Rita Ashley, Career Coach. Field tested advice for executives.

While the job-search world is filled with competent and effective recruiters, my email from angry candidates who have dealt with the worst of the lot and responses to my LinkedIn threads shout there are a lot of bad recruiters and harmful recruiting practices candidates encounter.  Offenses are not just borderline-ethical with traps set for unsuspecting candidates; the field is populated with incompetent recruiters who believe recruiting is an easy way to make a fast buck.

How can this be? Barriers to entry for recruiters are invisible.  Anyone with a telephone and a voice can call themselves a recruiter.  They may not last long in the profession, but their truncated longevity doesn’t mean you won’t encounter them.

Bad apples taint the waters and the good recruiters, those who provide such an important service that easily, over 35% of executive-level jobs are filled by them, have to wrestle with the general perception recruiters are just like used-car sales people.  Not much anyone can do about that other than keep their own practices above reproach.

Candidates are at risk. While I have cautioned how to avoid a bad recruiter to protect candidates, sometimes you just can’t tell the recruiter is incompetent until after you submit your resume.

After the fact. Once you have given the recruiter your resume and she seems unable to give you the information you need or has difficulty representing you with her client, it is time to take charge.  You don’t want to offend the recruiter because he is the gatekeeper and can harm your efforts to get face time with his client.

Example. One example from my coaching practice, names changed to protect, demonstrates how to work with a recruiter who is incompetent or inexperienced and still get what you need.

Wendy found Bill’s contact information on LinkedIn and wasted no time phoning him about a job opening she heard about.  The job had been open for three months and she felt the company would welcome an unsolicited resume from her.  She didn’t have the search but was certain with Bill’s resume, she could get the assignment.  (This is called the Trojan horse method and is encouraged in many recruiter training sessions.)

Wendy contacted Bill with a vague job description and a few made-up statistics about the job and the salary range.  Bill sent Wendy his resume and the only precaution he took was to tell her not to send the resume anywhere but the hiring company without asking.  She readily agreed and as soon as she had the resume, Wendy called the company in question.

She had not interviewed Bill nor did she have a grasp on how his strengths with the Agile software environment were important skills the employer would find compelling.  Somehow, she landed the search based on this one (and only this one) resume.  Later, when Bill asked Wendy questions about the job and why it had gone unfilled for so long, she revealed her ignorance.

What to do. Time for Bill to take matters in his own hands.  He consulted LinkedIn.com to see who he knew who would shed light on the company and the opportunity. He contacted his favorite recruiter and asked him what he knew about the company and job. There are few secrets among headhunters in the local search community. Bill discovered the hiring company’s various interviewers had conflicting priorities which was why they had little success filling the spot in a town filled with probable candidates.

Bill located former employees willing to support his interest in the company.  He was thus able to get a bead on the issues and formulate an interview plan in spite of Wendy’s ignorance.  He still needed her support and proceeded with caution.

Advice: Talk to Wendy face to face if possible. Tell her you want to make her look good so the more information you have when you meet her client, the better. Is there anything about the corporate culture or team she can share?

Don’t ask: Do you know their biggest priority?
Ask: What did they say to you to communicate their biggest priority?

Don’t ask: Why haven’t they filled the job?
Ask: What do they have to see to fill this position based on their past attempts? What did they say was missing?

Ask: When you spoke with the person to whom I would report, what impression do you have about his/her style? Their energy level? This question gives her the opportunity to reveal the level of her contact which you need to know.

If Wendy does not have direct contact with the actual hiring authority, she may invent answers or repeat the canned comments from HR. Keep in mind, if HR had the right fix on the priorities, the job would be filled by now. That’s why your own research is imperative. You can’t rely on Wendy’s answers for what you need to know to conduct a great interview.  Try to get as much as you can.

Ask: Is there something HR said more than once when they talked about their difficulty finding someone on their own?

Ask: What did you see in my background that told you I was a good fit?

Ask: I want to make sure we are talking from the same play book. What do you have in mind as the most important part of my background to get them interested in me as a candidate? Was there a comment made by the company about my resume and experience?

Ask: What if anything did they say to you that would suggest my experience managing teams in a variety of countries is of value? Use this approach for any characteristic you feel she needs to accentuate when she makes your appointment.  It is a subtle but accurate method to groom her comments about you.

Ask: I always send email thank-you notes to people with whom I interview. Is there any reason you’d be uncomfortable with my contacting them directly? Once Wendy says, “No, go right ahead,” you can follow-up as need be in the future with emails and phone calls. Don’t go around her, always copy her on emails and always let her know if you have contacted or otherwise spoken to the company on your own.

There is hope. “Every group of inexperienced recruiters has one or two really great future recruiters and one or two that will end up in an internal HR department somewhere. Candidates would do well to remember that and not burn bridges before they’re even built.” Emily B., Senior Recruiter

Wendy may be naïve’ or inexperienced and even unprofessional, but she is still a gatekeeper and she is representing you. One negative word from her and you may be removed from consideration. Ask the recruiter the right questions in the right way. Don’t be dismissive as she learns her role, but don’t be handicapped by her ineptitude.

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