Written by Paul Slezak, Area Manager, Aquent Sydney

How often have you found yourself sitting around the table at a dinner party where the conversation has ended up with the guests trying to outdo each other with their own personal recruitment horror stories?

“I sent my résumé to ABC Ltd and never even got a phone call, let alone a standard rejection letter!”

“XYZ Ltd practically forced me to interview for a job that I wasn’t even qualified for!”

“Well, I have been trying to fill a Senior Brand Manager role and all I get is ad hoc résumés sent by the recruiter. I could do that myself!”

Sound familiar?

Over the years, as a recruiter I have also heard many recruitment consultants outdo each other with their own personal horror stories and negative experiences with clients and candidates.

“This candidate looks perfect, but hasn’t even included any contact details!”

“I put three candidates forward for this role two weeks ago and the client doesn’t have time to give me any feedback!”

“Well, my client won’t even give me a proper position description and has farmed the job off to five other recruiters anyway!”

There are always two sides to the story.

From both the candidate’s and the client’s perspective, the recruitment experience can be daunting, stressful, confusing and often unnecessarily complicated. But with the right relationship and respect for (and from) a specialist recruiter, the experience can be effective, efficient and even enjoyable.

How?

Whether you are a Marketing Manager in the process of using a recruiter to find you a new team member, or an experienced Marketing Manager looking for a new opportunity, the relationship you have with your recruitment consultant is paramount to ensure that the whole process is as smooth as possible for all parties involved.

Recruiters are usually used to provide a perfect match for either the candidate or the client. But as the middleman (or matchmaker), the recruiter can often be caught in the crossfire if the expectations of the candidate, client and consultant are not articulated and managed correctly from the outset.

There are several obvious parallels as to why candidates and clients may choose to work with a particular recruiter, and also in terms of how both candidates and clients can ensure that their recruiter works best for them.

As an experienced Marketer, you may choose to work with a specialist recruiter because they know your niche, they know where the best jobs are in your field, you trust their reputation and confidentiality, or because you are simply too busy to be “out there” looking for your next job.

While as a Marketing Manager with a need to hire, you may choose to work with a specialist recruiter because they know your niche, they know who the best people are in your field, you trust their reputation and confidentiality, or because you are simply too busy to advertise, phone-screen and interview for your vacancy and just want to be provided with a shortlist from which to make your selection.

Notice the common themes here?

In order to get the most out of the recruitment partnership, it’s in the best interest of the client and candidate to co-operate closely with their recruiter of choice.

A recruiter can give qualitative information about a candidate to a client so long as they have been given accurate information during interview. A well-prepared candidate will have a detailed and up-to-date résumé that truly reflects who you are and what you have achieved in your previous roles, as well as a personal career objective that would be tailored to the position in question. It also helps a recruiter if you have a succinct and credible personal skills summary (best written in the third person) outlining your strengths and personal extra-curricular accomplishments.

From a client perspective, having a detailed, up-to-date and accurate position description clearly identifying key responsibilities, necessary qualifications, essential skills, pre-determined core competencies and any benefits offered in the role will ensure the recruiter is fully equipped to find you the perfect candidate. Of course an anticipated salary package (or range) will make it easier for the recruiter to further narrow down the search.

The best candidates are snapped up and placed very quickly. As a hot candidate you should be ready to act quickly and accept a role if you believe it’s the perfect opportunity. Similarly if you are hiring, you should be ready to act quickly and make an offer to a candidate if you believe they are the perfect fit. Either way, it is important to demonstrate a sense of urgency and believe it or not, your recruiter will demonstrate a strong sense of urgency in return.

As a candidate, be open and honest with your recruiter in terms of how you really feel about the particular role and the true reasons behind why you want to leave your current position. But more importantly, be up front about where you are at with any other opportunities or offers that may have presented themselves.

As a client, be open and honest with your recruiter in terms of what you really think about the short-listed candidates. But more importantly, be up front about where you are at in the decision making process with any other candidates or any internal applicants that may have presented themselves.

If you are registered with too many recruiters and you are put forward as a candidate for a certain position by more than one of them, this then devalues you in the market. After all you don’t want a prospective employer telling your recruiter “I’ve seen this CV three times already!”.

Similarly as a hiring client, if you register your vacancy with too many recruiters you will ultimately sacrifice quality for quantity and will not get 100% commitment from any of your recruitment partners.

So as you would with any other partnership – be it professional or personal – whether you are a client or candidate seeking a recruitment alliance, it is important to be honest and communicate your needs as clearly as possible for the recruitment relationship to work best to your advantage.

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Paul Slezak is the Sydney Area Manager for Aquent (www.aquent.com/mcs), a global firm that specialises in staffing solutions for the creative, marketing and communications industries. Through a network of nearly seventy offices in fifteen countries, Aquent services in the areas of print and Web design and production; advertising and media, marketing, public relations and business support. Paul also speaks and trains on career and recruitment issues and can be contacted on (02) 9264 1888 or emailed via pslezak@aquent.com