Should I call the company my self (apply, secretary, interviews)

[topher5150]

A couple of months ago I lost my job, and have been working with a recruiter to help me in getting a job. Well he called me about a month ago about an opportunity of a life time. Every time I asked him about the job he would tell me that either something has come up with some one in the department, and I'm going to have to wait, or something about the department having to figure some things out before they go ahead with hiring.
Now it's been about two weeks since I've heard from the recruiter, and I'm at the point where I'm ready to call up the company itself and ask if the job even exists.
I really wan to get a job, and this job seems like something that I've been waiting for all my life, but I don't want to blow an opportunity.
Any advice would be great.

[HeadhunterPaul]

Originally Posted by topher5150

.... have been working with a recruiter to help me in getting a job.

...he called me about a month ago about an opportunity of a life time. Every time I asked him about the job he would tell me that either something has come up with some one in the department, and I'm going to have to wait, or something about the department having to figure some things out before they go ahead with hiring.

... it's been about two weeks since I've heard from the recruiter, and I'm at the point where I'm ready to call up the company itself and ask if the job even exists.

It is possible everything he is saying is true and it is 'best' to wait this out. Some people have had to wait a month before finally being called in for that interview.


It is also possible the agency called the company but was told the company either has an agency relationship with another agency/recruiter so no thanks or they don't pay agency fees and only take applications from interested parties who use their ATS online.

In this case, your recruiter has not told you any of this because he has been trying to get you other interviews with other companies so he can send you somewhere where they get paid if they refer you and you get hired as a result of their referring you.


First, tell the recruiter you are going to call the company's HR department yourself because you need to verify if they even have your resume.

That should trigger a response but if he wants to put you off, only give him three business days so he can arrange for someone from HR or the HA's department to call you and confirm they have your resume and are waiting for 'those' issues to be resolved before they move forward.

If they truly have your resume and are interested, they 'should' be willing to call you and let you know they really are considering having you come in for an interview.


If you call HR and they say they have no record of your resume or even have not had any conversations about you with that particular agency, they may invite you to send it.

If this happens, say nothing to the recruiter and send your resume directly.

> This could get complicated if it turns out the recruiter was dealing with the relevant department HA and not HR and that after all, the HA really has been sitting on your resume pending resolution of those issues referred to by the recruiter.

So, if you know to which department your resume was sent, call that department instead of HR and ask about your status, saying you "missed the recruiter's call" and thought you'd call directly so see what is happening.

You could complicate this further by going to another agency with the same job order and see if they do any better about getting you an appointment.


If all this sound complicated, that is because it is. The rules about agency referrals is full of twists and turns and getting involved directly could upset the process and leave you in a situation where HR declines to see you since there could be a conflict between whether or not you have been referred by that agency or if you are working alone.

But since you seem to be getting stiffed, doing something may be better than doing nothing.


If you call HR and 'Susie' says to send your resume since she 'has no record' of your being referred, it could turn out the department Hiring Authority has your resume instead of HR. Many recruiter deal directly with department heads instead of HR.

If that happens, two things could happen- someone else in HR pipes up, saying they already have your resume, and says for you to wait as the recruiter has been telling you or someone in HR sees an opportunity to hire you without the agency by telling you to send your resume, even though it has already been sent by the recruiter but since you are now calling, the HR person may decided to risk a brew haha by seeing if they can stiff the recruiter, saying you sent your resume directly to them.

The agency will then make a lot of noise and when the dust settles, the company may decide to ditch your resume and simply pick another candidate who has not been referred by an agency.

I told you this is complicated.


Start by 'telling' the recruiter you are going to call the company directly and then, if he squawks, give him three days to fix this and then, if necessary, make the call and see what happens.

Oh, when you let the recruiter know you are calling if..... ask him for the 'date of referral' so HR can backtrack and find your resume. Give that date to HR if you end up talking to them.


P.S. People wonder why I don't 'just' say what others here would say- "just send your resume again", "call and see what is happening", etc. and keep it simple but since this is my business and in truth, there are a variety of ways a referral can be mangled and leave you in the dust, I take opportunities like this to provide a behind the scenes explanation so people like yourself -and everyone in the peanut gallery reading my posts- better understands the referral process.




Paul.............

...

