Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Never, ever give a headhunter your resume unless you can confirm they are on retained search and even then, I'd have them sign a document that limits them to sending your resume to just that one company. With the advent of the internet, it's become super easy for headhunters to blast your resume out to hundreds of employers and then if you happen to interview with one of them, you might miss out on the job because now there is a huge fee associated with hiring you.
Also, for the same reason, do not make your resume public on Monster or any job board. Companies aren't going to come looking for you anyway. The only people looking are headhunters who flag your resume, copy it on their own letterhead and mass-mail it.
They're going to have a hell of a time claiming that huge fee if they don't have a contract with the company that hires you. Headhunters can't just decide they're working for companies. They get nothing from forwarding your resume to companies that haven't hired them.
DEFINITELY put your resume on monster.com. Companies do come looking for you. That's how I've found all three of my post-college gigs. You have no idea how hard it is to find qualified people. My company has HR downloading resumes from monster.com all the time, so sometimes we have a pile of resumes before the job has even been posted. And still, we've been trying to fill one of our positions for almost a year.
I personally never give my resume to recruiters unless we've talked about the job, they've told me what company the position is with, and I'm interested. That has happened all of once (and he found my resume on monster.com -- I didn't end up taking the job). No point in becoming part of their marketing package.
What a shame that you all have such bad experiences with recruiters! I am a recruiter, working at home, and work exclusively with several clients that we have had for the last 9-10 years. Everyone we place is EXTREMELY happy that we "found" them. We aren't your typical recruiting firm...we only look for and work for the best, we don't just hire someone to fill a position, and sometimes it takes us months, and I mean MONTHS, of interviewing people to find the right person. We stay in constant contact with our candidates, well after they are hired, and I don't mean a 90 day period...I mean years. We get referrals from other candidates. So.........not all recruiters are bad. There are exceptions to the rule. You should never shut a door, as you never know what it could lead to....ever! I do understand that there are some bad recruiters out there just looking for a placement and to get paid, but maybe one day....just one day....you could receive my call and it could lead to something great!! Just my thoughts.......
What a shame that you all have such bad experiences with recruiters! I am a recruiter, working at home, and work exclusively with several clients that we have had for the last 9-10 years. Everyone we place is EXTREMELY happy that we "found" them. We aren't your typical recruiting firm...we only look for and work for the best, we don't just hire someone to fill a position, and sometimes it takes us months, and I mean MONTHS, of interviewing people to find the right person. We stay in constant contact with our candidates, well after they are hired, and I don't mean a 90 day period...I mean years. We get referrals from other candidates. So.........not all recruiters are bad. There are exceptions to the rule. You should never shut a door, as you never know what it could lead to....ever! I do understand that there are some bad recruiters out there just looking for a placement and to get paid, but maybe one day....just one day....you could receive my call and it could lead to something great!! Just my thoughts.......
I'm glad to see your post. I have never used a headhunter but I was reading what others had posted and my thought was "there has to be a HELPFUL headhunter out there somewhere"!
Realtors get the same type of responses sometimes. It is interesting to me because in my office of about 90 Agents, I find 85 of them to be helpful and genuinely interested in helping sellers get their homes sold and buyers find their new home. It does seem that it takes a few to taint the views of many.
Thanks VickiR......I know that Realtors get the same response...one of my dear friends is a broker and she works her tail off to make sure her clients and Realtors are happy. I guess people get burned and then assume all are bad. Please let's not be so judgemental about everyone and their profession...
It is unfortunate that many people feel they have had negative experiences, but for every negative one, there are many more who have been well benefited. Sourcing, recruiting & hiring competitive talent is a tough business. You have to meet the need of the company & of the talent . Too often people don't understand the complexities involved in getting a requistion approved as the job posting you see on Monster or a company site. It's hard to feel patient when you are searching for the right job, but sometimes candidates forget that a recruiter often has a bevvy of talent competing for the same opportunities-- not to mention they work on multiple job reqs at a time. When hiring priorities change within a company and a candidate is deferred multiple times, the recruiter often bears the brunt of it. I have used recruiters for every job I have ever landed & my husband ran global teams for technology firms in Boston..... I have yet to meet a recruiter or headhunter on the agency side who was intentionally misguided. Good candidates are lifetime contacts and any good recruiter maintains that pipeline with the same honesty & integrity they would their client companies.
I think it's a good idea to ask any new recruiter you work with to send you a copy of what they send to the client company. They often change it, sometimes not for the better.
I once interviewed at a major company, and my resume that they had, to my surprise, showed that I had all kinds of company-specific skills (I'd never worked there before). It also showed that I spent two years in the PEACE CORPS(!) -- which I never did! The recruiter was on the client company's preferred list of vendors, too!
I called the recruiter and squawked about his lies, and he kept repeating "Just get your foot in the door!" It was frustrating and a waste of time for me as well as the client.
I'll never work with a recruiter again. A few years back, one called me up about a position. Told him that I wanted 90k per year. He told me that my expectations were reasonable. After an interview and a few weeks of the recruiters pep talks and telling me how my current employer didn't appreciate me, I get an offer for 70k. The recruiter told me it was a very good offer. I reminded him of our original conversation. His response was that my original expectations were too high. That's how a lot of these folks work. Master manipulators skilled at the art of bait and switch.
I'll never work with a recruiter again. A few years back, one called me up about a position. Told him that I wanted 90k per year. He told me that my expectations were reasonable. After an interview and a few weeks of the recruiters pep talks and telling me how my current employer didn't appreciate me, I get an offer for 70k. The recruiter told me it was a very good offer. I reminded him of our original conversation. His response was that my original expectations were too high. That's how a lot of these folks work. Master manipulators skilled at the art of bait and switch.
I wouldn't not work with a recruiter just based on one individual. Sure there are some bad apples out there, but that is the same with any profession. By not working with recruiters you really limit your search. I would use all avenues to explore jobs when looking, you just have to make sure you trust the person. Also, it might be that the person did submit you at 90k, and the employer came back with 70k, they are just trying to do there job and place you in the role. It is always up to you if you are going to accept the position or not. That is almost like saying this plummer did a bad job with fixing my problem, so I am never going to use one again. I hate that there are bad seeds out there, as it makes my job that much harder, but you have it in any industry.
Years ago I was placed in a temp-to-perm position after being told that the permanent salary was what I wanted. Imagine my surprise a few months later when I sat down with my boss to talk salary - what he wanted to pay was at least $5-10K *less* than what I needed to make (this was 10-20% less, big difference!). It turns out the recruiter told him that I was okay with that amount! Luckily my performance was good enough that we were able to arrive at an agreement, although we did raise hell with the recruiter. This was a well-known national chain.
Last year I started looking for a job again and "made the rounds" of quite a few recruiters in the area. I learned that the jobs they are advertising are often no longer available - but they won't tell you that. You apply online, go in for a 30 minute interview with the recruiter and at the end they say "We will let you know when we have something that is a good fit." What about the job I applied for? Oh, I'm not exactly what they are looking for - so why did you call me in for an interview? Then I see that same job being advertised continually over the following months. Highly misleading!
So far I've gotten 1 interview via recruiter, and 5 on my own - which is why I really *hate* to apply for jobs posted by recruiters, even if the job appears to be perfect for me! I know that the job is likely not available, or that the employer has extremely specific requirements and will not pay a fee to hire someone who doesn't meet those very exact standards. I haven't written off recruiters completely, but I'm honestly don't expect much either.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
It is interesting to me because in my office of about 90 Agents, I find 85 of them to be helpful and genuinely interested in helping sellers get their homes sold and buyers find their new home. It does seem that it takes a few to taint the views of many. 
