I’m a recruiter AMA

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A recruiter reached out to me about a very interesting position and I had a first conversation with her yesterday. At the end of the call, she told me she thought I would be a great candidate for this role and encouraged me to submit my resume. She warned me that the process had just kicked off, so might be slower than I would anticipate since it is an external search firm. She asked me to let her know if I was moving forward with any other conversations so she could try to accelerate.

Do external recruiters say these kind of things in all/most of their conversations? Or can I take at face value that she really sees me as a strong candidate?

I’m OP. The external recruiter’s job is to send as many resumes as possible to the hiring manager/company. Like a dozen is better than 6 resumes. That is ther motivation. Gauge from that what you will……

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kid is about to graduate from college and has been job-hunting for months. Last week they were offered a position on Monday and given three days to respond. They are very excited about the opportunity and did accept the job last week. Two weeks ago they’d been asked to schedule an interview at another company— it was supposed to be tomorrow. On the one hand, they’d be really interested to still go through with the interview because it’d be good practice and they’d like to learn more about the company (it’s a place they’d be very happy to work someday). On the other hand, they don’t want to waste the interviewer’s time or burn bridges. They think they still want the position they’ve accepted, regardless of what happens with tomorrow’s interview if they go through with it. I advised them to cancel the interview—do you agree?

OP. If they are really interested in the second role go for it. (I’m speaking from a friend perspective not a recruiters here). Why? Because only you have agency and control over your career. And you don’t make your moves based on fear. Now if your kid reneges from employer #1, will I note it in the system that they accepted a role and reneged, so that all future applications coming from him/her/their email will be red flagged? Yep I will do that.

[Anonymous]

My DH is 62 and thinks no one will hire him if he looks for a new job. He is C-suite level and for that reason I disagree. You don't get to that level without experience. Who is wrong?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My DH is 62 and thinks no one will hire him if he looks for a new job. He is C-suite level and for that reason I disagree. You don't get to that level without experience. Who is wrong?

Depends. Does he still have gas in the tank for another role? Or is he tired? I have a very senior level role open right now our preference is to hire previous C suite. Obviously that means the candidates are over 50+. For every one that I move forward there have been 10 when I go, they just want to coast, or they have no fire left, or they are no longer hungry. It’s not what they SAY interview, they will always say the rights things, it’s what they SHOW in the interview. It’s really up to him.

[Anonymous]

OP, I was contacted by an external recruiter for a position that aligns well with my experience and interests. While I’m a good match for the position, the suggested pay range is the same as I’m getting now. I would need more to make a move.

Should I let the recruiter include my resume in her batch of resumes knowing that my salary requirements are out of alignment or should I let the company decide? In my limited experience, if a company tentatively allocates $175k for a role, they’re not going to go with someone looking for $200k.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A recruiter reached out to me about a very interesting position and I had a first conversation with her yesterday. At the end of the call, she told me she thought I would be a great candidate for this role and encouraged me to submit my resume. She warned me that the process had just kicked off, so might be slower than I would anticipate since it is an external search firm. She asked me to let her know if I was moving forward with any other conversations so she could try to accelerate.

Do external recruiters say these kind of things in all/most of their conversations? Or can I take at face value that she really sees me as a strong candidate?

I’m OP. The external recruiter’s job is to send as many resumes as possible to the hiring manager/company. Like a dozen is better than 6 resumes. That is ther motivation. Gauge from that what you will……

That's helpful, thank you. I'll temper my expectations

Thanks more generally for this thread, OP. It's been a great read and I have learned a lot (including updating my resume font!).

[Anonymous]

OP, if you’re in the middle stages with a candidate and they tell you they have another offer from another company but would prefer to continue your process if it could accelerate, will you accelerate the hiring process for them if you like them? Or is it not really possible?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, I was contacted by an external recruiter for a position that aligns well with my experience and interests. While I’m a good match for the position, the suggested pay range is the same as I’m getting now. I would need more to make a move.

Should I let the recruiter include my resume in her batch of resumes knowing that my salary requirements are out of alignment or should I let the company decide? In my limited experience, if a company tentatively allocates $175k for a role, they’re not going to go with someone looking for $200k.