[blktoptrvl]

Originally Posted by topher5150

A couple of months ago I lost my job, and have been working with a recruiter to help me in getting a job. Well he called me about a month ago about an opportunity of a life time. Every time I asked him about the job he would tell me that either something has come up with some one in the department, and I'm going to have to wait, or something about the department having to figure some things out before they go ahead with hiring.
Now it's been about two weeks since I've heard from the recruiter, and I'm at the point where I'm ready to call up the company itself and ask if the job even exists.
I really wan to get a job, and this job seems like something that I've been waiting for all my life, but I don't want to blow an opportunity.
Any advice would be great.

The recruiter has a financial interest in getting you (or someone else) the job.

If it is still open and you are the best candidate he has, then you can be pretty sure he is doing his best for you.

If there was "another" equally qualified candidate who the recruiter also represents, then it is the company who likely chose who they want to talk to - I don't see how you calling them directly can add anything.

[Suburban_Guy]

Originally Posted by blktoptrvl

The recruiter has a financial interest in getting you (or someone else) the job.

If it is still open and you are the best candidate he has, then you can be pretty sure he is doing his best for you.

If there was "another" equally qualified candidate who the recruiter also represents, then it is the company who likely chose who they want to talk to - I don't see how you calling them directly can add anything.

This.

I don't even think it looks good to try and go over your recruiter and call the company directly. It never looks good in general to give the impression that you're going over someone's head or behind their back in order to try to do something. Because the implication is that you don't trust or don't like what the person above you (or representing you) is doing. All you're risking is burning bridges on both ends.

I know I wouldn't take too kindly to that.

[HeadhunterPaul]

Originally Posted by blktoptrvl

The recruiter has a financial interest in getting you (or someone else) the job.

If it is still open and you are the best candidate he has, then you can be pretty sure he is doing his best for you.

If there was "another" equally qualified candidate who the recruiter also represents, then it is the company who likely chose who they want to talk to - I don't see how you calling them directly can add anything.

As I've said, here and before, it is a common phenomenon whereby an agency/recruiter/headhunter/ninja will call a company on behalf of an applicant and when told that company 'does not use 3rd Party Recruiters', for example, the recruiter will not advise the applicant of this and will instead say something to the applicant that explains why there is a delay in knowing more (about the referral that did not happen) while that recruiter calls other hiring companies, seeking one that will accept the referral and pay the recruiter if they subsequently hire the referred candidate.

The idea is that if the recruiter is truthful and tells the applicant that particular company won't accept a referral from an outside recruiter, that applicant will, of course, apply on their own and may get hired, leaving the agency without an applicant to sell.

This particularly applies when the applicant has commonly-accepted desired credentials and it is reasonably likely that recruiter will find a hiring company that will pay the recruiter if they hired the referred candidate.


Being in the Recruitment business, I am all for 'not trying to fix that which is not broken' and have often said in the past applicants should not fiddle with the system but being in this business, I know for a fact there are recruiters who won't let a candidate know they were turned away and will keep an applicant on ice while they squeeze in more calls, searching for that fee-paying hiring company.

At what point is someone like blktoptrvl entitled to look into a situation and determine if the recruiter is doing their job?

(Inasmuch as most of the Regulars here have nothing but poison to say about 'recruiters', it is not unreasonable to suggest here that if the situation seems to warrant it, the applicant perhaps ought to take matters into their own hands.)

And, at the same time, I have provided insight as to why doing so may be throwing a wrench into the works.


Perhaps if you needed that job/any job, you also would be motivated to want to take a further look into the situation......




Paul.......

..

[HeadhunterPaul]

Originally Posted by topher5150

....have been working with a recruiter to help me in getting a job.

...he called me about a month ago about an opportunity of a life time.

Every time I asked him about the job he would tell me that either something has come up with some one in the department, and I'm going to have to wait, or something about the department having to figure some things out before they go ahead with hiring.


Now it's been about two weeks since I've heard from the recruiter, .

People who want to help and post their 'opinions' is all well and good; it's a free society.....


On the other hand, what has not been addressed and is cause for concern is not having heard from the recruiter for "two weeks".

In our business, we need to maintain control of every aspect of our activities and leaving you on your own for 'two weeks' is in very bad form.

