During my 8+ years working in the recruitment industry I do meet candidates regularly who have not dealt with a recruitment agency before and are unsure on how the process works. Here are some general tips you should keep in mind.

Call back – promptly!

Once you are registered with a recruitment agency, the recruiter you met with (or their colleagues), could call you with jobs opportunities, interview details, interview tips, feedback and most importantly job offers! If you get a missed call from your recruiter call them back ASAP! If we don’t hear back from you we will keep trying, and trying! Alternatively if we are calling about a last minute temp role we will have no other choice but to call another candidate and offer them to job instead.

Be honest with your recruiter – we won’t take it personally! If the role we offer you isn’t quite right, or you have another opportunity you are waiting to hear back on, we need to know. We appreciate honesty and transparency from the very beginning so we can keep our clients in the loop as well.

Don’t break commitments – not only will it damage the relationship between the recruiter and candidate, it will damage the relationship with the company we are working with as well. If there is any reason why you cannot commit to a role you are better off saying no from the beginning.

Keep us updated – recruiters are not mind readers unfortunately. If something has changed in your world, from holidays to short term temp roles, it’s important we know if your availability or circumstance has changed. If you have secured a role we’d love to hear from you so we can inform the team, and of course wish you well!

Take on advice – it’s free! We could provide you guidance on a multitude of things, from your resume, to upskilling, interview preparation and presentation. Please don’t take any advice to heart, we are here to help to make sure we have a win win outcome for everyone!

Understand sometimes things don’t work out – unfortunately even with all the preparation in the world sometimes you will not get the role you had your heart set on. It could be for skills reasons, or it could be completely out of our hands, such as the role was filled internally or the role was cancelled altogether. Trust me, we will share in your disappointment but we will continue to work together on the next opportunity!