Misguided Perceptions about Recruiters

Hi everyone,

I hope the week has been a good one so far and as we approach the coveted weekend I hope the last couple of days left in this week are as kind to you as you are to them.

I have come across a newspaper article in recent days that has really left me concerned about the perceptions of Job Seekers in terms of how they view Recruiters and recruitment agencies in general.

Now before I continue let me explain that I am not a Recruiter and nor is Jobs.co.za a recruitment agency.

We are an online job portal who provides a web based platform where Recruiters and Job Seekers transact with one another in the form of job advertising /candidate search and Job Search and candidate application. For further clarification please refer to an article published on the site entitled “Recruitment Agencies, Head Hunters and an Online Job Portal”

The reason for me brining this up is because I want you to be aware that I have no vested interest in sharing with you the following insight and that Recruiters and Job Seekers are both equally valued in my opinion.

So to turn back to the newspaper article that has got me all hot and bothered under my kameez;

The article written in a publication aimed at empowering the unemployed has done quite the opposite.

I don’t feel the need  to get into the nitty-gritty details of the who, the how and the where, however I do feel the need to clear up any misguided perceptions that Job Seekers may have about Recruiters.

The article discussed interviews and the role of the interviewer during the recruitment process however not in the positive light in which these HR Specialists operate. To illustrate the negative light I’m referring to, one of the lines in the article read that the interviewer’s main task was simply to eliminate you… and I’m sorry to say but this author has got this so very very wrong.

Job Interviewers (generally Recruiters) are not out to get you.

They are not trying to push people through the potato factory that is employment.

On the contrary, they are trying to place you.

Recruiters spend money, time, effort and care searching and locating suitable candidates to fill their client’s vacancies. They do not rely on the number of people they interview in order to gauge their success, but rather by pinpointing the perfect match between Job Seekers and vacancy.

I would further like to urge Job Seekers to trust that Recruiters are in fact on your side. Sure as with any situation in life there are some people out there with ill intentions but remember, placing successful candidates in relevant and applicable roles is a recruitment agencies livelihood and their success and efficiency in their job, relies on finding the right candidate- company fit.

Welcome advice, guidance and efforts that Recruiters make in an attempt to ascertain whether you are a suitable candidate for their role or not.

If it turns out that you are unsuccessful in your pursuits try not to take this personally but rather be relieved that a trained professional (no cliché intended) has identified disparities between you and the role. It’s better to find a perfect fit as opposed to being stuck in a job you were not destined to fill.

With that…here is you mantra for the week… recruiting recruiters’ recruit to suit…now say it like mean it…or at least keep saying it till you believe it – This is the truth and trust it or not fact outweighs fiction by a mile.

Thanks for your time everyone.

Have a terrific day and I will see you all tomorrow.

Jo Blog

joblog@jobs.co.za

Thursday, October 9th, 2008 at 5:38 pm and is filed under JoBlog's Workplace. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.