Be careful of recruiters who seem more than willing to fire your resume off to all sorts of companies without first meeting you or without your permission.
I recently heard from a friend who had just got a new job so I was interested to see how he’d found this job. He told me that he’d received a call from a recruiter out of the blue saying that he’d seen my friend’s resume online although my friend couldn’t recall posting his resume anywhere. The recruiter told my friend about a job they had available and asked if he’d be interested to apply and my friend said that he was in fact interested.
A few days later, he received a call from the recruiter saying the company wanted to interview him for the job. The first interview ended up going well because he was immediately invited back for a second interview at which time a job offer was made which was promptly accepted by my friend.
When I asked my friend for some details, here is what I found out:
1. He didn’t meet the recruiter until after he’d received and accepted the job offer despite the fact that he and the recruiter are located in the same city. Recruiters who don’t ask to meet with you before offering to help you with your job search tend to be the ones who are just looking for resumes to fire around which tends to be a low impact way for you to look for a new job. If the recruiter hasn’t met you and doesn’t even know what you look like, how can they properly market you to potential hiring managers or help you get ready for interviews? You learn so much – about each other – by meeting in person. That’s why job interviews are done in person!
2. My friend didn’t know the name of the company his resume was being sent to until after they had requested he come in for an interview. What if he didn’t want to work for this company upon hearing who they were? He didn’t even know what industry they were in until he was told that they wanted to interview him!
3. He still doesn’t know how the recruiter “found his resume online” as the recruiter had told him. My friend probably needs to do a better job remembering where they sent their resume and what job boards they posted their resume to. Maybe the recruiter got his resume from another recruiter and just didn’t tell him.
4. My friend suggested that the recruiter had also sent his resume to other companies as well even though he never expressly gave his permission to the recruiter to do so and to this day, he doesn’t know exactly who these other companies are. Again, why send a person’s resume to companies that the person may not even want to work for!? What if the job his resume was being sent in for didn’t interest him?
Now, this story ended happily and worked out for my friend since he got the job but I’d say this is the exception rather than the rule. I’ll bet you’ve probably dealt with recruiters who say they’ll help you with your job search, get a copy of your resume, and then you never hear from them again. And then you wonder how many companies they sent your resume to without asking you first!
I’ve found that as the job market tightens and becomes harder, people tend to take more shortcuts and recruiters aren’t necessarily any different. I can’t imagine some successful recruiters ever sending someone’s resume to their client without having first met them in person.
If the hiring manager asks you in the middle of an interview if you met the recruiter who sent your resume in and you haven’t met them, it certainly doesn’t look good on the recruiter, does it? It could make your chances at getting the job suddenly more difficult if the hiring manager starts wondering what other shortcuts your recruiter took…
Bottom line, I’d be careful with recruiters who are in the same city as you but who never suggest or request that you meet in person to discuss your job search.
Look at it this way. If you were hiring someone and a recruiter called you to tell you about a job candidate for your job, what would you prefer to hear the recruiter say:
“I just found a resume online and wanted to send it to you for consideration for the job.”
or
“I just met Joan Smith and found her to be a really well-presented professional who makes a great first impression. In particular, she comes across as someone with a great deal of presence. I really think you need to interview her.”
A recruiter who has met you should be able to do a much better job helping you.
