Cracking the recruiter’s code
You got the email of acceptance from a recruiter for a job you had been following for the last fortnight. He wants to confirm your fit with the company’s culture. Your first reaction is to open the calendar and schedule that call with him for the next week. No! Keep the computer aside and jump for joy! You deserve an applause — your oh-so-carefully crafted resume successfully got you through a barrier that more than 80% of the population fail to clear. According to an estimate, it takes roughly 6 seconds for your resume to be on the ‘ready for advancement’ pile or in the trashcan. Give yourself a pat on the back and read on!
The next step is usually a ‘friendly’ chat with the recruiter, which will decide whether you make it to that face-to-face interview you have been waiting to take by storm. But taking the recruiter’s call with a pinch of salt will jeopardize all your efforts so far at bagging that coveted role.
These calls could vary in degrees of formality, depending on the recruiter and how the call progresses. But, almost always, they will have questions that attempt to draw you out as a potential fit for the role and the company’s culture. Recruiters listen intently to jump at anything that is said during the phone interview that deviates from the below qualities:
· Ambition: Preparation before the call about the company, it’s major businesses, recent successes, any signs of future undertakings is a must. Prior knowledge about your prospective employer can be used as a major weapon in your conversation and help steer it in the right direction. Out of personal experience, completing a recruiter’s sentences for him will instantly create a positive hunch in the mind of the recruiter. So, look out for those cues.
· Honesty: Give the recruiter what they want but not at the cost of playing around with the integrity of the process. Stay true to the requirements of the role and do not make frivolous stories about your capacities or experience. They will come to bite you back.
· Humility: It’s alright and in fact, encouraged to add to the content in your resume while dealing with the recruiter — how can a page-and-a-half cover such a fantastic personality, eh? This is your time in the sun, so go for it. But bragging is something else. Now, you know what the recruiters wants to hear for “What was one failure at work that has stayed with you?”. And the answer is not “None”. Letting your vulnerabilities out is not a sign of weakness but lets the recruiters on your willingness to own your mistakes.
· Hustle: Anyone who puts their shoulders to the wheel is an asset to any organization. Give examples of when you achieved XYZ% of sales in ABC of time, given dire consequences. Or when you organized a party for 500 people which eventually saw an attendance of 800. How you covered up for the excess or how you couldn’t completely do justice. Hustle isn’t about talent, it’s about what you did to change unfavorable situations and how you measured success.
· Agility: Time to live up to the most over-used keyword in resumes — ‘quick learner’. Cite examples of situations of when things weren’t perfect and how you ‘learnt the ropes’ from them.
· Positivity: Display overall upbeat-ness during the conversation. It doesn’t have to be grim and intense, even when speaking of past work-related failures. Seeing the silver lining in adverse situations will make you instantly likable.
· Reliability: Quick ways to be Mr/Ms Reliable? Be in-time for the call/appointment and send out a requested resume or other document without much of a delay. Being late or lax about a commitment could dent your chances greatly and cost you a go-ahead to the next round.
It’s alright if you can’t pack all those nice-to-hear nouns into the 25-minute call — keeping it simple and truthful could yield just the same results but remember to look out for chances to expand on your repertoire. So, preparation before the call can give you a sense of what will embolden you to put forth your best self.
A word about following-up
Say, you had the call with the recruiter or the main interview. You would normally hear back in a couple of days or a week. If that doesn’t happen, a follow-up email to the recruiter could elicit the response. Three things could happen now:
1. a return email calling you in for the next round of interviews or congratulating you on bagging the role, in either case, great job!
2. A mail which asks you to wait a little longer till the team could get back with a response
3. No response (and this doesn’t always mean you have been knocked out of the race)
In cases 2 and 3, it’s best to wait another week before you send in your second follow-up. I was pleasantly surprised when my neurotic best friend called me and was so happy, she could hardly breathe when she told me that she got a job she was after. What’s interesting is that she got a ‘yes’ on her third follow-up email. Were they waiting till she got so desperate she started bombarding their inbox? YES!!
Believe it or not, your interview is far from over when you exit the building and will continue under the hood, till you get that offer letter. Recruiters/hiring managers today want to be sure that you are as excited about the company as they are about you, so they are willing to wait weeks for that sign.
As job seekers, there are several instances where the going gets tough. Tons of emails going unanswered besides long wait times are probably two of the reasons why job seekers feel victimized by hiring managers/recruiters.
It is easy to lose patience with the system and start blaming the recruiter community for your misfortune in securing an interview and their apathy in handling your case. I once was part of an employment group which had a member who would openly type messages about what the recruiter ‘did’ to her and spill expletives, after which she was removed from the group (the group had recruiter members too!) In all honesty, I was in support of the lady at that time and seconding all of her thoughts, but the realization happened soon enough of the below:
· The recruiter is doing what he is supposed to: Sometimes they want to get back to you with a response as soon as they see you as a fit, but can’t due to some policies which do not allow them to respond to inquiries with interview candidates.
Other reasons could be that next steps are not clear or there are more new resumes coming in, and the recruiter is trying to make sense of the scheduling of those interviews. Perseverance is the key.
· Be honest: It is very important to be sincere with the recruiter if you think that a job’s requirements are out of reach. He could get your foot in the door for an interview and save you from an unpleasant experience if he represents your skills correctly.
· Don’t nag: Bringing money up in the first conversation, repeatedly sending emails in a single day, not taking the recruiter’s feedback positively are quick ways to register yourself in the recruiter’s memory (for all the bad reasons) and in his spam contacts.
· Be accessible: Periodically check your primary communication — email, phone or messages so that a recruiter could schedule an interview or extend an offer in time for both of you. And quit refreshing your inbox every 5 seconds to avoid heart disease cheaply.
· Never burn bridges: Unprofessionalism in emails or phone calls could damage your interview chances not just for the current job but for future ones as well, as word about rude interviewees spreads like the flu in recruiter circles. Respect for their and your time and gratitude if exercised, could safeguard relationships and keep you in the running.
· Treat them like humans, because, well, they are.
Wow! I am glad you made it this far. Read here about what I wish I knew when I started looking for a job in a new place. Good luck fishing!