Top Recruiting Myths Debunked

Some folks believe that a recruiter's job is to simply blast out resumes aimlessly and call people endlessly hoping to find a match.

But making generalizations and writing off all recruiters could cost you a life-changing opportunity.

Truly great recruiters' greatest strengths are impeccable relationship building and communication skills. These strengths directly result in access to a highly valuable network of professionals that could make all the difference for your business. Whether you're a client looking for a go-getter or if you're a professional ready to make a change in your career, the right recruiter has the network and tools to find what you need.

Truly great recruiters' greatest strengths are impeccable relationship building and communication skills.

To get the most out of a recruiter, get inside their heads and tap into the relationships they've built.

Successful recruiting is a laborious job, requiring tough negotiation skills, attention to detail and largely depends on strong communication skills. It takes years of building relationships to be a successful, thriving recruiter.

Check out these four top myths and why they're completely false:

Myth #1: Recruiters Find Jobs for People

This is something Tony Palm, president of Military Professionals, LLC., is forced to debunk on a pretty regular basis.

“Recruiters do not find jobs for people, we find people for jobs,” Palm says. “Big, big difference.”

If a candidate simply isn’t the right fit for the role, the recruiter no longer carries the burden of placing you in your next job. If you’re a top-tier candidate, however, the recruiter has every reason to develop a lasting relationship with you for future opportunities.

Top candidates can stay on top of a recruiter’s mind for other opportunities. According to CyberCoders Executive Recruiter Stephen Etzel, you could say something like:

I’d be happy to let you market me around to clients, if that seems productive, and I’m prepared to work with you exclusively for the next 2-3 weeks in order to make sure it’s you who finds me my next job.

Fair warning: “That’s only something a recruiter would agree with if they very genuinely think you are a top-tier, extremely marketable candidate – so you may need to make your case for that to them,” Etzel says.

Myth #2: Recruiters Manually Post on Job Boards

One of the concerns Erik Episcopo had as a career advisor and hiring manager at Resume Genius is that recruiters only use job boards to garner resumes from applicants.

“In fact, they don’t use job boards at all,” he says. “Instead, recruiters have large database of high-quality job applicants that have already been screened.”

CyberCoders’ proprietary system called Cyrus, for instance, is the most powerful recruiting software in the industry—cutting recruitment time by 50 percent than the industry average.

Myth #3: Once Managers Post a Job, Recruiters Will Send Unsolicited Resumes

While there are some shady recruiters in the world, any great recruiters’ goal is to be the point person for a job opening before managers even posted it online or turn to their HR department.

“That kind of long-term relationship requires discretion, plain dealings, and respectful communication, on top of effectiveness in their job,” Etzel says.

This is the philosophy that’s engrained in the CyberCoders culture.

It’s all about cultivating relationships—not pouncing on the latest job posting online.

Myth #4: Once You Throw Recruiters a Bone, They Keep Coming Back for Meat

“If a recruiter is contacting you and you don’t want them to, tell them to stop,” Etzel says.

Recruiters aren’t trained to take silence as a “hint," he adds. They need to be prepared in case a new hire becomes a top priority at a moment's notice.

“In most cases, when a recruiter doesn’t get a response from their client on an opening or a pending candidate submittal, it’s their job to assume that the silence is because you’re buried under other pressing concerns."

Etzel puts it best when he says that, to get the most out of your recruiter, treat her as what she is: "An outsourced consultant whose productivity relies on good communication."