# How to interact with recruiters - a Software Engineer's perspective This post is for people who are looking for work in tech and related professional industries where recruiters are very active. A lot of people have difficulty interfacing with recruiters, and can sometimes have bad experiences due to misinterpreting the professional relationship between them and the recruiter. In my experience, you won't vibe well with all recruiters, but there are many who have helped me out, giving valuable insights about the industry, job market, particular employers' processes, and feedback on resumes/profiles. Not least, recruiters can be an important source of positive encouragement in a process full of negative signals. # What is a recruiter? Recruiters are "people persons" who above all else want to optimise their working hours to achieve a high number of job placements while maintaining a high ratio of good candidates to mid candidates. If they don't place enough candidates, they don't make money. And if they don't keep their candidate suggestions high quality, they can lose relationships with employers. They will respond to the good vibes you put out, and want to spend enough time with you to know if you are a good fit for the kind of jobs that come across their desk. At the same time, they can only screen so many candidates in a day, so you need to be straight with them and get to the point for them to value you. Recruiters are usually paid on commission, often with a requirement that you remain in the resulting job for a certain number of months. The most important thing to remember is that recruiters will only work hard for you if they believe you are worth investing into. In other words, to get good leads from recruiters you need to convince them that you are willing, able, and ready to land (& keep) a job that they put you forward for. This means they will only be effective on your behalf if you are telling them a realistic story about your current ability, what you want out of your next job, and you're being sensible with expectations (from their perspective). Hitting those points means essentially that you are coming across as a high quality, trustworthy, and reliable candidate. You're probably a decent individual, but looking for work can put people in difficult positions psychologically. Take care of yourself. Always exhibit professionalism and candour in your job search. Having good recruiters on your side can make job hunting a lot less tedious and will help you feel optimistic about your chances. Going into interviews with a baseline level of confidence in your own competence is incredibly important. Today, with the amount of stale and fake job ads about, getting real job opportunities from recruiters can make a serious difference to your job hunting experience and overall mindset. # Quick tips * **Invest in the human** - As a candidate, any calls you have with a recruiter will likely be friendly and relaxed for the first couple minutes. Take this time to build a solid foundation of friendship (or at least mutual respect) and show a willingness to be open. * **Be plain** - Recruiters are not technical, so don't worry about using technical terms or showing off your qualifications - answer any questions about these that they have in plain terms without jargon. * **Stay in touch** - Sometimes recruiters will hear back from the company about how an interview stage went, other times they need to hear it from you. A recruiter will appreciate a short update to keep them in the loop. In my experience, recruiters are even able to get you feedback from interviewers that you would never have heard otherwise - which of course can be invaluable. * **Set expectations** - Tell them what you want and what you don't want. Ask them questions, request the original job description, tell them your realistic salary expectations and ask for feedback while respecting their time. Politely turn down opportunities that don't fit your expectations and clarify. This a sign that you respect the time they will put in because you respect your own. Being discerning only means that if you do say yes to exploring an opportunity further, they can trust your efforts to be of high quality because you will prepare well for any tests and interviews. Your relationship with a recruiter is usually transient but can last for several weeks, multiple stages and a range of opportunities. Treat them with respect, and they can be a major benefit in the job hunting experience. Good luck :) # Comments Email [email protected] to get a comment added. Be sure to mention the post title.