Serving the Quantitative Finance Community

 
User avatar
Kamil90
Topic Author
Posts: 35
Joined: February 15th, 2012, 2:02 pm

do I really need a recruiter?

March 24th, 2023, 5:37 pm

I find a lot of companies big and small publish their job listings online either on their own website or linked in etc. My recruiter told me not to apply and would rather refer me to the employer. I understand the recruiter gets a cut if the person get hired but do I have a better chance of getting interview/better pay etc without a recruiter help? What are the benefits of using a recruiter in such cases if any?
 
User avatar
bearish
Posts: 5186
Joined: February 3rd, 2011, 2:19 pm

Re: do I really need a recruiter?

March 24th, 2023, 7:02 pm

Have you tried to inquire with a barber as to whether you need a haircut? But seriously, as a hiring manager (which I have been on dozens of occasions), I would prefer a direct approach or, even better, a referral from my network to a referral from a headhunter. That being said, at least three of my own job switches came about because I was approached by a recruiter about an opportunity that I was not otherwise aware of. And sometimes your network (and LinkedIn) just don’t produce a decent slate of candidates, let alone one that satisfies basic diversity requirements (recommendations?). In that case, your friendly used car salesman (or, as Dominic used to refer to himself, pimp) may come in handy.
 
User avatar
Kamil90
Topic Author
Posts: 35
Joined: February 15th, 2012, 2:02 pm

Re: do I really need a recruiter?

March 24th, 2023, 8:32 pm

Trying to understand employer perspective here. I consider recruiters just like listing agent for my house. Yes, I can sell a house without one but they do the staging, advertising, showing etc. I pay for service and I think for many companies those expenses are nothing. This is what employers do, they hire a person to do the search and prescreen candidates. I am asking about direct application to the company website. While I can understand the employer would save money but if I apply myself I am afraid I can get lost in the pull of candidates while recruiter will make sure they have seen my resume. Also, in some sense I have their backing on negotiation because they can tell me for how much they placed people like me. Assume I don't have a referral to the company but I do like their job description and I wonder if I go ahead and apply myself or ask my recruiter to reach out? 
 
User avatar
bearish
Posts: 5186
Joined: February 3rd, 2011, 2:19 pm

Re: do I really need a recruiter?

March 24th, 2023, 10:59 pm

Well, in my experience (but as the saying used to go, YMMV) you don’t have a recruiter, the hiring manger does. He, she, or they is/are paying the bill and have a very good claim to obtain value for their money. If you encounter a recruiter who expects you to pay the bill, the advice is “run!”. So the recruiter is not on your team. And I would not overestimate the extent to which they will stage, advertise and show you, because in all likelihood they have no clue about what you can do or what the job requires, let alone the overlap between the two. It is sometimes true that they have honest market intelligence about what generic jobs in your neighborhood pays, and that is worth trying to learn from them. But, their interest in the negotiation stage is to get you to accept the offer. The possible marginal increase in their fee from your offer being upped a little is dwarfed by the potential of a zero outcome if no deal is reached. So, to be specific, in your case I would stop thinking that you have a recruiter and proactively reach out to hiring managers. Of course, if you can find a way to bypass the relevant HR function, so much the better, but that is sometimes hard.
 
User avatar
katastrofa
Posts: 7440
Joined: August 16th, 2007, 5:36 am
Location: Alpha Centauri

Re: do I really need a recruiter?

March 24th, 2023, 11:45 pm

If it’s a small shop, they may prefer that you approach them directly, because then they won’t pay the recruiter fee. At bigger companies recruiters may be more effective for the reasons you mentioned (but even better to get a referral from someone on the inside).
I prefer candidates approaching me directly for a good reason (they support the company mission, want to share/gain experience in the field, etc.).
 
User avatar
Kamil90
Topic Author
Posts: 35
Joined: February 15th, 2012, 2:02 pm

Re: do I really need a recruiter?

March 25th, 2023, 1:48 am

Well, in my experience (but as the saying used to go,  YMMV) you don’t have a recruiter, the hiring manger does. He, she, or they is/are paying the bill and have a very good claim to obtain value for their money. If you encounter a recruiter who expects you to pay the bill, the advice is “run!”. So the recruiter is not on your team. And I would not overestimate the extent to which they will stage, advertise and show you, because in all likelihood they have no clue about what you can do or what the job requires, let alone the overlap between the two. It is sometimes true that they have honest market intelligence about what generic jobs in your neighborhood pays, and that is worth trying to learn from them. But, their interest in the negotiation stage is to get you to accept the offer. The possible marginal increase in their fee from your offer being upped a little is dwarfed by the potential of a zero outcome if no deal is reached. So, to be specific, in your case I would stop thinking that you have a recruiter and proactively reach out to hiring managers. Of course, if you can find a way to bypass the relevant HR function, so much the better, but that is sometimes hard.
No, the employer hires a recruiter not me of course. They pay the recruiter and they get the service. At least I would think they do the prescreening. I would think they get many resumes where most of them are irrelevant for the job but when recruiter sends a CV over than at least he or she prescreened it. I am just trying to maximize my chances of having my CV read and called for an interview here as I don't know anyone at the company and I simply see an interesting position while my recruiter holds me back from applying to it.
 
User avatar
Kamil90
Topic Author
Posts: 35
Joined: February 15th, 2012, 2:02 pm

Re: do I really need a recruiter?

March 25th, 2023, 1:51 am

If it’s a small shop, they may prefer that you approach them directly, because then they won’t pay the recruiter fee. At bigger companies recruiters may be more effective for the reasons you mentioned (but even better to get a referral from someone on the inside).
I prefer candidates approaching me directly for a good reason (they support the company mission, want to share/gain experience in the field, etc.).
Right, I think big companies don't care, basically this fee is built in the application search. I personally got all my positions through a recruiter but now that I see the positions are all easy to find(just go to the website/linked in and see careers) I wonder if I should bother asking my recruiter who would definitely be interested in selling me and apply directly. 
 
User avatar
bearish
Posts: 5186
Joined: February 3rd, 2011, 2:19 pm

Re: do I really need a recruiter?

March 25th, 2023, 12:04 pm

You keep on using the phrase “my recruiter”. I don’t think that is a helpful perspective. Also, while “the company” may not care, I can assure you that somewhere within that company there are people who are paid to care about headhunter bills. Quite possibly including the hiring manager, whose budget will probably have to fund them.
 
User avatar
Kamil90
Topic Author
Posts: 35
Joined: February 15th, 2012, 2:02 pm

Re: do I really need a recruiter?

March 28th, 2023, 12:12 am

You keep on using the phrase “my recruiter”. I don’t think that is a helpful perspective. Also, while “the company” may not care, I can assure you that somewhere within that company there are people who are paid to care about headhunter bills. Quite possibly including the hiring manager, whose budget will probably have to fund them.
I see, yes, using "my" can be misleading. I obviously don't have any connection to them. I simply refer to a person who pointed me a role which is indeed of interest to me. However, I did not see much point of having him refer me there because the position is online so I can just upload the resume myself. So it got me thinking and that's why I came here. But I think I get the point and also the point of making connections more proactively!