The Importance of Building a Partnership with Your Recruitment Agency

At this time of year our office is flooded with phone calls. People have just received their salary increment and hard-earned bonuses and they’re not happy. They have itchy feet and vow they want to move.

When a candidate first calls in, here are a couple of questions I commonly get asked:

"I just got a salary increment but it is far below my expectations so now I feel it is time to move on. I know I am already paid above the market but I am looking for a minimum 30% pay increment for my next job. Is that reasonable?”

“I am currently not working and I have met a lot of recruiters already so I don’t want to waste my time talking to you if you don’t have an interesting role you are working on. Could we have a call when you have something for me?”

I appreciate what a frustrating process it is for candidates, and it highlights the importance of finding a good recruitment agency who can steer you in the right direction in your career. Recruiters are hired by organisations to find the perfect candidate for their open positions.

We are the middlemen between employers and talent, not unlike a matchmaker! We connect the perfect candidate with a great employer, and we represent both parties – for the employer, our role is to ensure the interview process from start to finish. We meet all candidates before they can be represented and during this meeting we assess the candidate’s suitability for immediate and future roles. For candidates, we take the time and effort to prepare you as much as we can to make sure you have a successful interview journey. I say interview journey because sometimes the interview process can be long and rather stressful. If there is good chemistry between the candidate and the employer then there is more likely to be a perfect match.

Your first interaction with a recruiter is your opportunity to leave a good first impression. Treat your first meeting with us as your first interview for the roles we are representing both presently and in the future. If the meeting goes well with us then it’s our priority to line you up with the best possible jobs. It pays to take the process seriously from the get go.

Candidates should also see us as their job search partner- many candidates of Elliott Scott have been working with myself or my colleagues for a number of years. We offer free advice and job search support throughout the different stages of your career. Every industry has its bad eggs, so it’s important to do some vetting before deciding which agency to trust with your career. Remember that people who don't get you don't deserve you, and never settle for less because you are worth it!