A letter I wrote to the New Zealand Herald's Weekend edition was published in the Career Section this past Saturday (but not on their website). The letter was in response to two previous letters they published from job hunters who were struggling to get work despite their considerable experience and seemed to think the blame lay with recruiting firms.
A few interested people have asked me to post the whole letter on my blog. I had two reasons for sending this letter. First, I love working in recruiting and believe that honest and hardworking recruiters provide benefits for both candidates and clients. But I think not enough people in the industry answer these accusations which are constantly published in newspapers like the NZ Herald. Secondly, because of the nature of my business I do meet people who are looking for work on a daily basis. I really feel for those people when they struggle as I totally understand how hard it is when you don't have work. After all I run my own business and my ability to support my family is totally reliant on my ability to find work for our business. I especially feel for these people when they seem to think that recruiters have some sort of control over them getting work. This is just not true and furthermore is extremely debilitating for those who believe it. It makes you a passive player in a game where you must be active.
LETTER TO NZ HERALD
Dear Editor,
I have read both Aristos and Rod's letters with quite a bit of interest. I own a Recruitment firm and actively work as a Recruitment Consultant and have been so for nearly eight years. I have worked in a combination of Executive Search, Sales and IT recruitment in Silicon Valley, Asia and here in Auckland. I really feel for both Rod and Aristos because I know how frustrating it is when you can't find work. But I disagree very strongly with their feeling that Recruitment Consultants somehow have any effect on their individual chances of getting a job and would like to explain why.
Firstly, anecdotal evidence points to only about 15% of companies using Recruiters to fill positions, in my experience it is even less than that because even companies who use recruiters will not use them to fill all their positions. They have no qualms about filling a position with someone they find themselves - this is true at both lower and Executive levels in NZ ,the US and Asia.
Both Rod and Aristo's letters show a false understanding of what a Recruiter does. Recruiters find PEOPLE FOR JOBS, not JOBS FOR PEOPLE. While the term Agent is used to describe Recruiters, unless you are a Professional Sportsperson who earns millions a year - you won't meet one when looking for a job. The Recruiter works for the people who pay them, just as you expect to when you get a job. That is why candidates pay nothing. Job hunters need to focus on their own search - not on Recruitment Consultants who just can't help them because that is not what they do.
Recruiters don't choose who gets the job. While they may decide who gets put forward it is the employer who decides who to hire. If the Recruiter won't send you through, you can approach companies directly and save the company a fee. Even though nine out of ten recruiters won't tell you who their client is, if you can't work out what kinds of companies will hire you and approach them yourself then I doubt a company would pay a fee to hire you.
Certainly that takes work and isn't as easy as paying nothing and being introduced to position. But the reality is that it is how most people find jobs, only a very few actually get positions through recruiters. When you return from overseas or emigrate you have to be realistic that your market experience may be different and that some companies will not be interested. It is your responsibility to find someone who is interested. I point to the example of a friend of mine who moved here from Japan. Speaking almost no English but being an excellent software developer, he delivered his CV by hand to 150 companies in a month around Auckland. Note that he did this by hand. The company who eventually hired him received his CV FIVE different times before hiring him. Relentless is the only word to use to describe what he did. But he had a job within six weeks of arriving. Someone needed his skills and he made sure he got in front of them, even if he had to take 149 No's before that and despite the language barrier.
I do not doubt there are people who discriminate in this marketplace whether it be by race, gender or age. While their actions are indefensible rather than focusing on that - focus on what you can do for yourself. As a job hunter you have to be exactly that - a hunter, not someone waiting for someone else to act for you. If you can't get the "glorified salesperson" to work for free for you, then you will have to do it yourself.
Steven
Steven Kempton
Recruitment Consultant
Search Niche Ltd
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