If you’ve ever searched for a job and been frustrated by the lack of results of unfi twitter, you know that recruiters are really in control. And if you’ve ever applied for a new job, only to find yourself receiving more communications from recruiters than actual replies from hiring managers, then this blog post is for you.
In it we’ll go over the four worst types of recruiter apps, how they affect applicants like yourself and what can be done about them. Along with working on your resume and applying through company websites directly to avoid these app games in the future.
1. Recruiter App Shuffle
The first type of recruiter app is the most basic.
The recruiter will email you about a job, ask you to apply and then disappear not to be heard from again. Until the next time they feel like it, anyway.
When applicant tracking systems were in their infancy, recruiters used this method quite often to get people they didn’t want to talk to or that weren’t really qualified on the phone so they could tell them why they couldn’t hire them. To recruiters this was convenient because they didn’t want to go through the messy process of dealing with an interview themselves and it worked nearly every time.
2. The “Finalist”
The “Finalist” recruiter app comes in two forms. The first is the recruiter will email you about a job and then call you after you apply. The other is that they will call and tell you that you made it to the finals. And then say nothing else.
When recruiters use this app they are usually trying to get a verbal commitment out of you without having to pay any real price themselves (i.e., an interview). Recruiters don’t actually want to deal with an interview or even a phone screen, they just want your resume and some kind of commitment from you so they can go back to their hiring manager with some kind of proof that they did something for them.
3. The Job Confirmer
The third recruiter app is a variant of the “Finalist.”
Like the “Finalist,” you will be told that you made it to the finals. But, instead of being silent after that, this recruiter will call and tell you that they will be setting up an interview with their company for you. This is usually done in an attempt to get your commitment to them over other job offers without having to go through all of the same steps that they would if they were recruiting someone off the street or through an open posting.
4. The Job Finder
The fourth recruiter app can be found in many different ways. It’s called the “Job Finder,” “Job Seeker,” or “Employer.” It seems like most job boards these days have someone that is supposed to do something called a job search. They are generally useless and will probably send you the same recruiters over and over again who never actually ever interview anyone anyways.
What the recruiter app does differently than the previous three is it doesn’t need you to first have a phone screen or an interview with them before they can tell you they will contact you. And they don’t need to go through all of that red tape either. That’s why this app is so effective for them. What it does do is cut out a lot of the steps that companies need to go through to bring someone on board and make them eligible for benefits.
How to Get Around Them:
Before you even bother applying for any jobs, you should be able to just apply directly through your company’s website. One of the best ways to do this is with Applicant Tracking Systems. These are programs that applicant tracking systems use when they already have a job and want to get new applicants that aren’t actually coming from their own HR department or recruiting staff–they use these programs instead.
In order for an applicant tracking system to be able to identify you, your first application has to have your full name and email address. Once again, pretty much every source of job applications will give you a link where you can go in and change this information if the recruiter app doesn’t.
In order to get around these types of recruiting scams, all they have to do is put a pause on their application programs until they can find out who really sent the application. If they can’t find you, they can just call up your company and ask. If they can’t get someone to answer, they hear that the application was from an application tracking system and identify the person who put the name in there. Pretty easy to figure out who you are that way.
When you do have interviews with recruiters, make sure to keep everything as professional as possible. The recruiter will usually be very intimidating at first. But really, most of these people are just looking for your resume so it’s best to not engage them in conversation at all if you don’t want them believing that it’s personal.
