Most people have misconceptions about recruiters. Like many professions, recruiters get a bad rap. They’re stereotyped as pushy people trying to get you to leave a job when you’re happy—and then nowhere to be found when you desperately need to get out of a bad situation.

The reality is that recruiters offer a job seeker exclusive entry into well-paying jobs in the hidden job market. They share insider information about the company and the team involved with hiring, provide feedback and can effectively negotiate a lucrative compensation package on your behalf.

Searching for a new job can be a lonely experience. You send out résumés, in response to online ads, that don’t get acknowledged by the company. When offered an interview, you go in blindly, meeting the managers without really knowing what to expect. After a couple of interviews, you get ghosted and are left wondering what happened. A good recruiter can help with all of these and other job search-related matters.

The first thing you need to do is find a recruiter that specializes in your space. One of the main reasons people feel frustrated with recruiters is that they erroneously believe that recruiters are all the same. Just as lawyers and doctors specialize in what they know best, so do top recruiters. For instance, if you are searching for a compliance position, a tech recruiter wouldn’t be of much help.

Similar to other professions, good recruiters focus on one or a few sectors and know these areas well. Recruiters will have long-term relationships with their corporate clients, personally know the hiring managers and have an in-depth understanding of what types of people will have a strong chance of getting hired.

There are different tiers of recruiters too. Executive search is primarily for C-suite positions and recruiting is conducted on a retained basis. If you are just starting your career or are in a mid-level role, executive recruiters will not be interested in helping you.

On the other end of the spectrum, there are staffing agencies. The jobs they focus on are generally part-time, contract, gig or lower-level roles. The third major group is contingency recruiters. This cohort primarily serves experienced white-collar professionals.

This is what happens behind the scenes. The contingency recruiter receives a mandate from their client—the company that pays the bills—to search for candidates that fit the job description. Since they’re paid a handsome fee, the business expects the recruiter to headhunt applicants that are nearly perfectly on target. Their logic is that if they are paying a substantial fee, the candidates that the recruiters produce should be stellar and considerably more qualified than what they may receive from job postings or unsolicited résumés.

Recruiting is not for the faint of heart. The human resources group will also share the position with several other competing recruiting firms and post the job listing on its own company career site, LinkedIn, Indeed and other job boards. Contingency recruiters are forced into a race to find the best, most appropriate candidate before anyone else. If they find and place the winning applicant, the recruiting firm will get paid a sizable commission—ranging from around 20% to 30% of the annual base salary of the person who accepted, started and stayed with the new company for a specified period.

A recruiter may spend an inordinate amount of time interviewing dozens of prospects, introducing them to their client companies and providing feedback and advice, but if another firm makes the placement, the recruiter won’t receive any money for their time or efforts. It’s an “eat what you kill” mentality.

If you don’t have the exact skills for the role, the search agent won’t allocate too much time to you, as they’re in an all-out war to get the perfect person. This highly competitive model is why you may feel blown off when attempting to gain the attention of a recruiter. If you are a direct fit for the position, the recruiter will continually hound you, as they recognize you have the right experience, background and skills for the role and would likely receive an offer. The recruiter would then get a juicy commission check.

A search professional who specializes in an area will know the industry, ranking of the companies, the hiring managers, interviewers and human resources. They’ll have a strong understanding of the corporate culture, what they look for in an applicant, title structure and the compensation levels.

Since they have a solid corporate-client base, they’ll personally know many of the interviewers and can offer you an insider perspective on their personalities and the type of people they’ve hired in the past. The recruiter will contact the hiring manager and gain feedback and constructive criticisms from the interview and share it with the job hunter to help them improve their performance in the next round of interviews.

When it comes time for an offer, the job hunter is placed in an awkward position. There is an uneven power dynamic, as you’re forced into negotiating directly with your future boss. The difficulty is that you want to get paid well, but don’t want to turn off your prospective boss. This puts you at a disadvantage. A recruiter, much like a sports or Hollywood agent, can conduct the negotiations on your behalf. It takes the burden and discomfort off of the candidate.

There are a lot of important matters to consider when receiving an offer, including whether the role is remote, hybrid or in-office. You need to know if the company offers flexibility, in which you can choose your own options, become a digital nomad or relocate and earn the same amount of money in a lower-cost city or state. Other things to consider are paid time off, the benefits package, corporate titles, future growth potential within the organization, whether you will be sitting in an office or cubicle, getting stock and options and other important matters. It’s uncomfortable for the applicant to go back and forth haggling over these matters. It’s especially challenging if the person is gainfully employed, works in an office and needs to keep sneaking outside to make calls to the company.

With a recruiter, you don’t have to worry about all of these important details. The recruiter will negotiate and haggle with the company and its representatives, on your behalf, to get you the work style that is right for you, the compensation, corporate title, benefits and perks and whatever else you want.

Source: Forbes