2016-2017 HBCU Careers Magazine

HBCU Careers Magazine

Recruiter Ways

By: Kathryn Runion Principal Technical Recruiter ManTech International

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

79