What does a recruiter do?

In my last post, I broke down the Hiring Process and walked you through the three stages of the Recruiting Funnel (“the how” of hiring). By learning about how the process works, you will be able to see where you are getting stuck and how you can improve. Today, I will be addressing some common questions people may have while applying for a job (“the who and what”).

Why do we go through a Recruiter?

A typical job posting will get anywhere from one hundred to several thousand applications. The companies looking to fill these positions usually cannot spend the man hours to review each candidate and take people away from their day-to-day jobs. Recruiters exist to bridge the gap between the needs of the hiring manager/company and YOU, the person looking for the job.

What is a Hiring Manager?

At ALL companies, a hiring manager is not a position within the company. Meaning you typically won’t find “hiring manager” as someone’s title on their resume. On any given team, the hiring manager is usually who you will report to directly (your boss). They are the hiring manager that is asking the recruiter to fill the position with the best fit, as quickly as possible.

How does a Recruiter know what a qualified candidate looks like?

Most recruiters work in verticals, and also do an “intake call” with the hiring manager to learn everything necessary about the position before the job is posted.

Verticals:

Recruiters typically hire for a specific industry and/or functional area. They typically stick to their area of expertise. This means if you message a technical recruiter about a sales role, it’s not that they wouldn’t want to help you…it just means they’d likely know nothing about that job because they are not assigned to it.

Intake Call:

Picture this as the recruiter chatting with the hiring manager and asking questions so they can answer yours. Team size? Technical skills needed? The most they can pay you? Why is the role is open?

Verticals + Intake Call = good candidate criteria

Recruiters (usually) don’t know EVERYTHING about the day-to-day responsibilities of the position or industry, but they do know A LOT and can always tell if you’re fluffin’ it. Don’t expect to be grilled at the review level, but do know your stuff. If it’s in the job description, you MUST be able to speak to it.

“The best fit, as quickly as possible”

From the second a job is posted on the company website, the clock is ticking for a recruiter. One of the key metrics of the recruiters performance is the time it takes to fill the seat, for most positions, 55 days from posting is the goal and the industry average.

Timing is everything.

Since recruiters are measured on their “time to fill”, they are looking for the best fit they can find at the time the job is posted. If you are applying to a job and see that the posting is over three weeks old, there is a good chance you will never hear back.

After 30 days the chance is Slim to none.However, the timeline varies based on the role.(e.g. It’s safe to assume hiring a Senior Vice President role is going to take awhile. Same thing goes for that software developer in the middle of Kansas in a town no one wants to live in.)

The Information seen above was written by Joshua Meusch, synthesized from a conversation with Joshua Chen. He is an incredibly helpful person and recruiter. Based out of Denver, Colorado, Joshua has recruited for staffing agencies, Fortune 500s, and startups.

Students (in the Seattle area) if you are looking for experience or an internship, email josh@sidedegree.com and we can get you hired.