and my advice is to take the opportunity when it is handed to you.

Efficiency

Endless job searches can be overwhelming. A recruiter can eliminate the time it takes to personally search for a job. They know the jobs out there, as they devote a lot of time to ensuring jobs are filled. Recruiters can also help with the understanding of the drawn-out process. It can be quite frustrating waiting weeks on end for a reply or to see whether you have made it to the next step. Your recruiter should be the person to speed up this process on your behalf or at least have some answers.

Networking

You can network on a larger scale! Think about your own personal network connections; alums, professors, friends, and family. Even if your group is large, it doesn’t match the number of connections a recruiter has. Think of it this way, you send a resume off to a hiring manager, hoping you are considered for the job, but if your recruiter thinks you are a good fit for that company, you have a person in your corner advocating for you. This is the brilliant part of the networking component of working with a  recruiter offers. By using the recruiter during your job search, your network only grows exponentially.

Just remember you and the recruiter have the same goal: to make sure you are putting your best foot forward, meeting the right people, and hopefully getting into a position that works for you. They are on your side. So the next time a recruiter reaches out or calls you, you might just want to respond.