Written by: Nicki Massman
★Professional Resume Writer ★Career Coach, Job Search and Interview Coach ★Owner

Over the past couple of months, I have seen a lot of posts on LinkedIn from both Recruiters and Job Seekers with extreme frustration, to the point of attacking and criticizing each other.

Since I have been on both sides of this, I wanted to offer some insight and shed some light as to why I think everyone is frustrated. Hopefully these tips will make this process and each other’s perspective easier to understand.

After all you need each other!!

For Recruiters: Job Seekers Perspective-

♦They just want a human to review their resume and provide feedback.

♦They are looking for a new opportunity for a reason and they know their best bet is to work with you.

♦The job descriptions are difficult for almost anyone to fit 100%.

♦Be well versed on the jobs you are recruiting for, understand the job seekers skills and how the two match. Job Seekers get frustrated when you do not have a clear picture of this.

♦They want to hear from you after a conversation or interview to know where they stand and what the next steps will be. Even if it’s a “no, thank you,” or a “we haven’t heard anything from the client” reply. Don’t leave them hanging.

♦Put yourself in their shoes and realize how it can be a frustrating process.

♦Let them know if you need to cancel a phone interview, they are taking time out of their day at their current job to talk to you. This is also true for in-person interviews…chances are they are taking PTO or a lunch hour for your meeting.

Job Seekers are your customer… you should treat them with respect and you should provide a positive experience when working with you and your firm. Without them, you don’t fill your jobs!

For Job Seekers: Recruiters Perspective-

♦Do not just submit your resume to a job/Recruiter if you aren’t at least an 80-90% fit, to see if it will stick. It won’t! Their client is counting on them to send a qualified candidate.

♦They get 100’s of resumes for each job they post. They cannot read every one in depth, so make yours stand out and clearly show how you are a fit, in the few seconds they have to review.

♦They cannot respond to every resume that they receive, if you don’t hear back, follow up. If you don’t hear anything after that, you were likely not a fit for that role.

♦Customize your resume if you have skills that are not very clear in your resume. Don’t make them search for it, it’s time consuming.

♦Have a clear, concise, and easy to read resume. NO SPELLING, GRAMMAR, PUNCTUATION errors in your resume. It can disqualify you immediately. Have a professional write it or have a friend review it. This is where you prove that you pay attention to details.

♦Offer an explanation on anything that might be a red flag to them; gap in employment, job hopping, over or under-qualified etc…

♦Let them know if you need to cancel an interview, or if you are going to be late. Their schedule is booked and you must respect their time.

♦Follow up if you have a conversation or an interview, but there is no reason to email or call daily.

♦Treat them as a professional, they are here to help you, and they are compensated when they do.

♦They do have other candidates they are working with and other daily duties.

This should be a win-win for both of you, not a battle of who can voice their frustrations on LinkedIn.

If either of you would like to offer any additional advice/thoughts that might be helpful for each other, feel free to comment, but let’s keep it positive and helpful please!

If you need help getting your resume prepared to make sure it fits the jobs you are applying to, I can help! If you need help with step-by-step coaching through this process, I can help.

Thanks! Nicki

Website: www.proimpressionsbiz.com, Email: proimpressions@hotmail.com