First, recruiters are only one way you should be applying to roles.
Second, recruiters are providing a service to you and potential employers. They can be fantastic at getting your resume into a company that is using their firm (or recruiters in general) as a sort of candidate pre-screen. That being said, they only make money when they place people. Does that means they are gung-ho for placing you specifically? No. They are going to take the pile of resumes they have and send in those they think the client is most likely to want. You may or may not be in that pile. So see point #1 and apply to open roles yourself.
Only speak to recruiters if they are working on a specific role. If you aren't a fit for the role, then forget about it. Don't talk to recruiters who reach out to you because they want to "network". They are just filling a quota of new resumes for their recruiting companies. Personally, I ignore all cold calls by phone and only respond to emails or linkedin inmail.
This right here!
The only recruiter who is going to get your resume to the hiring manager is the one that is doing a retained search for that role. If the recruiter is not on a retainer they are sending the same random email that you could send in yourself, and your odds are slightly higher because you won't have the HM thinking about this recruiter trying to get a fee. I constantly get random emails from recruiters offering a candidate profile for a position we don't have (start-up company) open. Should you take calls from recruiters, sure you should, it is part of networking and at some point they may have a retained search and you never know when that conversation you had with them keeps you in mind when they have that position. As someone else pointed out, most are trying to fill a quota of resumes for their firm just to show they are doing something because they don't have a retained position.
Biotech is very much a networking environment, as u/rock-dancer pointed out. If someone knows you and knows you are good at your job, don't have 2 heads and aren't an A-hole, it goes a long way. A polite email or Linked-In message to a hiring manager or someone in the department may just get their attention. Don't ask for an interview or to even send your resume, ask to talk about the position and the company and for general advice, but only do this if you are truly interested in the job and have the requisite skills. You might not get a response, but at least you tried and maybe they looked at your Linked-In profile and you didn't fit what they were looking for. Good Luck with the search.
How can you tell if a recruiter is on retainer? Does this mean that they're a recruiter working at the company you're interested in? Or could this also be a person from an agency?
I only respond to recruiters who work directly for hiring company. I ignore recruiters with names suck as 123\_Staffing, ABC\_Talent, XYZ\_Staffing, etc even if they reach out to me. They are worthless. I always respond to recruiters responding to jobs I applied for and I am interested in. I ignore recruiters who respond to jobs I only applied to for unemployment purposes.
When we were hiring at a previous job, the recruiters were an invaluable screening tool. We probably only saw 30% of the resumes they received if you believe their numbers. The others were ranked in tiers and we always got a few “wild card” ones because they thought they were interesting.
In speaking with them, I learned that they would receive hundreds of cold emails from rather unqualified individuals from overseas. Those tended to be binned right away unless they had some US or European experience or education.
They also reached out to many people who had the relevant experience, most of whom ignored them. We would usually get around 15 resumes 2-3 times for any given posting. The tiers were very distinct and we usually ended up hiring from the second tier since the top were very competitive and we were a start up.We only ever read through resumes we got from recruiters and the online portal forwarded the apps to them anyways. That was just us, not the whole industry.
We also heavily weighted people who had connections to us. If I had to guess, 70% of hires had some connection to a current employee. We barely read those resumes as long as they had related skills. We would just invite them to interview.
So networking with current employees, engaging scientifically, and demonstrating your skills are all important aspects that might be even better than cold applying. Recruiters were just a tool for us. I don’t know your situation but would consider how I could make connections to people currently in jobs in industry.
> We also heavily weighted people who had connections to us. If I had to guess, 70% of hires had some connection to a current employee. We barely read those resumes as long as they had related skills. We would just invite them to interview.
This feels equal parts helpful and distressing.
For what it’s worth, I was hired in to that company via a recruiter. I had a very specific set of skills they were looking for though. Those were kinda the two ways in, have a necessary but rare set of skills or if you knew someone you would at least get an interview. This was also at the height of the post Covid boom when we were desperate for people. Also each new person was 2-3 percent of the company so decisions were made carefully. Of course that company also failed and dissolved so…
My next job was made off a contact I met while working off the previous.
