A Day in the Life of a Recruiter

This blog is about a Day in the Life of Recruiter. I was inspired to write about it due to the number of gripes I read about Recruiters on various blogs and Social Media as well as, the number of complaints my own candidates tell me about the experiences they have with other recruiters.

Recruitment is a hard job! There is no denying it’s a tough industry. It is also a rewarding career. The favourite part of my job is congratulating a candidate on being offered a position then going back to the client and informing them the candidate has accepted the offer.

There are days when I am totally frustrated and I have days when I can’t stop laughing at some of the antics that happen. Sometimes being a consultant can be a little intimidating, especially when you get a candidate who is, shall we say, a little abnormal.

For example, I had an interview with a candidate who was completely unstable. Not long after we started the interview he told me that he was instructed by aliens to help save the world and that they were walking all around us disguised as human beings. I am a person who finds humour in a lot of things, and I don't rule out for a minute that the Universe may contain other lifeforms, but let me tell you keeping a serious face was torturing me in this interview.

I stayed composed and professional whilst deciding on my exit strategy. My candidate proceeded to inform me that some of the messages he received were on how the world was going to end. He told me that he often talked to an Indian God, Sai Baba and that his young child was sick and Sai Baba was healing her. Apparently by transporting a substance that manifested into ash that he rubbed on his daughter’s forehead. OK interview ends here!

As I thanked my candidate for attending he gave me two books he had authored for me to read. These books were self published and printed – like the cookbook you might get as a school fundraiser. I put the books in my drawer and forgot about them for the rest of the day.

The following day I decided to take a look at them and what I was confronted with was unbelievable. The books were a combination of words and rants on hatred of women. They both had fantasies of sexual violence and murder against women. Both books contained extremely violent and foul language. Needless to say I was gobsmacked and handed the offensive material over to the proper channels. I became terrified that this lunatic would start stalking me. Thank Goodness I never heard from him again.

Here is a typical day in my recruiting life. Up at 5.30 a.m. to get ready and commute to work. My business partner picks me up and we start discussing the business strategy whilst zooming along in the transit lane.

Like most people in any office job, first thing I do is get myself online and download my email. Of course I have already done this on my mobile phone as soon as the alarm has gone off! If I have advertised jobs on the internet I download the CV’s. One position I recently advertised resulted in over 160 CV’s. The role was for an Accounts Assistant. I have to read every single CV. It’s daunting, tedious and time consuming. I have developed a quick way to scan through them all, however it does take a lot of concentration. Sometimes I worry I am going to be found asleep with my head resting on my laptop.

OK, so I have sifted through all the CV’s. Imagine having to reply to each person. My way around this is I mention on the advert that “only shortlisted candidates will be contacted”. Some of the CV’s may not be suitable for the position advertised but I want to keep them for future jobs, so I need to electronically file them in our database. The database scans the CV and uploads all the information into a form and attaches the CV, it can be a bit of a slow process.

I always read cover letters! They tell me so much. Here is a real example of a letter a received and the layout is exactly as I received it…. I have taken out any information to protect privacy so 'Candidate' means I have replaced the name, phone number et . The merge fields i.e. [words in these brackets] I have left as was in the letter. In other words they were not properly merged:

Candidate Name
Candidate's Address
Candidate's Address
Candidate's Address
Candidate’s Phone
Candidate’s Email

15^th /11/2009

Mr. / Mrs. [Recipient name]
Company name
Street address
Suburb
City, code

Dear [Recipient name]

I am writing in response to your advertisement seeking a [job title] with:

• I have worked as a bar attendant at XXXXXX comedy restaurant for one year, my duties were ,function center set up, food service, waiting, customer service as well as kitchen hand.

• Excellent written and oral communication skills.

• A passion to learn and to increase his skills

If so, then you need look no further. You will see from my enclosed resume that I meet all of these qualifications and more.

I would very much like to discuss opportunities with [company name]. To schedule an interview, please call me at [Candidate supplied phone].I’m available at any time during working days, if you call me on the weekends, I wont be able to answer your call, therefore you can leave a message at any time on my email address, and I will return your message.

Thank you for taking the time to review my resume. I look forward to talking with you.

Sincerely,

[Candidate’s Name]

I can only assume (hope) it was a hoax however, the above cover letter was for a reception role which I specifically requested excellent written communication.

I often hear complaints from candidates that they only get a generic email returned to them when they apply for a job (which they hate) or they don’t hear back at all. The truth is we don’t have time to personally reply to everyone. I often make the effort to reply to some candidates and offer some encouraging words and advice, especially the young school leavers who try so hard in their cover letter.

Once I have shortlisted my candidates I call them all to do a phone screen. Often they are employed so when I call and I have established that they can’t talk, we arrange for them to call me back. For the people I do qualify, I book a time for them to come and see me and send out our privacy policy and our online profile tool.

Most days I will be interviewing candidates. I prepare my interview questions to relate both to the job criteria and the candidate's CV. This is time consuming and I do not go into an interview without being prepared, otherwise I will look very unprofessional. My interviews last up to an hour. If I think the candidate is suitable I write up a synopsis of why I think they are suitable, format the CV into a True Colours Recruitment template and send to the client. e candidate's try and be very artistic and creative with their CV's e.g. page borders,tables, Wordart, however this just slows me down as I have to strip all formatting and put it into our template...another time consuming task. I love receiving CV's that are set out plainly with an example of their responsibilities and their achievements. Oh that is a CV made in heaven!

Eventually the client gets back to me, and I have most probably had to keep chasing them for days to decide on the interview times.

After the candidate's are interviewed by the client I inform all the shortlisted candidates if they were successful or not. I offer the successful candidate the position subject to reference checking. Conducting a reference check takes me about 15-20 minutes and usually involves many phone calls before actually getting the referee on the phone.

When candidates are placed we need to keep in touch with them. In our company, we offer a coaching service and/or team building workshop as part of our recruitment fee and follow up service. This is organised by a True Colours Trainer and takes some of the pressure off me as the Trainer takes over the after placement care.

Whilst all this is going on, I may have some exceptional candidates that I am working with on a ‘reverse market’. This means I am approaching potential employers to bring an exceptional candidate to their attention. I am also prospecting for new jobs to keep up my pipeline. As well I am often out on client visits. For my more senior candidates, it might mean a coffee meeting or an out of hours meeting. Sometimes it means I have to interview on the week-end, however in that case I ask the candidate to come to meet me in my home territory.

If I have over 5 jobs on at a time you can imagine how time consuming this is. I hope this explains a part of the reason Recruitment Consultants may not always return calls. I always make the effort to return my candidate’s calls. I believe if they have taken time out to ring me then I owe them the respect of taking time out to talk to them if I am at my desk, or return the phone call as soon as I can.

My advice to you as a candidate, keep in touch with your consultant either by phone or email. If you feel the consultant isn’t working with you – go find another one. You, as a candidate are our bread and butter and deserve respect.

Another word of advice to candidates, please do not apply for a position unless you meet the criteria. Consultant’s will not consider someone who does not meet, the client’s instructions. I encourage candidates to build a Linkedinwebpage – we consultant’s are always snooping around Linkedin and who knows, one day you might be the person I make that ‘headhunting’ call to.

Debbie Carr is Director of Recruitment of True Colours Recruitment, a blended recruitment and training company with a focus on employee engagement and retention.