What do I look for in a Recruiter?

Yesterday I received an email that opened with "I recently came across your resume on the internet and believe the job opportunity below would be of interest to you." I get an email like this every couple of weeks. I find this interesting for two reasons. One, my resume has not been active on any sites (Dice/Monster) for over 4 years, and two, you think I am interested because of a single keyword in your search.

This brings up a good question. What do I look for in a Recruiter? Over the past several years I've worked with many different recruiters in the Twin Cities, either when I've been looking for a new contract/position, or been in roles where I needed to hire contract resources. Like any profession, there have been some really good ones, where I keep them in my network and continue to reach out to them when I have a need, and there are others, that, well, let's just say I no longer have their business card on file.

Here are four keys that I view as to what makes a good recruiter:

1. Have a relationship with the hiring manager and/or client company. It's easy to just glean open reqs off of vendor management systems, and throw a bunch of resumes at them, hoping that one of your candidates will get selected. Having a relationship is going to give you a true understanding of what the client is looking for and what you should be looking for in a candidate, which should give you an edge over other recruiters.

2. Know what the position is that you are recruiting to fill. When you get a req, don't just read the description. I can do that. Too many position descriptions are boilerplate, and may not always reflect the client's true need. Work with the client to find out what is behind the req. (Relationship) What is the real scope of the work? Are they posting for a Technical Program Manager when what they really need is a Business Analyst or Developer? Knowing what the client is looking for is only going to enable you to find the right candidate and sell that candidate on the position.

3. Get to know me. My best experience came from a former recruiter who has become a good friend - Robert Stanke. (Ok, it's Bob to most of you, but I met him when he was still Robert!) When Bob first recruited me, he was working on a couple of open reqs that my experience matched up with pretty well. Before Bob would submit me as a candidate he had one requirement - we had to meet for a 1:1. He wanted to get to know me so that he knew what I was looking for in my next position, what I liked, didn't like, what made me tick, the things that don't come through on the resume. He wanted to get to know me so that he knew how to present me, and could sell me to the client.

4. Communicate. Keep me in the loop. Once I’ve been submitted, a periodic update would be nice to let me know the status of the req. Has the req been filled or closed? Delayed? Am I still in play? I’m working with a recruiter now who provides me a weekly status update on an open req she’s working. I know things come up in a business and positions are delayed and canceled. With a good client relationship you should be aware of what is going on with the req and be able to communicate the status to the candidate.

These are the four keys that keep a recruiter in my network and their business card in my file.