The Empowered Job Seeker Series v.10 - Helping Mike to Navigate the World of Recruiters

The outplacement programs implemented at CMS include a series of comprehensive steps.   Once we’ve completed the all-important step of writing an effective résumé and ensuring a professional LinkedIn profile is established with our job seekers, the real work begins.  The résumé marketing efforts as part of our outplacement program include the use of a variety of key avenues to develop the largest pool of potential job opportunities possible.   One of those avenues concerns the use of employment agencies and recruiters.

Mike was the Director of Marketing for a small environmental engineering company based just outside of Vancouver.  He was offered our outplacement program when his firm merged with another larger organization and roles were amalgamated.  Mike was a smart, savvy, worldly type who was always enthusiastic about and grateful for our collaboration on his search.  Of course, Mike was well aware of the function of a recruiter and in fact, had been contacted by head-hunters looking to recruit him in the past. However, now that he was on the other side of the table, he needed some guidance as to how to proactively connect with the recruiters who may be looking to place someone with his set of marketing skills and leadership experience.

For many CMS candidates, the first thing we need to do is explain what recruiters and employment agencies actually do, how they work and what the differences are between them.  We must explain how one group will be a better resource than the other depending on the type and level of job they are looking for. 

Because Mike was looking for a permanent, full-time salaried position, recruiters over employment agencies were his target.  Mike’s program coach at CMS advised him to first review the list of Canadian recruiters posted within our program materials and then worked with him to develop a list of the best firms to connect with according to the industries, occupations and geographic areas they work within.  His program coach also encouraged him to search through posted vacancies at recruiter’s websites and offered, if needed, to help him with the process of uploading his résumé to those sites with the idea that he could be the perfect match for a future opportunity.

As Mike experienced along the way, it is also important for us to help protect the interests of our candidates by making them aware of potential, ill-intentioned imposters posing as recruiters.  Mike subsequently was contacted by a suspect individual who was interested in acquiring some detailed personal information from him, but lacked details about the job opportunity he was allegedly contacting her about.  Because of our advice, Mike saw a red flag with this contact and asked him some pointed questions, questions he ultimately could not answer. Needless to say, Mike didn’t hear from him again.  Those who present themselves as recruiters in order to make money through identity theft, data mining and phishing schemes is an unfortunate reality, and ensuring our candidates have that awareness is highly important.

Addressing and contacting recruiters and employment agencies is just one of the ways our outplacement program and personal program coaches help candidates like Mike to develop the largest pool of potential job opportunities in their market and take the next step in their career journey.