What a Recruitment Agency can do for your Career
Have you noticed that most companies nowadays search for their new employees through a recruitment agency? Doing this has many benefits for the company, but you might think it’s a negative trend for you as the job candidate, putting a barrier between you and the employer. However, using a recruitment agency has benefits for you as well. Let’s have a look at what a recruitment agency can do for your career.
Access to jobs
The most obvious benefit you have if you use a recruitment agency is that they have direct access to a large pool of jobs.
Many employers can’t spare the time to review allresumesand applications they receive and therefore won’t advertise directly and accept direct applications. For you this means that a large number of jobs which will be of interest to you would never be open for you to apply for unless you use a recruitment agency.
They might even have access to jobs that haven’t been advertised yet or never will be publicly advertised as the recruiting company doesn’t want the vacancy to be publicly known. These are usually advertised by the recruitment agency without using the employers’ name.
Connections
Recruitment agencies also have often strong connections with hiring managers in major companies. Their long-standing relationships mean that the consultant knows exactly what the employer is looking for, but also that the employer places a certain level of trust in the recruitment consultant. This means that there is a good chance that the recruitment agency is recommending you if you really impress them or if they had previous good experience with you when they placed you for another company. A recommendation from the consultant can get you a big step closer to getting the job.
Experience and practical advice
There is no question that recruitment agencies have a lot of experience in the job market. After all, that’s their job. They are able to review your position in the job market and tell you if your expectations are realistic.
They are also able to give you practical advice on improving your resume or cover letter as well as help you polish up your interview skills. These little pointers can make a big difference to your ability to get the job you job.
Recruitment agencies often also will receive feedback on how well your interview went or why your resume was rejected. This feedback can be very valuable to help you to improve or future applications and rarely is provided directly from the employer to the job candidate.
The agency might even be able to help you with your salary negotiation. This is of course in their own interest as they will be paid a percentage of your annual salary.
Matching service
Recruitment agencies also might point you in a different direction which can be beneficial for your career. With their knowledge of the job market, recruiting companies and their expectations you might apply for one specific job but then advised that they’d like to put you forward for a different job with your permission. As they have a lot of knowledge and experience in matching job candidates skills with employer expectations and needs this might help you to get a job that you hadn’t thought of yourself rather than continuing to try to get a specific type of job for which you are not sufficiently qualified. This can give your career a big boost or even put your career path in a new direction.
Internationality
Many recruitment agencies also work on an international if not global level. If you are trying to get a job abroad they therefore can be a god-sent. They have the connections, know the market and can assist in travel arrangements to get you to the job interview or even provide you withweb conference callfacilities for an interview without travel.
Recruitment agencies may seem to you as a gatekeeper on the first glance, but whilst this is part of their role they can also help you to move your career forward and get a great job you might not have been able to find without their help and they therefore can do a lot for your career.
