Help Your Recruiter Help You!

So, you’ve recently become unemployed. Whether it’s by choice or by fate, you are extremely motivated to secure another job — and fast! You’ve been in touch with a recruiter, and they have set up a few interviews for you so far, but nothing has panned out yet. Suddenly, you go into extreme panic mode and start applying anywhere and with anyone, making sure you’ve covered every base you can think of! Since most of the readers of this blog are in the affiliate marketing space, I’ll compare it to a similar situation that will make sense.  The aforementioned situation is equivalent to an  online advertiser going to everyone and anyone who agrees to test their offer versus allowing an affiliate network to do its job and sell the campaign for the advertiser. Not a good strategy, right?

As a recruiter in the online marketing space, I run into this issue ALL THE TIME, and I don’t think it is intentional at all. A recruiting agency is pretty new to affiliate marketing, so I interpret it as a lack of understanding of how my company works and how I make money. This scenario happens with the Employers as well; Companies post on my online job board after contracting with me when that is a free service I provide compliments of my staffing agency.

What’s the right way to approach the situation then? The answer is easy; Help me help you! If you are an Employer looking for talent, push me for updates and new prospects just as an advertiser pushes an affiliate network for traffic. Incentivize me, as your recruiter, to find you that rock star employee by allowing me to do my job and not doing it for me (essentially undercutting my efforts, albeit unintentional). Let me know who you’re talking to so that I’m not going on a wild goose chase.  Job Seekers,  use me as your agent! If there’s a company you are interested in working for, tell me and allow me to sell your skills and qualifications! Even if you are a hot commodity and have a contacts with many companies, sometimes it’s better if an agency approaches a company on your behalf.  Without realizing it, you could be hurting your overall job search when you cut out your recruiter. They become less motivated to help you when you are acting as your own agency, making it far less likely for them to place you (and in turn make a commission).

I fully expect a ton of emails after this post and it makes me excited! I am recruiter, hear me roar! Please heed these simple rules, and you will give yourself the best chance at a hiring success!

Thanks for reading,

Arikka