(2.5-minute read)

Recruitment refers to the overall process of identifying, attracting, screening, shortlisting, and interviewing, suitable candidates for jobs. Companies turn to recruitment agencies so they can save on time and skip this tedious process, and not all great talent will apply to their job ad anyway.

Recruiters get paid when they find you a position, and they get paid by the company - not you, so it's best for them to provide you as much work as possible, and that's good news if you're an independent contractor.

It's a process - but it's worth it

When I first started to work with recruiters, I thought I was smart by sending all possible answers to the questions they might have in advance - to save us both time. I had a 27 page long CV with my bio, examples of work, case studies, history of the planet Earth since it was a ball of molten lava, and still when I'd get a call I would get asked same questions over and over again.

Recruiters have their own system / CRM / process that they use and need to put you in the "proper box", so be prepared for many phone calls where you will need to say over and over everything they need to know to find you a client.

Your skills, previous experience, desired rate, what type of position you want to find, etc... And that's good - you will practice and learn to phrase it well so when the interviews come you know what you want to say and you don't get lost.

Many recruiters will not care about you specifically, and it's just a numbers game for them. The more people they place, the more money they make. It's that simple. Don't take it personally. 

But every once in a blue moon you will come across someone fantastic at their job and want to help you. Not just find a position, but help you make that next step in your career in terms of the team, company culture, further development and everything else that will make you go to work excited. When you make a connection like that, it will be easy for you to find a next role again, and again, and again...

How to start with recruiters

1. Have a one page CV - we covered that in the previous email. And have your past work experience, portfolio, recommendations, website, GitHub, Behance, whatever you use, ready and good to go.
2. Find recruiting agencies for the industry you work in, in the cities and markets where you want to be present. For me, that was London, but you do you. Search on Google, LinkedIn, and Glassdoor. I searched along the lines "UX design recruiting agency London".
3. Send in the application via their website. Now you're in the system.
4. For every agency you applied for, go to LinkedIn and search for people who work there with the title "Recruiter" and invite them to connect. Be straight forward and clear with your request. Here is what I'd say:

"Hi Natalie, my name is Tom, and I am currently looking for a contractor role in London. I see that you specialise in design recruiting and I hope we can work together. Hope to hear from you soon. Cheers. T."

Those who accept your connection, send them a followup:

"Thank you for accepting my invite, Natalie. I've applied to your website with my CV, hoping you can help me make the next step in my career. If you'd like to arrange a call, let me know when it works for you, or give me a ring. My number is XXXXXXXXXXX. My One page CV is attached. Best, Tom."

You repeat the process for every agency and for every recruiter you can find working there. Then you do that for independent recruiters. And then you wait. I applied to over 30 agencies and over 100 recruiters, under 50% got back to me. Out of those I had introduction call with around 20. Some of them I never heard from again. Around ten still keep me in their system and send me whatever they have (the number players). And then I found two who actually cared about my career and gave me great advice, polished my offering, and we still get together for a beer from time to time.

Once you have several recruiters finding you a job, you need to polish your interview skills. I'll cover that soon.

Hope this helps.

Cheers,

T.