23 Answers to Questions About Recruiters (2024) | Apollo Technical (2024)

As a job seeker, you may have questions about recruiters if you have never worked with one in the past.

As a technical staffing agency, we answer 23 questions about recruiters commonly asked by candidates who may or may not have worked with a recruiter before and are currently in the recruitment process.

How do you politely decline a job offer from a recruiter?

Just be honest when declining a job offer from a recruiter, recruiters are used to rejection it’s part of the job. For example, you could say, after much thought, I have decided to accept another job opportunity that is more in line with my long term goals.

The worst thing you can do is ignore the recruiter when they are waiting for you to give feedback on an offer.

Not only does it make you look unprofessional but it makes the recruiter look bad in the eyes of the employer they are working on behalf of.

A good recruiter will understand you turning down the offer and will still keep you informed of other opportunities down the road.

However, if you ignore them, you can rest assured they won’t forget and most likely will not consider you for future openings.

Avoid burning bridges, turn down the offer quickly if you’re not interested.

Is it better to use a recruiter?

In most cases, it is better to use a recruiter to find a job but that doesn’t mean you should wait around for them to find you a position.

When seeking a new career opportunity you should implement several strategies as a job seeker including looking for jobs on your own and using recruiters at the same time.

Recruiters often have direct access to hiring managers and can advocate for an interview on your behalf.

Why you shouldn’t use a recruiter?

You shouldn’t use a recruiter if you have already applied to the same position directly with a company.

Should I pay a recruiter to find me a job?

You should never pay a recruiter to find you a job and any recruiter requesting money for any reason is most likely scamming you. Employers use staffing agency recruiters as a service and they compensate the recruiter for finding you.

Why you should work with a recruiter?

Recruiters have access to a wide variety of job openings with employers that are not advertised on job boards.

Rather than having to write emails yourself or use an AI email writer. Technical recruiters can be pushy with hiring managers on your behalf to set up interviews quickly.

Recruiters help you throughout the entire job-seeking process from start to finish acting as your advisor and advocate every step of the way.

General and engineers recruiters act as the middle man when negotiating pay and can push for more money without jeopardizing the job offer. The more money you make the more money the recruiter makes.

By letting a recruiter have your resume it will stay in their database and they can continuously inform you when new job openings come as long as you are seeking new opportunities.

Do recruiters get paid for interviews?

Recruiters do not get paid anything for interviews, they are only compensated if the employer hires a candidate that has interviewed through the recruiter’s agency.

How honest should you be with a recruiter?

Being 100% honest with a recruiter, tell them about your career goals, skillset, and the type of company you wish to work at. Giving the recruiter the best most accurate information possible will put them in a better position to get you a job.

Do recruiters take a cut of your salary?

Recruiters do not take a cut of your salary. The company the staffing agency places you at however does compensate the recruiter based on a percentage of your first year’s salary if the employer and recruiting agency have a contingency agreement in place.

Is it Ok to ask a recruiter about a salary?

Talking about money with a recruiter is important, you want to make sure the compensation is in your ballpark before proceeding with the recruitment process on the job opening.

You want to be upfront and honest about the compensation you want. This will save you and the recruiter a lot of wasted time if the position there talking with you about is not in your salary range.

It’s in a recruiter’s best interest to get you the most money possible.

Why do recruiters go silent?

Recruiters go silent for a variety of reasons. Often times they haven’t received any information from the manager yet to give you feedback.

A good recruiter will always communicate with you especially if you have reached out about a position you are already working with each other on.

Like with any industry, there are good and bad recruiters and many bad ones don’t get back with you in a timely fashion.

Do recruiters really call your previous employer?

Technical recruiters call previous employers for references frequently. Employers working with recruiters expect them to check references and screen candidates before submitting them for a role.

Employers don’t want to waste time with candidates who have bad references or troubled work histories.

What does it mean if a recruiter reaches out to you?

A recruiter reaches out to you because they think you may be a fit for the position they are working on. If you are exploring opportunities you will want to call them back promptly to hear about the opportunity before they move on to other candidates they are considering for the job opening.

Should I tell the recruiter about other interviews?

Telling a recruiter you have other interviews helps them establish how hard they need to push a manager if the company is interested in hiring you as an employee.

A good recruiter will inform the employer that you have other interviews and this will ideally speed up the interview process and hasten a potential offer.

You should also inform the recruiter if you already have offers on the table and what the compensation is for each offer, this way they are in a better position to negotiate for more money on your behalf.

Do recruiters call on weekends?

Recruiters do call on the weekends especially if they are on a tight deadline and need to find candidates quickly for an employer. Often times recruiters call on weekends because it is easier to get a hold of a job seeker who is not at work.

How do recruiters get paid?

Most agency recruiters have a base salary and are paid commissions by placing candidates with companies they recruit on behalf of. When an agency recruiter places a candidate on a direct-hire contingency basis they are paid a percentage based fee calculated off the job seeker’s first-year salary.

How do recruiters find clients?

Recruiters find clients in a variety of ways including cold calling companies, email marketing, Google ads, SEO marketing, direct mail marketing, networking events, and industry trade shows.

How do recruiters find candidates?

Recruiters find candidates in many different ways including, job boards, social networks, business networks, networking events, sourcing tools, online job ads, radio ads, referrals, and networking candidates they speak with.

Can recruiters tell your current employer you’re looking?

A recruiter has nothing to gain by telling your current employer you’re seeking a new job opportunity. It would be unethical to jeopardize your position with your current employer.

Do recruiters read cover letters?

Agency recruiters usually do not read cover letters. Generally, they are reading and scanning hundreds of resumes per day for keywords and phrases trying to find the best candidates for a position as quickly as possible.

Corporate recruiters however may be more inclined to read a cover letter so it’s a good idea to send one when you are applying directly to a company.

Do recruiters use LinkedIn?

Linkedin is a platform that almost every type of recruiter uses to find qualified candidates. It’s basically another type of resume where you can post information about yourself and look at job opportunities passively.

Make sure you create a Linkedin profile when you are seeking new career opportunities and add common keywords and software systems you have used under each job you’ve worked at.

Can you text a recruiter?

Some recruiters encourage applicants to use “text to apply” to start the recruitment process. Texting recruiters is fine so long as you abide by professional text message etiquette.

Do recruiters use job boards?

Most recruiters use job boards as a part of their overall recruitment strategy. If you are an active job seeker looking for a new position immediately you should post your resume check our article on the best job search websites to see which ones work best for you.

Should I work with multiple recruiters?

Working with multiple recruiters is fine, as long as it’s not for the same position at the same company. You want to put as many lines in the water as possible to get the best job possible.

What should I do when multiple recruiters call me about the same position?

You should work with the recruiter that called you first about the position and inform the second recruiter that you are already working with an agency.

This will protect you from what in the industry’s called a “double submittal” which can jeopardize you getting the position if two recruiting agencies start fighting over who submitted you first.

If you are a job seeker looking for opportunities in the IT, design or engineering fields give our staffing agency a call or send us your resume