By Corey Switzer
I’ve had a bad week.
Today I was going to blog about how CareerBuilder is running an ad on their website advocating working with recruiters. But let’s be honest, recruitment firms pay CareerBuilder BIG BUCKS, so it’s a no brainer that they’re singing our praises. They’re buttering us up for the pig roast (whatever that means).
Not that I don’t love CB, because I really do.
Anyway, their praise got me thinking about the fact that most candidates don’t understand how much work we (recruiters) do on their behalf.
Thankfully, most candidates are grateful regardless of how much we can help them. They realize that a bridge built can someday facilitate a new introduction. They REALIZE that recruiters are some of the most well-connected professionals in a region. There are fewer candidates who treat us as a slight annoyance; a gatekeeper to the Promised Land – the INTERVIEW. Other candidates (the SMALL minority) must think we just sit around drinking latte’s all day and gossiping around the water cooler. They must think that intelligence and an incredibly hard work ethic are traits we lack.
Individuals who don’t appreciate the work we do on their behalf – AT NO EXPENSE TO THEM – are a waste of my time.
I know this blog seems dark, but I take my profession seriously. I am in the business of employing our country in the middle of a recession. I directly affect the growth and success of my client companies based on the work that I do for them.
If an individual doesn’t realize the 50+ man-hours per week I put in on behalf of all of my candidates; getting to know them, understanding their innermost wants and needs, advocating them, going to bat for them, going above and beyond to market them to clients that aren’t necessarily hiring, GETTING THEM AN OFFER, then I simply don’t want to work with them. And I happen to have that choice!
What people who treat recruiters like dirt under their shoe don’t realize is that good recruiters become a hiring partner; a confidant to their client companies. If a candidate chooses to mess with the bull (me), they will get the horns (the boot from my advocacy of them).
At the end of the day, IF YOU DON’T RESPECT ME, I DON’T RESPECT YOU. And I’ll let you in on a little secret – I need to respect you to even begin to consider to plop my seal of approval on your resume and send it over to a client who trusts me.
What’s the moral of the story? I dunno – there probably is no moral for 99% of you out there in cyberspace reading this blog. Like I referenced before, I really enjoy getting to know and working with most of my candidates.
The moral for the other 1% – start respecting those who are around to make you look good or you’ll “never work in this town again” (to quote some obscure movie from the 1940’s or 50’s).
PS – let me know if you know where and with whom that quote originated!
This is Corey signing off.
Fingers crossed for a better week, next week.
