How to find a recruiter to help you with your job search
Every week, job seekers ask me how to find a recruiter to help them with their job searches. It sounds like a simple request, but it is actually a complicated one because of how recruiting works, at least in the United States.
To find out how recruiters help job seekers in 2024, I interviewed recruiters and promised them anonymity so that they would be comfortable being 100% candid. These suggestions are based on their responses.
How recruiters help organizations.
Recruiters help organizations find talent by identifying candidates whose background and skills are a match to what the employer needs. A recruiter’s dream candidate would be someone who is already working for a competitor of the organization for which the recruiter is sourcing, and preferably performing the identical job function.
How to increase your visibility so recruiters can find you.
Recruiters use tools such as LinkedIn to find candidates. You can maximize your odds of being found by a recruiter by optimizing your LinkedIn profile for the skills associated with the job you want.
Other ways to increase your chances of being found by a recruiter include taking a leadership role in a professional association, speaking at an industry conference, blogging, hosting a podcast, or being active on social media.
Follow on social media any companies that interest you because recruiters notice when you do this and are likely to check out your profile. Also ask colleagues in your career field if they can recommend a recruiter with whom they have worked, and if they will introduce you.
You can use directories or online search to find recruiters in your career field.
If a recruiter hasn’t yet found you, and you can’t find someone to introduce you, then you can also contact recruiters directly. There are directories of where you can look up recruiters by area of specialization. Some examples are:
Hunt Scanlon Top 50 Recruiters
Be very careful about paying anyone for recruiting services.
Traditionally, employers pay recruiters, and job seekers pay nothing. Reverse recruiting flips the business model so that instead of the employer paying the fee, the job seeker pays the recruiter to help with their job searches. They may identify roles and apply for you or contact hiring managers or recruiters on your behalf. They may help with career decision-making, resume writing, interview preparation, and salary negotiation. Fees for these services range from $2,000 to $12,000 or more.
Traditional recruiters are very skeptical about this type of business service. One experienced executive recruiter described this business model as “dodgy” and said they have never seen a successful example of this. Recruiters told me that many of the positive online reviews for reverse recruiting services are fake or incentivized by offering money to customers if they provide a review.
If you decide to take a chance on a reverse recruiting firm or a career coach who offers this service, recruiter Kristen Fife wrote a guide about questions to ask before deciding about hiring a reverse recruiter.
These are additional recommended ways to find support for your job search.
Join a professional association for your chosen field, and look for their mentoring, career development, and job search services. Here are two places to search for the associations relevant to your career:
Directory of Associations
O*NET OnLineFind a career coach willing to work by the hour to provide personalized service. A great way to find a career coach is to ask colleagues and friends for recommendations of coaches they have hired with good results. Career coaches won’t connect you with employers like recruiters do, but they can teach you how to manage your career so that recruiters become interested in working with you.
Has a recruiter ever helped you land a new job? I am always looking for success stories to feature on this blog, so if you’d like to share yours (with your name or anonymously), please contact me.
