At some point in your career—probably sooner rather than later—you will be dealing with recruiters (a/k/a headhunters). You may be looking for a new position for yourself (active-ly or passively), or you may be hiring and looking for recruiting help. In some cases you may be doing both at the same time. In any event you’ll find a basic knowledge of recruiters valuable as you manage your career.
The first thing to note is that recruiters come in different flavors. Some work on retainer only–they take money (retainers) from clients to fill specific positions. This means their com-mitment and loyalty are to the client and not the candidate. In effect, they care less about which candidate is hired than about making sure he or she is the best person for the job. They also realize, however, that a candidate spurned by one client for one position could become the lead candidate for another search assignment for another client.
Typically firms working on retainer recruit from a target list of competitors and assem-ble a “short list” of prospective candidates who are interested, affordable, and (if relevant) relo-catable. Each candidate has been evaluated on the basis of such criteria as industry/market knowledge, leadership skills, and record of performance. This short list may be as few as three candidates or as many as six. The client then interviews these recommended candidates over a week or two period and selects the one who best fits the position requirements and company culture. In many cases interviewing takes place linearly—as candidates are evaluated and rec-ommended by the search firm—and not in one intense, multi-candidate time frame.
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What You Should Know About Recruiters (PDF)
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