Are recruiters that bad?

If you type into Google “recruiters are…..” you will find several harsh words associated with them. People are more likely to talk about a negative experience than a good experience. This is not new or fake news, but the simple reality.

When scrolling through LinkedIn, it is easy to notice how some industries are more hated than others. It’s always easy to spot the rants about a bad boss/manager and recruiters (internal or external, but more about that latter).

Here, you can watch a video of how the staff at Westray Recruitment, view the industry. Take a quick look before reading this article and it will help you understand what our values are.

Moving on to some of the most common complaints about recruiters, here are a few:

• Recruiters will ghost you after an interview

We understand that you may have had a bad experience with recruiters in the past, but in every business there are good and bad people.

You never received feedback after your interview? Notifying candidates of their rejection is not the best part of our jobs. Recruiters have their heart in every interview and they love meeting new people, so it’s hard to deliver a ‘no’ after we have invested our time in meeting with you, and getting to know you.

However, we know that you need closure, so our consultants will always try their hardest to get constructive feedback for you, even if you have unfortunately been unsuccessful.

• Recruiters will take part of my salary

Actually, not many people have said this, but it’s a worrying trend. Recruiters are paid by your future employer, therefore, they will not take a cut from your salary.

• I go directly to companies who hire right now

That’s a great idea and a great waste of time.

You would have seen multiple posts on social media from people who are frustrated at the amount of time and energy they’ve devoted to searching for a job. Searching on job boards, tailoring each CV and each cover letter to each specific job (and still wondering if anyone has even read your cover letter after you put so much effort into writing it), is draining your soul and brain.

It doesn’t need to be this hard!

Hiring managers from each company are usually flooded with CVs and yours will most likely be overlooked as well. At this point, you have no chance. An internal recruiter cannot help you after your CV ends up in the trash.

This is the difference between them and external recruiters. Recruiters are paid by clients when they place candidates, so we want to see your CV and hear about your skills and experience!

And the best part? Maybe this job is not ideal for you, but the same recruiter can help you secure another job which is more suitable for you. Recruitment consultants have an extensive network and interact with a lot of business owners daily. When another role comes up, you’ll be the first in line for it!

Most recruiters are compassionate, genuine and truly want to look after your best interests, that’s why they choose to work in the field. We also choose our clients and don’t partner with everyone, as we want to believe in the companies we work with. It makes our job easier!

• Companies should use their own internal recruiters

I hear you, but HR employees usually have other tasks as well, and for a mid-size business which is in continuous need of expertise, it can be overwhelming for few people to manage the whole recruiting process.

Just like you would go to a dentist to fix your bright smile, companies go to recruitment agencies who have a larger network of people and can place the right person faster.

The average recruiting process can take a long time. Lets review it:

1. To begin with, a company should block a 2 week slot for finding candidates and booking interviews.
2. In the third week, the suitable candidates will be called in for an interview by the HR department; taking up at least 2 days from their week.
3. The fourth week is for selecting the candidates who passed the first interview and arranging second interviews in the fifth week, with the hiring manager. During this week also, feedback has to be provided to each rejected candidate. Quite often, it’s an impersonal email template, because there is just not enough time in the day to speak to everyone individually.
4. We have now reached the fifth week, when the second round of interviews will start taking place and (hopefully) a suitable person has been found.

So, in average it would take 5 weeks (sometimes longer!) for a company to directly find the right person.No wonder a lot of companies choose to work with recruitment agencies. We already know our candidates and we can easily arrange interviews, cutting the recruitment time to two weeks or less. Doesn’t this sound great?

We have debated a few of the most common reasons why people don’t like recruiters, but we at Westray are professional Recruitment Consultants, so why don’t you give us a call to see if we have the ideal role for you? Our number is 0191 492 6622 and we are looking forward to taking your call!

Along the same lines, you can also read 5 Things Your Recruiter Wished You Knew, to understand the recruitment world a bit better. Don’t be shy to chat with us on Facebook or Twitter – we post news daily and want to talk with you!

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