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I think you need to expand on your review criteria. Recruiters are incentivized by the companies that hire them for two things: 1) Providing a steady pipeline

I think you need to expand on your review criteria. Recruiters are incentivized by the companies that hire them for two things: 1) Providing a steady pipeline of candidates for their clients. 2) Maximizing the compensation numbers for candidates they close. It's arguable that a recruiter that pushes hard to get you a good salary "cares" about you. But they won't care too much if the company they get you into completely burns you out and treats you poorly. Nor will they spend much time prepping you for interviews if they don't see you as a sure bet to land a position with one of their clients.

aledalgrande 12y ago
Why would they suggest you to interview if they don't believe you are a fit? I think that's one of the criteria that differentiates good recruiters, that don't want to bring someone in to interview just to "keep the pipeline going".
- hkarthik 12y ago
  That assumes they can read the client and know the industry terminology well enough to evaluate a candidate's "fitness". In my experience, far too few recruiters can evaluate fit effectively.
  - aledalgrande 12y ago
    Exactly :) that's why you want to know who they are.
t4ngent 12y ago
I used to work on an ERP software that is used in-house by many recruiting firms so I understand the industry well. hkarthik's comment is right on the money. The very high level executive recruiting firms tend to care more about both sides of the equation (employee and client/employer) because its a higher stakes game for them and the talent pool is fairly limited at that level.
chrisbennet 12y ago
Actually #2 isn't quite true. The benefit the recruiter gets from his candidate getting a higher salary is not as compelling as getting them hired period.
tbyehl 12y ago
| 2) Maximizing the compensation numbers for candidates they close. The recruiter's motivation is the same as a realtor's: Close the deal as soon as possible in order to earn the commission. A 10% salary bump for the candidate is real money. A 10% commission bump for the recruiter is nothing when they could be spending their time earning a whole other commission. Of course, a good recruiter is going to make sure that the candidate's salary expectations are in line with the employer's. If a recruiter brings you an offer that's exactly what you wanted you've almost certainly left money on the table.

aledalgrande 12y ago

Why would they suggest you to interview if they don't believe you are a fit? I think that's one of the criteria that differentiates good recruiters, that don't want to bring someone in to interview just to "keep the pipeline going".

hkarthik 12y ago
That assumes they can read the client and know the industry terminology well enough to evaluate a candidate's "fitness". In my experience, far too few recruiters can evaluate fit effectively.
- aledalgrande 12y ago
  Exactly :) that's why you want to know who they are.

t4ngent 12y ago

I used to work on an ERP software that is used in-house by many recruiting firms so I understand the industry well. hkarthik's comment is right on the money. The very high level executive recruiting firms tend to care more about both sides of the equation (employee and client/employer) because its a higher stakes game for them and the talent pool is fairly limited at that level.

chrisbennet 12y ago

Actually #2 isn't quite true. The benefit the recruiter gets from his candidate getting a higher salary is not as compelling as getting them hired period.

tbyehl 12y ago

| 2) Maximizing the compensation numbers for candidates they close. The recruiter's motivation is the same as a realtor's: Close the deal as soon as possible in order to earn the commission. A 10% salary bump for the candidate is real money. A 10% commission bump for the recruiter is nothing when they could be spending their time earning a whole other commission. Of course, a good recruiter is going to make sure that the candidate's salary expectations are in line with the employer's. If a recruiter brings you an offer that's exactly what you wanted you've almost certainly left money on the table.