Destination Success: Headhunters pursue inside track to jobs

If you think a recruiter is there to counsel you about the right career to go into, you have fallen into one of the many myths of recruitment.

If you want to learn insider tips on how to work well with a recruiter, read on.

I have worked as a contingency recruiter, a retained recruiter and as a corporate recruiter. I have never worked for an agency or a temp firm, but I have hired them. They all work somewhat differently, but the same basic rules apply.

First of all, some definitions:

Temporary firm or agency. These companies screen applicants carefully using tests, interviews and references. The temps who work for them are actually employees. Temps in industry and corporate settings are sent out to work on a short-term or long-term basis with the agency receiving a cut of the hourly wages

Contingency firm. These are executive recruitment firms that work on a contingency basis. In other words, the firms are not paid until the people they present are hired. Contingency firms usually receive 20 percent to 35 percent of the candidate's first-year salary if they provide the chosen applicant.

Retained search firm. These recruiters work on a retainer. Companies will pay them to work on searches. They are usually retained to work on high level (six figures), difficult or needle-in-the-haystack searches.

The nickname for recruiter is headhunter. Some hate it. Most find it amusing. One recruiter I knew had the word headhunter on the tab of the rolodex card he gave out to employers. It is a difficult job, usually requiring long hours and 40 to 60 phone calls a day, which brings us to the rules for maintaining a successful relationship with a recruiter:

Don't waste the recruiter's time. To a recruiter, time is money.

It is the job of the recruiter to find the best possible candidate for a company. Remember that the company, not you, pays them. They are not in the business to counsel you about a career change, but they can help you change jobs. As Gary Gibson, president of Gibson and Associates points out: "Recruiters are an extension of (a company's) human resource department."

Look for a recruiter who is seeking the long-term best interest for employer and candidate, Gibson said. It is his philosophy that a job placement must work for both company and applicant. Look for someone who is ethical, honest and caring. Interview your recruiter as he or she interviews you. You need to determine the recruiter's knowledge about your particular field.

Be as honest as you can with your recruiter, says Sharill Springston, an executive recruiter with Management Recruiters. "I don't want (the candidate) getting there and then being unhappy. I will challenge them. I need to find out any objections they might have. I try to really listen."

This points out another key element in recruiting: it is all about relationships. A recruiter must maintain a good relationship with a company to obtain repeat business. Besides, you want them to think of you the next time.

Listen when your recruiter is prepping you for an interview. Remember that the recruiter has the inside track to how a company really works. Springston tells of a candidate she tried to prepare by asking typical questions. She realized that the candidate was not answering the questions in a way that showed off his best qualities. She attempted to give him some pointers based on what she knew about the company, but he had to have it his way.

He didn't get the job.

Don't oversell yourself on your resume, is the warning of Ginger Martin, an account executive with Kelly Services. In the temp business, you do so at your peril.

"If you say you are qualified in certain skills, you had better make sure you have those skills because we will evaluate you," Martin said.

Treat your recruiter with the professionalism they deserve. Early in my recruitment career, a six-figure executive came to my office in Beverly Hills wearing casual clothes and flip flops. I was not impressed.

"Dress for your meeting with a recruiter as though you are going for a corporate interview," Martin said. Remember that a recruiter has to sell you to a company, you are the product.

There is no great mystery to working with a headhunter, Treat them as equals equals with an inside track.

(Sinara Stull O'Donnell is a writer and speaker on career issues through her own company, Sinara Speaks.)