How to work with a recruiting agency p1 - Military Transition - Military Times EDGE

A recruiting agency or placement firm can help you get a job, but a professional recruiter is more like a personal trainer than a personal assistant: You still have to put in the work. Joe Whitener found that out when he separated from the Army after 10 years.

The former company commander with 5th Ranger Training Battalion worked with two recruiting agencies and spoke to recruiters almost nonstop throughout the search.

“I kept up a constant dialogue with them,” Whitener said. “Sometimes we would talk more than once a day, especially after a hiring conference when a company had shown an interest in me, so that they could help me strategize, help me prepare for interviews.”

That’s the kind of investment that recruiters want to see.

“You’ve got to be as serious about your job search as we are,” said Craig Griffin, a senior vice president at Bradley-Morris, a firm that specializes in military placements. “We have all the resources, we have worksheets, we have seminars, but if you don’t prepare yourself, you are going to miss that opportunity when you get in front of that [employer].”

A corollary to this: Answer the phone and check your email often.

“If I find that the candidate is a good fit for a job and I leave a message or send an email and I don’t hear back from the candidate for three days, that opportunity is going to be gone,” Griffin said.

Three more tips to working effectively with placement pros:

Get a jump on things

Don’t wait until you are out before contacting a recruiting firm, said Todd Phillips, Midwest recruiting manager and partner at Orion International. Recruiters will be happy to hear from you 12 to 18 months before you’re available to start a job. They may need that time to help you tailor your résumé and home in on the industries that interest you.

Respect their expertise

Recruiters have experience playing liaison between job seekers and employers.

“Use them as a resource. ... They have years of training and a number of excellent job search preparation tools,” Phillips said. “Ask a lot of questions and utilize the tools they provide.”

Feel free to double up

It is fine to have multiple recruiting firms beating the bushes on your behalf, but it may require a bit of juggling. Hiring events and interviews sometimes follow right on the heels of one another, said Whitener, who worked with Bradley-Morris and Lucas Group. “You need to look carefully at the schedules and you really need to prioritize.”

The professional help paid off for Whitener, who picked up five offers before accepting a job with aerospace company TCOM, L.P. in Columbia, Md.

But as good as the recruiters may be, the system works only if the applicant puts in the effort. At one point, Whitener hit six flights in five days to meet with employers. “I never turned down an interview opportunity,” he said. “I was not going to turn down anything until I had job offers in hand.”