Should you have an agent (recruiter) like Alex Rodriguez?

Um, YES! That is our answer. You determine your own answer after reading this.

Follow me on this one. Let’s try and understand the facts for what they are for a moment, and leave our own presumptions aside. Let’s let the curtain of perception unveil reality and face it for what it is. And since the season just officially started, let me use baseball as my sport of choice to illustrate the points that I want to drive home in this article.

Undeniable Fact: One of the reasons that Baseball players make the substantial money they make is because they HAVE an agent, not because they DON’T HAVE ONE!

No, I am not a professional sports agent. And no, I am not a professional sports team negotiator. But, as a job recruiter, I do share some of the basic business model components of a professional agent for sports athletes. On the surface, we both help negotiate earnings for our candidates in working with our clients, leaving that daunting task out of the hands of the applicant themselves, who may not be experienced enough to wade through a not-so-easy to understand hiring process.

Would baseball players really be earning the money and endorsement contracts they earn today without the injection of sports agents? I am a realist and therefore, highly doubt it. It wasn’t until these sports agents surfaced that big money in MLB became a norm and expectation for the athletes entering the arena.

And just like a sports agent, we as recruiters know when a particular company (team) may be looking for a particular position (player), and can work towards connecting those two dots with a great deal of efficiency and pure speed. You see, timing is everything when it comes to job placement. Employers understand this and realize the return on investment from using a reputable recruiting firm.

Today, like so many others, we are convinced at the reality that a candidate will do much better all around with a recruiter than without one… and for many reasons, some of which I would like to share. And it just confuses me why job applicants don’t see this for what it really is. Like so many other things in life, the perception hides the reality. C’est la vie.

Here is an example of why an agent or recruiter is something you want when you are seeking a job. As recruiters, we have long-term relationships with hiring managers. We have focused on job placement processes for years and understand the many complexities involved with job search and placement. We receive candid feedback from hiring managers shortly after an interview is completed. All of this allows us to quickly determine if a candidate and client are a good mutual fit. We don’t have to wait weeks to find out the answer.

And sometimes those weeks of waiting can prove to be invaluable time lost to a job candidate. You see hiring managers, or interviewers, by and large will not persuade you to believe one way or the other if you are “the one”. It’s just not something they do, nor is it good practice for them. So, many times, candidates come out of an interview with the warm and fuzzies believing that they did so well that they feel they will get an offer. They are told the much heard comment, “Ok, great. It was a pleasure to meet you. Everything looks great. Give us a few more weeks to go through the other potential candidates and we will reach for you”. In many cases, that same day we get the call and find out the reality.

You see, many times a candidate with the warm and fuzzies will play that waiting game, believing they got the job when in fact they did not. Those weeks can sometimes cost thousands in lost revenue to an individual, even worse, during that waiting period there could have been another opportunity that would have been a good fit that they now have passed on. The reality is you may have been good, but someone else may have been better or at least better represented!

What made me write this article is an occurrence that happened just a few weeks ago. We were working on a $130,000 - $150,000 range open position for a company in Massachusetts. We actually had two of our candidates go through their first round of interviews.

We would have had an immediate third when I reached out to a previous potential candidate of ours to see if he also was interested. He informed me that he had actually already interviewed for that very same position and felt pretty good, and in fact was just waiting for a formal offer from the company itself. I asked him “Why, did they give you some feedback indicating this”?

He told me that he got the interview on his own so he didn’t get any feedback other than from his own feelings on how he felt about how well the interview went. In his own mind and his words, the interview went very well and he really felt sure that he was going to wrap it up within a few weeks.

He also, very confidently might I add, said since he got the interview on his own and not through an agency that he would probably get an offer for $175K not the $150K that I spoke to him about. I asked him why he thought this. He said because the client would be saving money from not having to pay a fee to a recruiter.

Well, less than a week later I received an offer from the company for one of my two candidates that I had interview. The offer that I received was in fact a little more than the range offered. This other gentleman was in fact right about at least one thing I guess.

The feedback that I received was that both of my candidates were actually the top one and two candidates for the position. I asked them about this other gentleman and they told me that he was a good candidate but was simply that he was not a good fit for the role they needed to fill.

You see, his own personal (un-experienced) feedback that he confidently believed in was misguided. He was wrong. Worse, he tried to negotiate outside of the offered range and more than likely mentioned the fact that he wasn’t working with a recruiter as if he was going to “save” them money when he was in fact attempting to take these savings and pay himself for years to come. He actually thought he was smarter than them I guess. And this was an accounting position so this candidate must not have looked too bright when he mentioned these comments… for obvious reasons that need not be mentioned.

So should you use a recruiter? We will let you determine that answer.

For more advice and information, please visit http://www.jtlservices.com/

Greg Angelillo
Online Editor
JTL Services, Inc.
725 Meriden-Waterbury Turnpike
Southington, CT 06489
Phone: (860) 426-0583
FAX: (860) 628-5008

216 East Chatham Street, Suite 101
Cary, NC 27511
Phone: (919) 465-7289
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