by Jason Alba (recruitingblogs.com)

In my job search, six years ago, I thought I knew what recruiters were for: to get me a job.

I thought it was your job to take my resume and find that perfect fit for me.  I found 30 local recruiters and shared my resume with them, sure they would be wowed, impressed, and fall all over themselves to place me so they could get a fat commission.

Sound familiar?  I know job seekers today still think your role is to get them a job, with no-to-little effort on their part.

Clearly there is a communication/education issue missing from this recruiter/candidate relationship.

Let me tell you about the recruiter who finally helped me the most in my job search (and not in a way I wanted, either).

After sending my resume to about 30 recruiters I felt they were a part of this “resume black hole” just like a job board was.  I was frustrated that recruiters weren’t getting back to me after I gave them my resume, and I was surprised my phone wasn’t ringing off the hook.  Shocked, really, because I thought I was that awesome.

(what I thought was awesomeness was really dime-a-dozen, I think, but that’s another blog post)

Dave Steveson, from HirePointe, was the man who I credit as helping me.  He was formely at a really big recruiting firm and had some impressive sales accomplishment plaques on his wall. I knew he was the right guy for me.

The third time I went to his office we sat down and he point-blank told me: “Jason, you’ll find a job for yourself faster than I’ll find a job for you.”

I was floored, but at the same time I understood what he was saying.  It’s like that one phrase helped me know how our relationship was.  He wasn’t going to take my resume and look for openings for me.  He wasn’t going to knock on doors and call employers for me.  He was very busy filling his openings… and if one matched my resume, he’d call me in, but until then it was ALL ON ME.

I was frustrated. I was relieved. I was enlightened.

More, I felt respected.

FINALLY! A recruiter helped me understand our relationship.  Instead of just taking my resume and smiling and somehow leading me on, Dave closed the loop.  In a kind but honest way, Dave helped me move on from my fruitless and flawed strategy of leaning on recruiters, and expecting too much from them.

Six years later I feel indebted to Dave.

I ask you, are you helping your candidates understand the relationship?

Please, tell them.  Or forward this blog post to them, so they can understand your role and their role.  It might be the best “rejection” email they ever get.

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The rest of the story: I moved on from my failed job search and designed JibberJobber.com.  You can think of it as what a candidate uses to organize and manage their job search.  It’s like your ATS, but for the candidate.  Cool, huh?

I guess once I realized the job search was all on me, I’d go an easier direction: entrepreneurship! (LOL)