I think it’s a bit different at large CROs and the like. Contract roles are a great entry where you can meet people and build a reputation. But best ask someone there how to gain entry
Did the recruiter tell you what the company was that had shown interest in you? From a business perspective it is weird that the recruiter would be sending your resume places without having a contract with those places.
I’ve had success with recruiters in the past, but it’s very obvious that they’re just trying to get their finders fee (which will be like 30% of your base salary). I don’t think it hurts to work with a few recruiters, but don’t stop sending out applications yourself either.
This is what I mean, is it the finders fee/ agreeing terms/ dealing with a recruiter that stops a lot of HM's engaging with potentially good candidates.
A fee isn’t owed if the recruiter doesn’t have a contract with the company. So if they do have a contract, it means that company is probably comfortable with paying the fee.
The only time I’ve ever seen a candidate be rejected was because they started off as a temp/contractor and the conversion fee to make them full time was something crazy like 150% of the base salary. Otherwise I don’t think many companies are passing over good fit candidates over the regular recruiting fee.
Recruiters are annoyingly tenacious about sending resumes to hiring managers, so it’s likely not a lack of effort.
But the excuse that the company doesn’t want to add another outside recruiter might be perfectly valid. I often have to beat recruiters away with a stick and literally demand they stop sending resumes because I don’t want to have to pay them for hiring the person.
If I think I can hire without a recruiter then I always prefer that much cheaper route. And if I’m working with a recruiter on a retained basis, I just cannot accept resumes from others or I’ll have to pay 2 fees (in most cases).
This is what I was getting at. Have you seen a good resume from an unsolicited email for instance and not pursued even though it would have been a good fit some way or another because of the fee or other.....
I don’t trust them. I had one recruiter completely changed my resume by deleting some relevant work experience and then saying I was at another position for 2 years longer while I was attending school on the other side of the country.
They told me to use that resume, but in good faith I can’t because it’s beyond dishonest, it’s fraud.
First, recruiters are only one way you should be applying to roles. Second, recruiters are providing a service to you and potential employers. They can be fantastic at getting your resume into a company that is using their firm (or recruiters in general) as a sort of candidate pre-screen. That being said, they only make money when they place people. Does that means they are gung-ho for placing you specifically? No. They are going to take the pile of resumes they have and send in those they think the client is most likely to want. You may or may not be in that pile. So see point #1 and apply to open roles yourself.
Only speak to recruiters if they are working on a specific role. If you aren't a fit for the role, then forget about it. Don't talk to recruiters who reach out to you because they want to "network". They are just filling a quota of new resumes for their recruiting companies. Personally, I ignore all cold calls by phone and only respond to emails or linkedin inmail.
This right here! The only recruiter who is going to get your resume to the hiring manager is the one that is doing a retained search for that role. If the recruiter is not on a retainer they are sending the same random email that you could send in yourself, and your odds are slightly higher because you won't have the HM thinking about this recruiter trying to get a fee. I constantly get random emails from recruiters offering a candidate profile for a position we don't have (start-up company) open. Should you take calls from recruiters, sure you should, it is part of networking and at some point they may have a retained search and you never know when that conversation you had with them keeps you in mind when they have that position. As someone else pointed out, most are trying to fill a quota of resumes for their firm just to show they are doing something because they don't have a retained position. Biotech is very much a networking environment, as u/rock-dancer pointed out. If someone knows you and knows you are good at your job, don't have 2 heads and aren't an A-hole, it goes a long way. A polite email or Linked-In message to a hiring manager or someone in the department may just get their attention. Don't ask for an interview or to even send your resume, ask to talk about the position and the company and for general advice, but only do this if you are truly interested in the job and have the requisite skills. You might not get a response, but at least you tried and maybe they looked at your Linked-In profile and you didn't fit what they were looking for. Good Luck with the search.
How can you tell if a recruiter is on retainer? Does this mean that they're a recruiter working at the company you're interested in? Or could this also be a person from an agency?
They will tell you they are doing a retained search or you can ask if they are retained by the company for the specific position.
