Left job, where to start now?

[andy-xr]

TomJS said:

If you're a great candidate, recruiters will get you interviews. If you're not, then it's best to go direct in the present climate. All IMO.

I'm not sure how to take that in relation to my earlier post.

Regardless, my point was that I struggled to put over the finer points of a two tier channel manager who has direct touch to some of the agents. Try as I might, it didn't really go in from what I was getting back. It showed me that some agents don't understand what a clients pain points are likely to be when looking at a potential new hire.

[okgo]

A decent recruiter who knows the right people and is trusted is so important.

I get interviews without having to send a CV over as the guy I use gets me in without the need for that rubbish as he has the relationships.

[TomJS]

okgo said:

A decent recruiter who knows the right people and is trusted is so important.

I get interviews without having to send a CV over as the guy I use gets me in without the need for that rubbish as he has the relationships.

Whilst this may be the case, there's never an excuse for recruiters sending out CV's willy nilly. We don't send out a CV until we have a confirmed interview, and in order to follow REC rules, you need candidate permission in any event else you get closed down.

Quite apart from that, sending out CV's means several things. A client asking to see a CV is a cop out, often a polite way of fobbing a recruiter off, rather than a direct "no". It also makes getting an interview for a candidate a longer process with a call, a wait, a chase and an eventual answer as opposed to one call. Also agree to send a CV and your chance of scoring decreases as you can't deal with client objections as an advocate for the candidate.

A CV also shows things that may be deemed negative, so again your chance of scoring falls, whereas whatever snippets of information a recruiter does choose to reveal is almost invariably the best bits! A CV also allows a clever client firm to back-door you, as even reference CV's show names of past companies. Sure as eggs is eggs, someone from that last firm will know the candidate and likely be able to put them in touch in some manner - thereby losing your fee. A firm that sends out CV's left right and centre also makes candidates stale very quickly - since they are easily identified from those CV's both now and in the future as opposed to those that operate a no names, no CV's policy.

Summary - crap firms sling mud and hope some of it sticks by sending stacks of CV's. Good firms filter CV's down then protect their candidate's identity to the hilt, and are able to drive their candidates through doors that would otherwise be closed.

On the balance side, I read 200 Cv's a week, interview 10 candidates and actively look to place just 2 of those candidates. So if I call a client regarding a candidate, it's usually worth taking the call and seeing the candidate, as that candidate is in the top one percent of all people I run into. My candidates have an X factor that allows me to drive them through closed doors else I don't work with them. I also don't make untargeted calls.

The real strength of a good recruiter is in the quality of the candidates in the first place (both in wage terms and quality for wage terms) their ability to get interviews for those candidates, and their hit ratio in terms of interviews to placements. My firm aims for 1 interview a day, and a close ratio of not worse than 1 placement in 15 interviews. The best staff members hit 1 placement in 5. Mine is 1:8 and I'm looking to improve. At senior placement level that's a formidable record.

Candidates - vet your recruiters carefully. Almost all recruiters are free to work with. However the results from working with them vary widely. Firms - if a recruiter will send a CV of their candidate without putting up a real fight, then my view is that the recruiter is rubbish, and hence the CV is likely rubbish. Expect your inbox to then get a deluge of other CV's as the recruiter slings more and more mud in the hope some sticks. The best you'll divest from me will be a CV snapshot, and no more irrelevant emails e.g.

• International Sales Manager with National greetings card manufacturer, with 10 years experience
• Grew sales from £0 to £1.4m
• Gross Profit 18%
• Sales last 4 years: £750k, £900k, £1.1m, £1.4m
• Exporting to Australia, South Africa, European Ex-pat community
• Salary expectation £45,000 + usual benefits
• Free to meet him