I’m a recruiter AMA

[Anonymous]

OP: Following an interview with an outside recruiting firm handing a search, is it advisable to reach out again, three weeks out, from the initial meeting and thank you email? If the recruiter doesn’t respond to that follow-up, then the assumption is there’s no longer interest?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP: Following an interview with an outside recruiting firm handing a search, is it advisable to reach out again, three weeks out, from the initial meeting and thank you email? If the recruiter doesn’t respond to that follow-up, then the assumption is there’s no longer interest?

Yeah I would reach out again. That’s pretty crummy for an external recruiter to ghost you. Even if you’re not a match for the current role they should be keeping you warm for future opportunities - the idea is that they would want you to pick up the phone/ping back when the firm reaches out again in the future - so that you don’t blacklist the the firm in your mind. The best headhunters do this well.

[Anonymous]

What resume review program do you recommend to look at my resume?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What resume review program do you recommend to look at my resume?

I’m not sure what you’re asking for? Formatting? General layout? Being on target for a specific job? I guess try the paid version of Teel. There are others. Google for them. TBH I would give the resume to trusted colleagues partners friends or my university career center before doing a paid resource though.

[Anonymous]

How much do looks matter in corporate recruiting for professionals 45-55?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Q: I’m guessing most people use AI to tailor their resume to match the position they’re applying to? Any specific AI you recommend? And what prompts are the best? Is it as simple as feeding the text of the opening and my resume and then let AI do its magic then review/update manually?

bump for OP or anyone in the know

I’m not a recruiter but I have been applying for jobs and getting interviews, and I use AI for this (and in my work too so I am an experienced user). I have a pretty long “master resume” that has more on it than I would want for each job, as it runs to 3 pages. It has more bullets for each part than I would actually use, so that I’m able to choose the best for each job. I upload that to my (paid!) ChatGPT or Claude, along with a link to the job description. Then I write something like: “suggest edits for the Key Skills section of my resume to align with this job description, but reduce to 5 bullets. Flag for me the changes you make that I need to confirm are accurate. Maintain my voice and style as much as possible”. Then it suggests changes and tells me things like “confirm that you have lead XYZ team. If not, then change to “zxy”. I do something like this for each section, and then have it re-review the whole thing to make sure there is no repetition, and that as a whole it captures all the key skills and experience required by the JD that I can demonstrate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Q: I’m guessing most people use AI to tailor their resume to match the position they’re applying to? Any specific AI you recommend? And what prompts are the best? Is it as simple as feeding the text of the opening and my resume and then let AI do its magic then review/update manually?

bump for OP or anyone in the know

I’m not a recruiter but I have been applying for jobs and getting interviews, and I use AI for this (and in my work too so I am an experienced user). I have a pretty long “master resume” that has more on it than I would want for each job, as it runs to 3 pages. It has more bullets for each part than I would actually use, so that I’m able to choose the best for each job. I upload that to my (paid!) ChatGPT or Claude, along with a link to the job description. Then I write something like: “suggest edits for the Key Skills section of my resume to align with this job description, but reduce to 5 bullets. Flag for me the changes you make that I need to confirm are accurate. Maintain my voice and style as much as possible”. Then it suggests changes and tells me things like “confirm that you have lead XYZ team. If not, then change to “zxy”. I do something like this for each section, and then have it re-review the whole thing to make sure there is no repetition, and that as a whole it captures all the key skills and experience required by the JD that I can demonstrate.

I’m OP. This is awesome. Take notes people!

[Anonymous]

OP. Tips from the recruiting trenches this week:

Remember what I’ve shared before—recruiters are juggling dozens of roles and even more candidates at once.

When you’re asked for availability, give wide windows!!! As many as possible!!!
Because trust me… I want to get you scheduled this week.

True story: a candidate last week sent one option - Tuesday, 11:30–12:00.Any guesses whether that exact 30-minute slot was open?

Make the process work in your favor.

Also, don’t interview in your fuzzy blue bathrobe. True story that also happened this week. SMH.

[Anonymous]

Is the market for undergrad internships in DC dried up?

[Anonymous]

For VP roles, I heard that applying through websites without a referral is a nonstarter. Is this true?

[Anonymous]

I’ve always been curious about this. I’ve applied for jobs in which I meet every qualification and see that hundreds of others have also applied, and never heard anything but see the job reposted month after month (I actually stopped considering any companies that do this). Can people really not find one qualified person out of 100s of applicants? For reference, this is a common enough job for which many people would theoretically be qualified.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is the market for undergrad internships in DC dried up?

I’m not in DC specifically but nationwide recruiting for young adult and recent grads is significantly DOWNNNN. I have a report from 12Twenty which is one of the two major undergrad platforms for recruiting. In the report they highlighted the recruitment change in big companies. 5 years ago it was a manager + 8 recent hires. Now it’s a manager + two new hires + ai. In coming years it will be manager + Claude ai. If you have connections to land your kid an internship or job, use them!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For VP roles, I heard that applying through websites without a referral is a nonstarter. Is this true?

Not always. But we definitely like referrals and will 100 percent vet them out, prioritize them!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’ve always been curious about this. I’ve applied for jobs in which I meet every qualification and see that hundreds of others have also applied, and never heard anything but see the job reposted month after month (I actually stopped considering any companies that do this). Can people really not find one qualified person out of 100s of applicants? For reference, this is a common enough job for which many people would theoretically be qualified.

Yeah we don’t do that. I’m curious about them too and one factor is likely lazy recruitment workflows where the team has not turned off the posting or the integrations with job boards, or it has hicupped in the background and they aren’t fixing it. It’s definitely reflective of the employer brand. And it’s not a good look.

[Anonymous]

I applied for a job over 6 weeks ago (job posting had been live for around 4 days when I applied). I heard nothing until this week, when I was invited for interview. I had assumed I wasn’t in the running for this job anymore based on the length of time since I applied. Why did it take 6 weeks? I assume their top candidates declined? Or something else?