Jason writes and interesting post over at JibberJobber titled “What I Wish Recruiters Knew” that brings up several great points, and stings of my Why Geeks Hate Recruiters post. I want to share a few things that all recruiters I’ve met–at least contingency recruiters–have to live with–and the ones that want to be “good” have to try and overcome. None of these are meant to be “answers” or even “excuses”. More than anything, I am trying to provide a little texture to the Recruiter’s side of the equation here.
This one is called The Deck of Cards Problem:
Two nights ago, two of my young daughters and I spread out on the carpet in the living room for a mean game of cards. The selected challenge? “Go Fish”.
As I sized up my formidable opponents, I thought the game would likely to be a cinch. After all, I am bigger than the two of them combined.
About midway through the game, I noticed that my preschooler was having a hard time keeping all of the cards in her hand. She was dropping cards and trying to stay in the game, and getting a little flustered by it all.
I asked if I could help.
After agreeing that I wouldn’t actually “look at” any of her cards, she handed them over to me. I motioned for her to scoot over next to me and I could help her play.
Seconds after scanning her hand, I realized that she had almost all matches which, for those who may not be familiar with the death-defying rules of “Go Fish”, you’re supposed to discard into a pile of your own matches, as those cards are now out of play.
“Why do you have all these matches in your hand?” I asked, while scooping them up and placing them on the carpet to thin out the collection of cards she had left. Watching me put the cards on the ground caused a grimace of pain on her face as she simply answered my question in her particularly five-year-old-ish way:
“I didn’t know which one I would need again, so I kept them all.”
There, in a nutshell, is what many (especially contingency) recruiters are dealing with day-after-day. In my business, I am incented to “fill orders” and provide top candidates for open positions. In some firms, you don’t get paid at all unless you fill the orders.
If you feel like your recruiter is “leading you on” or teasing you, or that they’re dropping the ball or seemingly confused, it may be that they’re feeling a little like my preschooler, matching wits against older & wiser (7 yrs old and 31) opponents.
Here are some things they might be juggling when thinking about you:
- They can tell that you’re GOOD.
- They don’t know exactly where you’ll fit.
- In the back of their mind, they’re thinking that if they don’t place you, their competition will. So, they may subconsciously want to distract you hoping to get a chance to go sell your skills to their clients, or a new client.
- They may be intimidated by you and they don’t know how to be truthful with you.
- Many recruiters are “amiable” by nature (a people-person) and they over-worry about hurting your feelings.
- Their clients (the companies you would interview with) may be taking as long to give feedback as your recruiter says they are.
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