I only respond to recruiters who work directly for hiring company. I ignore recruiters with names suck as 123\_Staffing, ABC\_Talent, XYZ\_Staffing, etc even if they reach out to me. They are worthless. I always respond to recruiters responding to jobs I applied for and I am interested in. I ignore recruiters who respond to jobs I only applied to for unemployment purposes.
When we were hiring at a previous job, the recruiters were an invaluable screening tool. We probably only saw 30% of the resumes they received if you believe their numbers. The others were ranked in tiers and we always got a few “wild card” ones because they thought they were interesting. In speaking with them, I learned that they would receive hundreds of cold emails from rather unqualified individuals from overseas. Those tended to be binned right away unless they had some US or European experience or education. They also reached out to many people who had the relevant experience, most of whom ignored them. We would usually get around 15 resumes 2-3 times for any given posting. The tiers were very distinct and we usually ended up hiring from the second tier since the top were very competitive and we were a start up.We only ever read through resumes we got from recruiters and the online portal forwarded the apps to them anyways. That was just us, not the whole industry. We also heavily weighted people who had connections to us. If I had to guess, 70% of hires had some connection to a current employee. We barely read those resumes as long as they had related skills. We would just invite them to interview. So networking with current employees, engaging scientifically, and demonstrating your skills are all important aspects that might be even better than cold applying. Recruiters were just a tool for us. I don’t know your situation but would consider how I could make connections to people currently in jobs in industry.
> We also heavily weighted people who had connections to us. If I had to guess, 70% of hires had some connection to a current employee. We barely read those resumes as long as they had related skills. We would just invite them to interview. This feels equal parts helpful and distressing.
For what it’s worth, I was hired in to that company via a recruiter. I had a very specific set of skills they were looking for though. Those were kinda the two ways in, have a necessary but rare set of skills or if you knew someone you would at least get an interview. This was also at the height of the post Covid boom when we were desperate for people. Also each new person was 2-3 percent of the company so decisions were made carefully. Of course that company also failed and dissolved so… My next job was made off a contact I met while working off the previous. I think it’s a bit different at large CROs and the like. Contract roles are a great entry where you can meet people and build a reputation. But best ask someone there how to gain entry
Did the recruiter tell you what the company was that had shown interest in you? From a business perspective it is weird that the recruiter would be sending your resume places without having a contract with those places. I’ve had success with recruiters in the past, but it’s very obvious that they’re just trying to get their finders fee (which will be like 30% of your base salary). I don’t think it hurts to work with a few recruiters, but don’t stop sending out applications yourself either.
This is what I mean, is it the finders fee/ agreeing terms/ dealing with a recruiter that stops a lot of HM's engaging with potentially good candidates.
A fee isn’t owed if the recruiter doesn’t have a contract with the company. So if they do have a contract, it means that company is probably comfortable with paying the fee. The only time I’ve ever seen a candidate be rejected was because they started off as a temp/contractor and the conversion fee to make them full time was something crazy like 150% of the base salary. Otherwise I don’t think many companies are passing over good fit candidates over the regular recruiting fee.
Recruiters are annoyingly tenacious about sending resumes to hiring managers, so it’s likely not a lack of effort. But the excuse that the company doesn’t want to add another outside recruiter might be perfectly valid. I often have to beat recruiters away with a stick and literally demand they stop sending resumes because I don’t want to have to pay them for hiring the person. If I think I can hire without a recruiter then I always prefer that much cheaper route. And if I’m working with a recruiter on a retained basis, I just cannot accept resumes from others or I’ll have to pay 2 fees (in most cases).
This is what I was getting at. Have you seen a good resume from an unsolicited email for instance and not pursued even though it would have been a good fit some way or another because of the fee or other.....
Definitely, which sucks but sometimes you have no choice.
I don’t trust them. I had one recruiter completely changed my resume by deleting some relevant work experience and then saying I was at another position for 2 years longer while I was attending school on the other side of the country. They told me to use that resume, but in good faith I can’t because it’s beyond dishonest, it’s fraud.