Your Job Search:
How to Play Along

When working with a recruiter, there are some things that any job-seeker should keep in mind.

First, your recruiter is busy. While they are working with you for one particular opportunity, they are, most likely, working with numerous others on several positions, as well as working with candidates for the same position you are applying for. This means that their time is limited, and whether they want to or not, it is human nature to discount someone who is disruptive to their day, and keeps coming to them with questions multiple times a day.

One piece of advice is to get several questions together, make your call, and then let your recruiter do his/her work for you. Keep in mind that the more time you have them on the phone or answering your emails, they are not communicating with hiring authorities on your behalf, or coming any closer to having another great opportunity for you.

Secondly, keep yourself available for quick conversations or to answer short emails from your recruiter. There are often small points that get overlooked throughout the recruitment process, and it shows hiring managers and recruiters that you are truly interested, and willing to do whatever it takes to "get the job done".

Thirdly and most importantly is communication with the hiring company. Companies hire recruiters to act as middle-man between themselves and the candidates. It is bad form to call, or email an interviewing manager with questions or comments without being contacted first. If you initiate contact asking questions, or prodding for quick feedback directly, you demonstrate to them that you don't follow direction, and you have no respect for the process.

We are aware that it seems like a one way street, but remember that it's a game. There are rules to this game, and if you are going to play, don't get yourself disqualified by doing something that could have been avoided. If you have questions that MUST be answered, ask your recruiter, but pick your spots, and don't go overboard.

Hot Spots:
Are You Over Qualified?

In the recruiting business, there are some common warning flags that come up when working with a candidate who is very highly experienced. One of the most common is the willingness of a highly successful candidate who is ready to capture a position that would have reported to them in their previous position. When a VP of Sales at a large company takes a separation package and leaves, that candidate is telling the professional world that they are done. This is not the time to start a new job search and look for a role significantly lower in prestige and pay to "do what you really like to do...Sell".

This situation always makes any good recruiter start asking questions. Why would a VP want to carry a bag again? Why would someone so successful at managing want to go back to being managed?

Hiring authorities don't want to hire someone that could potentially take their job away. They would rather hire someone they can groom and develop to succeed them. This thinking--that they can offer assistance to the current manager--is not a wise one. Ask yourself; would you want someone who supposedly worked for you looking over your shoulder, critiquing everything you do?

It is a rare occasion when a company worth working for is willing to hire someone who is so grossly over qualified that it seems a bit ridiculous that this person is willing to do the job at hand.

Unfortunately, if you are one of these professionals that has had a great deal of success, either professionally, or monetarily, you are cast into that mold. Clients pay recruiters quite a bit of money to source, find, and recruit the "perfect candidate", not to find them the biggest title they can find who is willing to do the work that they recently managed.