Searching for a new job is a major head game. If you are the person searching, regardless of your motivation, there are many factors you’re considering: Is the work something you will enjoy? Does the work have meaning? Will the job and employer stimulate you – intellectually and professionally? Does the employer offer stability? Is there room for growth – personal and/or professional? And so on.
What a job seeker often encounters, however, are: poorly written job descriptions, a general lack of disclosure about the company and the responsibilities of the position and a definite lack of transparency about the interview and selection process. This makes it difficult to gather the information necessary to answer your questions.
The process of searching for employment is so painful that many people stay in positions longer than they should or want to, in order to avoid the pain of a job search. A tipping point is reached when the pain of either staying in the job or being unemployed becomes too great. Then the job search seriously begins. To get the pain over as quickly as possible, a common strategy is to leave no stone unturned.
If you use a resume board such as Monster, CareerBuilder or Dice – to list a few, are you aware that there are companies and recruiters using web crawlers to harvest resumes for their databases? This isn’t terrible, but it isn’t great either.
In the past week I have talked with multiple candidates who were submitted to jobs by third party recruiters, and they didn’t even know which employers were receiving their resume. The candidate is partly at fault in this situation.
Candidates have the right to know which jobs they are being submitted for. It is amazing how many candidates tell me that recruiters routinely won’t disclose the hiring company. There is no legitimate business reason why any recruiter should withhold the client company’s name, if they are engaged by the company. An exception might be an extremely confidential search, in which case the company name should be disclosed once the company has confirmed interest in knowing more about the candidate. Recruiters have a fiduciary duty to all candidates they represent. Anyone asking to represent you to a potential employer has an obligation to act in good faith and honesty. All candidates should insist on this minimum level of service from a recruiter. Candidates should ask such simple questions as: Who are you representing? What is your relationship with the hiring company? Have you made any placements with this company? What type of positions and when? What is the anticipated timeline for a hiring decision? What is the interviewing process? If candidates aren’t asking these questions of recruiters then they are abdicating control of their resume, and subsequently the positions and companies they are applying to.
Recruiters that refuse to disclose their clients or to act with transparency are not providing service to the candidate or client, but that is another article…
For more than 17 years Largent & Associates has made it our practice to not disclose any candidate’s information without the candidate’s prior permission.
Whether you’re looking to hire or be hired, our recruiting agency offers service-oriented recruiting that is a cut above the rest. We understand our job is about people. Professional courtesy and communication are the keys to our success.
Leave A Comment