Written by Sarah Welstead, co-founder and Managing Partner of Retired Worker, this blog is a forum for up-to-the-minute news and ideas about older workers and the employers who hire them.

Tag Cloud

Entries

Dear Sarah: Can I work with more than one recruiter at a time?
Posted : Mon November 30th
Comments : 2

Retired Worker on the radio: Tips for job-seekers on getting the most out of recruiters
Posted : Wed November 18th

"Dear Sarah: Who pays recruiters and how do I get one?"
Posted : Sun November 15th

"Dear Sarah: Recruiters are driving me nuts. What should I do?"
Posted : Sun November 8th

Great networking lasts a lifetime. That's why Facebook is more important to your career than you think.
Posted : Fri September 25th

Dear Candidates: This is why you didn't get the job
Posted : Mon September 21st

Generational resentment in the workplace
Posted : Fri September 18th

7 Traits of Great Online Applicants
Posted : Fri September 4th

If you're a job-seeker, recruiters are looking for you on LinkedIn. Here's how.
Posted : Fri August 14th

Considering a 'gimmick' to attract potential employers? You might want to think again.
Posted : Fri July 31st

Retired Worker Blog

Dear Sarah: Can I work with more than one recruiter at a time?

In the last "Dear Sarah" post, we talked about what happens when more than one recruiter submits your profile to a client, and how it can make everyone look bad.

But does that mean you should never work with more than one recruiter?

Well...no.  But.

Some recruiters will tell you that unless you (as a job-seeker) work exclusively with them, they won't represent you or present you to clients. 

Here's why:  Good recruiters will tell you when they're submitting your profile to a client;  the best recruiters  will ask your permission in advance.  But the not-so-great recruiters just submit lots of candidates to lots of clients and hope that something sticks. 

At the same time, many clients will engage several recruiting agencies to fill a given role, so they're getting candidates submitted to them from multiple sources.

That means that your profile could currently be in front of a whole bunch of clients, and the new recruiter doesn't want to look like an idiot by submitting a profile of a candidate that their client saw 2 weeks ago from some other recruiter. 

Going to 8 zillion different recruiters increases the chance of your profile being submitted to a particular client, and after a while it's not just the recruiter who looks like an idiot:  Once a client has been given your profile from 4+ different recruiters over a couple of months, they start to wonder just how desperate/unemployable you really are.

However, putting all your eggs in one basket with one recruiter isn't wise, either, especially if you don't know how successful/connected that recruiter is in your field.

Some guidelines for working with more than one recruiter:

1. Be honest and up-front.  If you're already working with a couple of recruiters, let the new recruiter know.  If you know you've been submitted to an opportunity, tell them about it.
   
2. Depending on your career stage and profession, you probably shouldn't work with more than 5 recruiters at a time.  (If you're quite junior and trying to get a foot in the door, it's probably okay to talk to a whole bunch of recruiters; if you're more senior and working in a field where 'word gets around', you probably shouldn't work with more than 2 or 3 recruiters at a time.)
   
3. A recruiter who refuses to work with you because you've spoken to another recruiter either thinks you're not a particularly good candidate ("I can't trust this person to tell me about the other positions s/he has been submitted to") or doesn't do his/her homework ("I just submit all my candidates to all kinds of clients - I can't be bothered to call you to double-check to see if you've already been submitted"). 
   
   Either way, s/he probably isn't the best recruiter for you, anyway, so don't feel too badly about walking away.
   
   (NB:  There are exceptions to this, especially in industries in which the talent pool is very small and where there may be only a handful of qualified candidates for a given role.  In these situations it's appropriate to work with a single recruiter.)
   
4. Try to build long-term relationships with a couple of recruiters who specialize in recruiting people in your field.  A recruiter who's known you for 5+ years is more likely to 'sell you' into a potential employer than someone you just met yesterday. 

Again, if you're a junior just into your first or second job, it's worthwhile to make the rounds of lots of recruiters - it'll help you get a feel for what's out there, who has the best opportunities, and who might be a great long-term contact.  As you become more senior, you'll be able to leverage these long-term relationships to make your job search much easier - and more painless.

Tags

news 

Comments

Anonymous - Jan 2nd 2010 8:32 AM
 
this web site is no fucking good anymore

Peter T - Jan 4th 2010 2:32 PM
 
The stern and inappropriate comment from Anonymous possibly does succinctly sum up the web site. I searched in my field in the Toronto area and found 11 postings from October back to July 2008.

Should we make the assumption that this web site should be deleted as a source to finding us "retired workers" a job of either a permanent or contract nature?