A Go-To Guide

We’ve put together a go to guide to picking a great recruiter. Whilst we love being your numero uno agency, we understand that you may still be looking at different industries or maybe you just want to explore your options. So, here is our go to guide just for you!

Where to start?

A good place to start when picking a great recruiter is their website. Google is your best friend. Simply searching your role/industry type/location will provide you endless options – but which is best? The aesthetics of their website should give a good first impression. A website is not the be all and end all. But if the website looks like it was built in 2002 they probably aren’t going to have that cool marketing agency role you were looking for.

You want to make sure the website speaks to you and matches the roles and industries you are interested in. Does the recruiter appear to hold the same values as you? What’s their team like? Generally speaking, good agencies will have invested in their online brand, same goes for their LinkedIn profile – is it up to date or has no one been on there in a while?

Google reviews.

These bad boys should always be taken with a pinch of salt but they do give a pretty good indication of the level of service to expect from an agency. Every agency is going to have 1 or 2 bad reviews, but when they have 5-10…or more, you might want to take it as a red flag. You want to be looking for genuine Google reviews too. Reviews that reference recruiters by name and explain their experience.  Google reviews can be another great tool to whittle down the good, bad and ugly.

After you pick the agency?

You’ve picked you’re agency, Jess is going to be looking after you and it’s all going swimmingly. During the interview she appears to be your new BFF. BUT she doesn’t answer/reply to your calls/emails?!!  We hear from so many candidates that unfortunately this is commonplace. That recruiters will not return their calls. It’s not acceptable.

Sure, we all have those days where everything zooms by and before you know it it’s 8 o’clock and you’re watching MAFS on the sofa. But the lovely Jessica should be returning your calls 99.9% of the time. If they’re not, they’re not the recruiter for you. A great recruiter will do what they say they will do. They should be transparent through the entire recruitment process. If Jessica says she’s going to be coming back to you with feedback on Monday morning, that’s what she should be doing. If she hasn’t received feedback yet, she should be providing you an update at the very least. Placing trust in a recruiter is a huge privilege and if they’re not doing the above, you should be considering looking elsewhere.

It’s about trust.

A relationship with a great recruiter is based on trust. You should trust that your recruiter has a genuine understanding of what you are looking for and what you can actually expect. Working with a consultant and working with a “recruiter” can be two very different things. Here at Sprint People, we conduct lengthy initial interviews. What do you like and not like (more importantly) and what style of manager motivates you? In an ideal world, we want to know you well enough to call you with your dream position (sometimes it might even be something you haven’t even have considered).  If your recruiter is calling with an accounts role, when you’re looking for an admin role, Jessica might not have been paying attention to your needs and wants.

Just like most relationships in life, above anything else, you want to work with someone you like! I’m not saying you have to be best pals but you want to be working with a good bloke/lady that you actually want to be chatting with. You’ll be chatting with a good recruiter plenty so you don’t want to be working with someone that’s going to drive you up the wall. Nice, normal, with your best intentions at heart is what you need. Just like what you’ll find at Sprint… #justsaying 😜