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In defense of the Recruiters

I recently read lots of complaints and articles on LinkedIn about how bad recruiters do their job. It disappoints me very much how the reputation of this profession is changing negatively.

I admit I have had a few bad experiences in some processes that I have been in, such as when the recruiter went through chronologically on my CV what I have done in each company and position and that was the interview. Receiving feedback was a luxury thing and my favorite of all times, when the recruiters ask in Spanish: “you must have a good English, do you?” and that was the language test.

However I want to show a different and positive side of the picture. In SELLBYTEL Group, in Barcelona I worked around 150 recruiters in total and several agency recruiters. We can call them Talent Acquisition Specialist too, if you like a “more fancy” name. Lots of them work now as HR Directors or are making an outstanding HR Career in a prestigious company.

Out of these 150 recruiters, I have to say the large majority, all have what makes this profession great. They are extremely good communicators, using mature, professional and clear written/verbal communication techniques, adapting their language and communication style to many different people. They are under constant high pressure, trying to make happy their candidates, their manager and their hiring manager all at the same time. Sometimes they have hard time dealing with the hiring managers, which think that after a 5 minute interview they were able to take an adequate decision about the suitability of the candidates, when actually their decision is only made based on chemistry. Or when the hiring manager wants the recruiter to find a Rolls-Royce, but only have a budget for a Nissan Micra.

Most of them are absolute hard workers, frequently doing long hours (even against opposite “instructions”) to meet constant tight deadlines.  They are creative and highly emphatic with their candidates. The happiest moment of their day is when they can offer a position to someone and they become sad together with the candidate when have to reject ones.

My conclusions:

  • Companies, Recruitment is a profession!  Hire real recruiters, who studied the profession, who really enjoy doing it and it’s not just a job for them!
    Teach your hiring managers about how to select!
  • Recruiters give as much feedback as possible and update the status to your candidates, it’s highly appreciated by them and it creates a positive candidate experience even if the process wasn’t successful. Plus they will talk nicely about your company afterwards.

If you feel that recruitment doesn’t fulfill you anymore, be brave and make a change in your career.

I hope to see more positive comments and articles about recruiters in the future.

Come on recruiters show to world that you are very professional and a talented brunch of people!