Job hunting can be extremely painful. If you’re not agonizing over writing yet another cover letter, you’re refreshing your email to see if a company has responded. And if it does respond, half the time the job description doesn’t reflect what the phone screener says. Then if you land the interview, it can seem like an entirely different job when you talk to the hiring manager.
Why is it so difficult?
Recruiting software maker iCIMS surveyed hiring managers and recruiters to figure out what in the heck was going wrong in the recruiting process. What it found might shock you, but only if you haven’t looked for a job lately.
To learn more, click here: When hiring managers clash with HR
In my recent experience, recruiters seem to be getting more and more competitive when it comes to filling jobs for corporate clients, even to the point of trying to “steal” clients away from another recruiting agency. I was contacted by three different agencies trying to fill the same position, and one of the recruiters stated, “If anyone else contacts you about this job, tell them you’re working only with ME!” Frankly, the only loyalty I have is to the recruiter or agency who can get me hired, not the one who’s most persistent or aggressive, or the one who makes the job sound most attractive. One recruiter lured me into a lengthy interview process with a promise of a high salary, then when it came time to accept, the offer was significantly less. I wouldn’t have even considered working for their client if the salary wasn’t good, and suddenly the recruiter seemed to have amnesia concerning the original high offer. So the hiring process broke down at that point. I was disappointed, the client wanted to know why I was suddenly backing out, and the recruiter was desperately trying to keep both of us happy and save face. These experiences have made me very suspicious of some recruiting firms. Why can’t companies hire through their own HR departments, using people who know what the company needs?
Trudy, I read this article as issues with in-house recruiters and hiring managers. You do bring up a good point that outside recruiters come with their own issues as well.
Honestly, I’ve tried outsiders as both a recruiter and hiring manager and am rarely satisfied with the results for many the issues you shared.