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Why Recruiters Say 'It's An Employer's Market'

This article is more than 9 years old.

Rrring!

MOLLY (picking up phone and pressing Speaker button):  Molly Campbell!

ASHWIN: Hi Molly! Hi Liz! It's Ashwin.

LIZ: Hi Ashwin!

ASHWIN: Excellent news to report! I got the first offer!

MOLLY: From the device people?

ASHWIN: Yes. We talked yesterday and they sent me the paper offer letter by Fedex. They do things the old-fashioned way.

LIZ: Congratulations!

ASHWIN: I'm waiting for the other folks to make an offer today or tomorrow.

MOLLY: Should we talk about a three-way negotiation? You still have irons in the fire. Is one of these offers the one you want?

ASHWIN: These two are at the top of my list. Let's talk about negotiating with these two companies. If somebody else moves fast and gives me a third offer, we'll get back on the phone and juggle everything around.

LIZ: That sounds great.

ASHWIN: I have another question, though.

MOLLY: Shoot!

ASHWIN: It's very strange. The market is heating up like crazy. I feel like these last several years of wandering in the desert are finally paying off.

MOLLY: You deserve it.

ASHWIN: Thank you for saying that. I believe that. Here's the thing. I got a call from a recruiter today, a guy I don't know. He placed my friend Evan in a job, evidently - that's what he told me. I have to call Evan and check him out.  I don't know about this guy.

LIZ: Why do you say that? Was it a sketchy call?

ASHWIN: It was. He called me about a job with a company I had heard of once or twice. I wasn't that impressed by the opportunity, and I didn't tell him that I was dealing with competing job offers already. I don't even know the guy. I kept that to myself.

MOLLY: Okay.

ASHWIN: And he started right away telling me how I'd be lucky to get an interview with this company that he's working for, or that he says he's working for. He kept talking about how hard it is to get into a good company, like I've never held a job before. I'm listening to this guy talk and I'm thinking, "Dude, I've been working for fifteen years. You're looking at my LinkedIn profile. Why are you telling me how tough the market is? You called me!"

LIZ: I love it, Ashwin! Do you hear yourself?

MOLLY: Look at the muscles you've grown.

ASHWIN: Well, I feel like when I didn't have my mojo going for me, I would have listened to the guy and thought he was right. Now I'm on the job market and things are moving fast. I think I'm a good hire. I'm a good worker. I know what I know and what I don't know. I don't need to grovel to get a job -- you guys have helped me a lot with that. I just couldn't believe this guy. He kept saying "It's an employer's market." I am on the market, so I should know! That's false. It is not an employer's market.

MOLLY:  You're right, Ashwin, but that recruiter doesn't want you to be as well-informed as you are. The more needy and fearful a candidate is, the more the recruiter can mold and shape him or her to suit his own needs.

ASHWIN: I was basically biting my lip because I wanted to say to the guy "Really? It's that hard to get an interview? I've had four interviews in five weeks. I'm expecting two jobs offers today." I kept my mouth shut. It's none of his business. But I want to know why. Why would a recruiter spend ten minutes telling me how bleak the landscape is? What's in it for him?

MOLLY: Everything! That's a strategy.

LIZ: When I was a kid, I walked into a storefront employment agency looking for a job. I was nineteen. I wanted a clerical job, answering the phones or whatever. The first thing I noticed about the employment agency ladies was the way they talked down to me. They sat there and told me it would be a miracle if I could get a job. They talked to me like I was the biggest loser they had ever seen.

MOLLY: It's an act. It's a ploy. If you  believe that you're so unworthy that you'd be lucky to get a job, you're much easier to place.

ASHWIN: How?

MOLLY: Because then you'll take the first offer you get. It's brainwashing. Good recruiters don't tell you that garbage. Only bad recruiters do.

ASHWIN: Here's what I don't understand. If they place you in a higher-paying job, they get a better commission.

LIZ: True, but the same goes for real estate agents. If they sell your house for a higher price, their commission goes up - but it's not worth the wait and worry! If you price your house aggressively, meaning at a lower price, it'll fly off the market. Bada bing, bada boom, let's set a closing date. The few extra thousand dollars in commission don't warrant the hassle. Move 'em in, move 'em out.

ASHWIN: Cynical.

MOLLY: Who pays the recruiter, after all? The employer does. Are they telling the recruiter "We want someone fantastic for this job, so go ahead and give us your highest-priced candidate?"

ASHWIN: I see what you're saying. Risky strategy for the recruiter, the more educated job-seekers become.

MOLLY: Risky for the recruiter, and for the employer, too. Top-drawer organizations and recruiters don't even trifle with that nonsense. They know the market and they know what skills are worth. If a hiring manager or an HR person is out of touch with the market, a good recruiter will set them straight.

ASHWIN: And a bad one will work on the job-seeker's self-esteem so that he or she feels fortunate even to be considered.

LIZ: Exactly. We have a friend whose background was worth about a hundred and twenty thousand dollars a year. He was holding out for that number, as of course we advised him to do. He got a call about a job in New York. It would have required a cross-country move for him and his family. The recruiter said "I don't see you getting a six-figure job in your area for two or three years at the earliest."

ASHWIN: I hope your friend hung up on the recruiter.

MOLLY: Close enough. He told the recruiter to go fly a kite. He got a great job for a hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars about eight weeks later.

ASHWIN: You have to believe in yourself. People have ulterior motives that are not always pure.

MOLLY: Truer words were never spoken. Let's talk about negotiation, and plan your new-job celebration!