You might call the company, yourself;

You might send that company your resume on your own;

You may sign up with another agency and worse, an agency that has the same job order since most companies will give the same job order to two or more competing agencies.

It takes what? 3 minutes to call and confirm everything is hunky dory and just be patient because .........

So although fiddling with the system is a big no-no and as Suburban Guy said, you could end up looking unprofessional (how ironic- most posters here all think 'recruiters' are the lowest form of life and should be avoided but today we don't want to appear 'unprofessional', LOL), there is valid reason to be concerned since no one in our business lets two weeks go by without keeping our thumb on the pulse of what is happening.

We call it 'candidate control'. You can probably Google that.


So although I am often on the agency/recruiter/HH/ninja side of these conversations, given my thirty years of experience and given also that so far, everything suggested by both blktoptrvl and Suburban Guy are assumptions without grounded evidence, I can easily see that either you are dealing with one sloppy recruiter (a newbie?) or as I've suggested, either he or your resume has already been turned away and he is either working hard to find a client who pays or,

...something else neither blktoptrvl or Suburban Guy have accounted for is that the recruiter may have been asked to find more/better candidates and has you on the back burner as back up.


It takes someone who is/has been in this business to know what the actual possibilities are.

Or, your recruiter has been abducted by aliens and the FBI has asked the agency not to blab.



I think I've covered most all the possibilities.


So good luck and remember, if you do call and are caught or killed, the secretary will .......




Paul......

..

[Tigeru]

They're not a self. They're a company. The only person you can call your self is you because you are you're own self.

[topher5150]

Ohhhhhhhhh fine I'll hold off on calling them. I'm just really excited for this opportunity and getting a little impatient. I'll just keep bugging the recruiter

[blktoptrvl]

Originally Posted by HeadhunterPaul

People who want to help and post their 'opinions' is all well and good; it's a free society.....


On the other hand, what has not been addressed and is cause for concern is not having heard from the recruiter for "two weeks".

In our business, we need to maintain control of every aspect of our activities and leaving you on your own for 'two weeks' is in very bad form.

You might call the company, yourself;

You might send that company your resume on your own;

You may sign up with another agency and worse, an agency that has the same job order since most companies will give the same job order to two or more competing agencies.

It takes what? 3 minutes to call and confirm everything is hunky dory and just be patient because .........

So although fiddling with the system is a big no-no and as Suburban Guy said, you could end up looking unprofessional (how ironic- most posters here all think 'recruiters' are the lowest form of life and should be avoided but today we don't want to appear 'unprofessional', LOL), there is valid reason to be concerned since no one in our business lets two weeks go by without keeping our thumb on the pulse of what is happening.

We call it 'candidate control'. You can probably Google that.


So although I am often on the agency/recruiter/HH/ninja side of these conversations, given my thirty years of experience and given also that so far, everything suggested by both blktoptrvl and Suburban Guy are assumptions without grounded evidence, I can easily see that either you are dealing with one sloppy recruiter (a newbie?) or as I've suggested, either he or your resume has already been turned away and he is either working hard to find a client who pays or,

...something else neither blktoptrvl or Suburban Guy have accounted for is that the recruiter may have been asked to find more/better candidates and has you on the back burner as back up.


It takes someone who is/has been in this business to know what the actual possibilities are.

Or, your recruiter has been abducted by aliens and the FBI has asked the agency not to blab.



I think I've covered most all the possibilities.


So good luck and remember, if you do call and are caught or killed, the secretary will .......




Paul......

..

Headhunters fall off the planet daily. IMO they are some of the most unreliable people in business when it comes to feedback - they are always looking instead for the NBT. If they haven't gotten back to you, they have moved on because the client company has not given any interest in the resume and they cannot be bothered to pass on the word. So, again to the OP, if there is still a chance that the company is interested in you, the recruiter (through financial self interest) will get back to you. If not, then there really is no point to calling the company - they have already dismissed your resume.

[DorianRo]

Chances are they will just blow you off if you call. Companies love to play the old mindscrew game these days with applicants. They are like high schoolers. Keep looking for something else.

There probably are no "opportunities of lifetimes today" unless you are an elite athlete or genius or get real lucky or have great connections. If you have none of these things, don't believe the Corporate gaga. Because thats all it is today.. GAGA. Or is it "caca"

If you keep your sights set on one place they they will just jerk you around forever.