Recruiter Tips: Things a Candidate Should Know

Being a job candidate is hard. Lots of uncertainty, waiting around, overanalyzing what's going on, etc. I've helped coach and counsel many of my friends who are in their job search, and found a few common themes I wanted to share. From the perspective of a recruiter, here are things all candidates should know:

1) We are rooting for you. Believe it or not, we want you to pass the interviews and get the offer. Even though it may seem like the recruiter is working against you (by leaving you in the dark/not getting back to you), get that out of your head --  we want you to succeed! (in all honestly, sometimes this is partly for selfish reasons, like wanting to close the requisition and move on).

2) We don't mind if you follow up with us. In fact, we prefer it! Even though it may seem like you are pestering us, please don't hesitate to follow up if you haven't heard from us in a while (use this sparingly, of course).  Sometimes we make mistakes and things fall through the cracks (aka we forgot), so it's good when candidates send us a reminder.

3) Sorry, but we can't give you feedback. Even though we wish we could, we just cannot mainly because of legal reasons.  We can't tell you want to improve on, nor tell you exactly why we rejected you (it's frustrating, I know). But sometimes we do, and when that happens, it's probably because we really like you as a person (otherwise, why would we bend the rules?).

Another update -- three of my friends that I've been coaching at the beginning of this year received job offers in Q1!! :) I've walked through this process with them from the beginning (pretty much felt like I was interviewing), so it's really rewarding that they've finally received their offers, and will be making the move in the next month or so. I'll write more about this later!!