Well, here you are again. It’s Monday morning. You yawn. You open your inbox. Ah, look what we have here – five (count ‘em, FIVE) messages from recruiters. At first glance you can already see most of the messages are irrelevant, misspelled or generally just not interesting. One of them is from someone who has chronically misunderstood what you do, and boldly states you’d be a “great fit” for a job you are not qualified for, in a place you have never heard of. You roll your eyes. It’s times like these you have to wonder – what’s the point of these people? How has this industry even sprung up?
We’ve all been there. Recruitment, when done poorly, is frustrating, irritating and a total waste of time. But (hear us out!) when done properly, it can be an awesome tool that’ll help give you insights into your industry, make you aware of opportunities in your field and give you a clearer idea of how your compensation compares to your peers. If nothing else, it’s a compliment, a bit of free career advice and hey, it’s always nice to know you have options.
A good recruiter can tell you all the things you really want to know about a role – the things you won’t find on a job description. What’s the company culture like? What’s the skills gap in that particular team? Where are they looking to develop the company over the next few years? You get the idea.
That same recruiter will ask you questions about what you want (what you really, really want) in terms of career progression. Perhaps you are a generalist but you’re looking to specialize? Maybe tax is your most favourite thing – or, on the other hand, maybe you’d prefer to stay general? A skilled recruiter will pick up on these things. They’ll have a certain je ne sais quoi about them that makes you feel comfortable discussing what you’re passionate about (even when you may not have realized it yourself). Through a simple conversation they’ll identify common themes in your experience, understanding what you’ve done previously and what you’d like to do in the future.
More than just help you identify your career aspirations, a recruiter can give you advice on how to get there. They may have a client with a highly developed audit function who’ll cater to your endless curiousity surrounding the intricacies of public company audit. It could be there’s a firm looking for a partner with your entrepreneurial spirit and quirky, offbeat sense of humour. A recruiter who knows their stuff will be able to tell you which firms are the best fit for you; which opportunities are most likely to get you to where you want to go. Once they’ve identified the firm for you, they can make an introduction. Plus, if they don’t know (which does happen, we’ll admit – albeit rarely) they’ll be able to point you to the person who will.
A recruiter acts as the middle man between you and the client, and since they know you both so well, this makes conversations infinitely easier. Gone are the days of showing up to an interview, buzzing with nerves and excitement, only to suffer through 45 minutes of generic, unengaging conversation because neither party involved knew the right question to ask. Enter: your recruiter. Prior to the meeting, a recruiter will give pointers to both clients and candidates on where each party is looking to develop – making sure everyone is on the same page from the very start. The result? A successful placement that offers significant growth potential for both the company and the new employee.
Those long, romantic evenings of sitting on your couch applying to an infinite number of jobs you don’t even really want? Kiss ‘em goodbye. Your recruiter will be looking for suitable opportunities for you behind the scenes, so you can kick back and throw on another episode of that Netflix series you can’t get enough of. Or maybe you’ll start painting. Learn to speak Spanish. Start brewing your own beer – who knows! The world is your oyster now that you can relax and know you have someone keeping an eye out for your dream job 24/7.
When recruitment is done right, it can transform careers and change lives. We’re speaking from first hand experience, not just as recruiters, but as people like you, who, at one point, walked into work on Monday morning, sat down, rolled our eyes at the messages in our LinkedIn inbox, but decided to reach out and start the conversation that led us to where we are right now.
Still have some questions about recruitment and what we do at Impact? Give us a shout – we’re happy to chat!