There’s no harm in letting the recruiter submit. But yeah, if there are a handful of candidates are a handful of candidates in the 175 range though they may be prioritized by the company unless they see something unique in your background.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, if you’re in the middle stages with a candidate and they tell you they have another offer from another company but would prefer to continue your process if it could accelerate, will you accelerate the hiring process for them if you like them? Or is it not really possible?

If the candidate is really strong we will try to accelerate as much as possible. It comes down to timing. If the candidate has one or two more rounds to go, and we think we have a chance to get him or her, we will move meetings, free up time etc. If the candidate is early in the process with us though, and they already have the offer in hand or it is imminent, the internal conversation will be ‘well then s/he will have to make the best decision for themselves when they get the other offer.’

[Anonymous]

I have been applying to VP level roles and not getting to the interview. I heard from an hr influencer that VP level roles should not be applied to in job boards and that is a self selecting out process. Is this true? If so, should I make a new email address and so a new portal in the workday of the companies I am applying to before I ask for a referral? Thank you!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have been applying to VP level roles and not getting to the interview. I heard from an hr influencer that VP level roles should not be applied to in job boards and that is a self selecting out process. Is this true? If so, should I make a new email address and so a new portal in the workday of the companies I am applying to before I
ask for a referral? Thank you!

Got all 2 high level jobs via direct application, 1 via recruiter.

One trick I found some forms give a employee referral bonus and for those firms on LinkedIn reach out to your connections and see if they will submit your resume, really win win you have higher odds of being hired and person gets paid if you are hired

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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?

Likely that they had other candidates in the funnel that didn’t make the cut through the progressive interview rounds. So the recruiting team went back to the well. I have 5 candidates at the top of an IT funnel right now. I’ve vetted their resumes and they are a good match for the job. However I have one candidate in final round interviews this week. And two more behind him if he doesn’t pan out. IF for some reason any of the three aren’t selected for the role, I’ll go to that group of 5. If I do, it will be after Spring break and they applied late February. It’s just what happens in the recruitment process.

That’s interesting too - do you tend to run a few top candidates simultaneously, getting them all through the various stages and then comparing at the end, or do you only push the top candidate to the final round and then the others only if the top one doesn’t work out?

We move tranches of 4-5 candidates at a time. Invariably in late stages it narrows to the top 3. Someone goes to the final interview first. That’s where we are now with this role. This candidate is a total fit so if the exec likes him, we’re moving to an offer. I have another role where it’s neck and neck between two candidates. We’re pushing both through to the end because the role is a little more high profile and it is more critical that we get that capability and fit right.

Not the poster but if you are not getting to final three regularly you are bad interviewing or missing skills or poor resume. Or just lack EQ.

The final 3 to go to full board/CEO final interview it is usually a toss up on often person factors or CEO already had a favorite. But up to final 3 that is all you.

Hendricks and Struggles and Korn Ferry both had me interview roles I had no shot of being hired but they needed 3 to get to Board and knew I could get that far. Kinda wasted my time. Once they were honest.

I been to final three ten times. Won three times. To be honest two of the jobs way beyond my skill set and two they already picked person so final three was just the motions.

But you got to get to final 3

[Anonymous]

I am about to turn 45. Earlier in the thread you mentioned never date résumé back more than 15 years and don’t include date of college graduation, but a lot of the websites such as workday require the date for graduation and such. how do you avoid this?

[Anonymous]

Does your company use Workday? I have been applying to jobs with Workday, and I autofill my resume. Then, I have to list my experience, which is essentially the exact same thing. So I use the same verbiage. Is this incorrect? Why does Workday ask to provide this information two different time?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Does your company use Workday? I have been applying to jobs with Workday, and I autofill my resume. Then, I have to list my experience, which is essentially the exact same thing. So I use the same verbiage. Is this incorrect? Why does Workday ask to provide this information two different time?

OP. I’ve used Workday yes. It’s a solid HRIS(meaning employee records, employee Self Service, manager approval workflows, Performance Mgmt processes, etc.) But it’s a terrible ATS compared to others. Workday even said as much to our then executives who were dealing with aftermath of several dozens of recruiters who felt like they Lost capability when we switched to it. It’s a terrible candidate experience too which is the part you see and feel.