Candidates - How to Select a Recruiting Firm/Staffing Company

When you're unemployed or looking for a career change, it's tempting to think that a professional can help you land the perfect job. A recruiter's role is to help match your experience and interests up with a similar open position. A good recruiter can provide you with helpful job leads and advice on how to best position yourself to land a job. Here is a check list of items to consider:

Recruiters Know Where the Jobs Are

Administrative assistants, IT professionals, doctors, lawyers, CFOs, and construction workers, to name a few, have found careers through the recruiting profession. Recruiting firms in the United States have jobs in virtually all occupations, including some that might be considered out of the ordinary, such as restaurant maître des, teachers, business managers, dentists and dental hygienists.

Businesses of all sizes and specialties turn to recruiting firms for access to talent. They know that recruiting/staffing companies are experts in recruiting and matching employees.

Recruiters Are Specialists

It's important to find a recruiter or recruiting firm that specializes in your field. Use the NAPS directory to find a specialist. Ask friends and former colleagues if they have anyone they would recommend. Interview a potential recruiter to find out exactly what they promise to deliver. Ask for references and their success rate of placing people within your field of interest. Ask them to evaluate your resume and let you know, upfront, what they think of their potential to place you. Develop the relationship with the recruiter that you choose. If you have a good relationship with a recruiter, they might keep you in mind when another job opens up.

Know Whose Paying Their Bill

Recruiters either receive a placement fee from a firm or they charge job seekers a flat fee for identifying job leads and securing interviews. In this day and age, most recruiters will receive their fee from the hiring or client company, and, for the most part, only when the fire is made. The incentive is for the recruiter to perform. If you're paying a recruiter to find you job openings, then they work for you. Recognize up front whom your recruiter is working for.

Is The Recruiter Certified?

Aligning the most qualified candidates with staffing needs is an essential and complex task in business, one that should be entrusted to a certified professional. Certification ensures knowledgeable, experienced recruiters and staffing professionals meld the right candidate with the right company and that they follow the rules clearly defined by the federal, state and local government. A certified recruiter brings the following to the table:

• Knowledge of current employment laws and procedures, as well as business operations and ethics.
• Service of the highest quality to meet the needs of both candidate and company.
• Ethics, by adhering, to NAPS Standards of Ethical Practices.
• Commitment, credibility and dedication to the staffing industry.

The designation that follows an individual’s name is the industry’s badge of professionalism and seal of excellence. It is recognized, as the staffing industry’s highest standard, and it is the public’s assurance of quality service.

To learn more about who is certified, visit The National Registry of Certified Staffing Industry Professionals, or www.nrcsip.com.

To learn more about what certification or credentialing is all about, click here.

Regardless of whom you use, you'll still need to take the ultimate responsibility in finding your new job or career. This means managing your job search wisely, preparing well by having excellent materials (including your resume, letters of reference, work samples, etc.) and developing excellent interviewing skills.