Here's how job-seekers can deal with recruiters

Last month I got introspective and mused on the way job-seekers often find their interactions with executive recruiters unhelpful and unsatisfying. I promised to follow up with more on how job-seekers can get the most out of recruiting firms, and how recruiters can provide the best service to job-seekers.

The three important things you need to do as a job seeker to get the most out of recruiters include:

• First, understand how recruiters work.
• Second, ask recruiters the right questions to find the right ones for you.
• And finally, stay informed about those recruiters' changing supplies of job openings.

Last month I explored how recruiting firms work, and why (although it must seem counterintuitive) we recruiters are not primarily focused on being helpful to job-seekers. To summarize, we are focused on helping our paying clients (employers) fill specific positions, and our job is to find candidates whose job experience exactly fits an employer's current needs.

So if you're a job seeker who happens to fit one of a recruiter's current high-priority openings, then great -- that recruiter urgently wants to speak with you.

But if not, (and "not" is usually the case, because our clients define their needs very narrowly), we recruiters aren't in a position to be helpful with job leads in the immediate term.

Job seekers ask for our help -- notably for job leads, resume reviews and compensation data -- but we tend to be so consumed with our most urgent client needs that our follow up with job-seekers often disappoints.

Unfortunately, we recruiters tend to do a bad job explaining how we work. We also have a mixed record of articulating what our specialty areas are. That's an important point about recruiters: We tend to be highly specialized, working to fill the same kinds of positions over and over.

Ask the right questions

For job seekers, that means you want to find the right recruiters and ignore the rest. So, ask the right questions:

• What kinds of positions do you specialize in filling, in what industries and job functions?
• In what parts of the country?
• At what typical salary levels?
• Are there employers you recruit for regularly?

Try asking "Have you filled many positions with candidates like me?" If the answer is no, don't waste anymore time -- that recruiter is not a fit for you.

If the answer is yes, and if the other answers fit your profile, that recruiter or firm is probably worth keeping an eye on.

Ask "What is the right way to stay in touch with you, and stay informed about your job opportunities?"

Recruiters vary

Here again, recruiters vary widely. Some are transparent, with Web sites or e-mail alerts that detail their current openings and invite applications.

Others are sphinx-like in the lack of information they provide.

But it's up to you, the job-seeker, to manage your job search by keeping tabs on "your" recruiters and proactively staying informed as best you can.

Two parting lessons about recruiters who work on management-level hiring:

• We tend to be defined by job specialty more than by geography, so don't be surprised if a recruiter in another part of the country has a good job for you (although you may need to relocate for it).
• Second, recruiters' job opportunities come up on our clients' timetables, not yours. So you're better off investing the time in finding the right recruiters while you're well employed, not when you're in a pinch.

I'll conclude this three-part series next month with thoughts on how recruiters can provide the best service to job-seekers.

Peter Gray is the head of executive recruiting at QTI Professional Staffing in Madison.