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HBCU Careers Magazine
79
Many people have his/her own opinions on how Recruiting
is or how Recruiting should be done. In preparing for this
article, I spent considerable time trying to find one of the
best articles I’ve read on this subject. I read this article
5+ years ago and thought it provided accurate insight into
defining the “Recruiter Ways”. Unfortunately, I could not
find it (I wish I had known that on this particular social
media platform that one cannot easily retrieve all past
articles). This piece is an attempt to pay homage to that
recruiting article that I have been mentally chasing forever
AND MOST IMPORTANTLY to help provide insight to you on
some of the ways in which Recruiters work. If you understand this, then it may help you communicate
more effectively when speaking with a Recruiter and get you closer to the job you are seeking.
What does a Recruiter do?
A Recruiter’s main goal is to contribute to the bottom line for a company
through filling that company’s open positions. If I am recruiting for a Senior Java Developer and someone
applies because he/she really wants the position but has mainly an intelligence analyst background then
I am probably not going to select this person to further go through the process.
Isn’t that Recruiter supposed to find jobs for me?
A Recruiter is not an individual’s “Personal Recruiter”.
As much as everyone would love to have one, it is not a Recruiter’s responsibility to find the candidate
a job. A Recruiter is responsible for finding candidates for the jobs. The Recruiter works on providing
the best candidates within a given period to the Hiring Authority (usually some level of Management…
maybe some type of Program Manager or Departmental Manager or possibly Executive Management).
Furthermore, a Recruiter does not typically generate the jobs. Jobs are created through some form of
immediate need OR forecasted need. An example of an immediate position need is backfilling someone
who recently left a company. Forecasted needs may be developed by a Program Manager or someone
with corporate workforce planning responsibilities. For instance, a company anticipates that they are
going to be selling twice as many products 2 years from now then they might forecast that they need
to increase a certain number of positions within their customer service department or within another
department by next year to help meet their overall goals.
Can a Recruiter write my resume?
Along with the last point, a Recruiter is not an expert or professional
resume writer. I can’t tell you how many people have asked me to write or revise their resume. Usually,
I never have enough time to do this. Recruiting takes up so much time and I don’t even like working on
my own resume. Recruiters are not responsible for writing good resumes. Recruiters are responsible
for identifying good resumes. Writing/preparing/developing a resume is not easy and therefore, it is not
quick. I recommend leaving this to your friends, colleagues, possibly your Career Counseling Center OR
Recruiter Ways
By: Kathryn Runion
Principal Technical Recruiter
ManTech International