In 23 years at AP Professionals, I’ve seen it all when it comes to recruiting. The talent search industry is one that is difficult to conceptualize as an outsider looking in, and as a result, many misconceptions arise about working with a recruiter and staffing agency. So let’s clear some of those up.
Some of the most common misunderstandings I come across include:
“As a candidate, I need to pay a recruiter to find me a job.”
Wrong. Employer firms looking to fill open roles pay recruiters for their work. Candidates are not on the hook for an invoice.
“Recruiters take a cut of the new hire’s salary.”
Wrong again. This misconception stems from the fact that recruiters are sometimes paid a commission based on the salary of the candidate they have placed, but this payment is not deducted from the salary of the applicant. The salary is simply used as a metric to determine the placement fee.
“Recruiters can’t offer anything that I can’t find on LinkedIn.”
On the contrary, recruiters have spent their careers developing professional networks designed to source candidates. They aggregate data from job boards, professional organizations, personal connections, and LinkedIn to provide expansive networking capabilities that you can’t find yourself through digging on LinkedIn.
“Recruiters reach out to everybody; their searches aren’t targeted.”
Time is valuable. As a recruiter, I will not spend my time and resources contacting candidates unless I feel they are a strong fit for a role I am actively seeking to fill. At AP, we vet and hand-pick our candidates.
While you may have believed some of these misconceptions about working with a recruiter and staffing agency before, I hope we are on the same page now!
Matching candidates with the right roles for them is what I find most rewarding. I want to help you cut through the noise of the job market and find the role of your dreams. Reach out to me today to start a conversation about how we can do that together.
Kim is the Contract Accounting/Financial Division Director as well as a team lead in AP’s Human Resources Division. She focuses on entry to mid-level Accounting, Finance, and Human Resources placement services for contract/consulting, contract-to-hire, and direct hire needs. Kim joined the company in 1999, and she prides herself on understanding both the clients’ and candidates’ needs by leveraging her business knowledge. She enjoys consulting and partnering with her clients, and developing solid relationships with individuals in the Rochester area.