First Come, First Served Recruiting

In this hot market, one can only guess how many recruiters are hitting the phones, sending emails, and texting IT professionals. There are at least 150-200 local IT recruiters here in Kansas City, and likely double that working KC opportunities from locations as far away as India. It all adds up to a constant barrage of requests to consider your "next career move" or work at "the best company in Kansas City."

Sound familiar?

If you're not considering a move you probably ignore the messages however, if you are considering a move, what's "fair" when it comes to multiple recruiters contacting you about the same job at the same client? If your answer is "First Come, First Served" please consider the following and ask some questions before you give your permission to be submitted to a client.

Your relationship with the recruiter.
Is this the first time you've ever connected to this person, or is it someone you've dealt with in the past that you trust? If you don't know the person on the other end of the line from Adam is there a recruiter you do know and trust that may be able to represent you for the position? When you have an ongoing relationship with a recruiter they are going to be much more effective representing your interests at the client than a "newbie." If they're new to you, find out what you can about the job & call the recruiter you know before agreeing to be submitted.

The recruiter's relationship with the client.
Sometimes the "newbie" has a heads-up & that gives them a leg up on the person you know. Sometimes the "newbie" is recruiting off a job posting they saw on CareerBuilder and is fishing for candidates they can sub-contract to the primary agency. Then there's everything in between. The recruiter that has the stronger relationship with the decision makers (generally not the HR folks) is going to have better odds of getting you a meeting.

The recruiter's knowledge of the market.
Obvious question - who is going to be better connected, and have a better handle on the IT market in KC - a 1st year recruiter working a call center in Denver or a recruiter who has been in market for 10+ years? New recruiters working for local firms are going to be somewhat immune to this because they have other staff members with good local knowledge to support them, but they are still new recruiters and require a little more information from you than a veteran.

Compensation, Benefits & Employment Terms
If there are six agencies recruiting a job at a client there are going to be at least six different options for you to consider. Is this going to be a salaried position with full benefits, paid time off & paid bench time when the assignment comes to an end? Do you even WANT a salaried position with those types of benefits? Speaking of benefits - cost of benefits varies wildly between agencies. If one agency offers $40 an hour, but benefits are $500 more a month than the agency offering $37 an hour, the $40/hr rate actually pays you less.

There are other less critical things you may want to consider such as mileage reimbursements & 401k vesting schedules but until you can answer questions related to the four above topics you should not be giving your permission to send your resume to a client to any agency.

First Come, First Served is a disservice to you.