#205 Top 5 Things Job Seekers Should Know About Recruiters with Glenn Hall (Archived Episode)

Do you know the biggest misconceptions job seekers have about recruiters? Join us as we sit down with Glenn Hall from Coltech Consulting to uncover the top five things recruiters wish job seekers knew. From debunking the myth that recruiters find jobs for candidates to elucidating the crucial role of applicant tracking systems, Glenn provides an insider's perspective on the recruitment process. Networking and personal branding are highlighted as game changers in capturing a recruiter's attention, while the so-called hidden job market is exposed as a mere illusion. This conversation is a treasure trove of practical advice for job seekers eager to navigate the complex landscape of job searching effectively.

Follow-up strategies can make or break your job search. In the next part of our discussion, we delve into the art of effective follow-up communication. Glenn Hall shares the value of sending both handwritten thank you notes and emails post-interview, and how to time these gestures correctly. Learn how to add value by addressing potential problems discussed during interviews and understand the importance of taking responsibility for your career decisions. Discover how recruiters prioritize referrals and why aligning with their immediate needs can keep you top of mind. This episode equips you with the tools to build stronger professional relationships and position yourself effectively in the job market.

Chapters

• 0:01 Recruiter Insights for Job Seekers
• 10:20 Navigating Job Search Conversations

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:01

Job seekers are constantly on the hunt for new opportunities, while recruiters are tirelessly searching for the ideal candidates. How can we align these two positions to make the job search process more efficient and reduce downtime for everyone involved? Well, in this archived episode, I visited with Glenn Hall to uncover the five things recruiters wish job seekers do. Whether you're navigating your own job search or working to connect with top talent, this episode is filled with insights that can help streamline the process, so let's dive in.

Speaker 2: 0:36

Welcome to the Scott Townsend Show brought to you by Dietzelman Productions.

Speaker 1: 0:43

You want to go into the top five things recruiters wish all job seekers knew. Oh man so.

Speaker 3: 0:53

I got a couple angles on this. All right, no update is a no until you are told about the next steps in the process as a job seeker and you're dealing with a recruiter or even somewhere where you've interviewed. If you haven't heard anything, you have to assume it's a no until you hear otherwise. Meaning the silence will kill a job seeker's soul.

Speaker 1: 1:30

Hey, this is Scott Townsend. Welcome back to the Scott Townsend show. And today I have with me a recruiter extraordinaire, glenn Hall, with Coltech Consulting. Glenn, how's it going? Good man, happy to be here, appreciate you.

Speaker 1: 1:41

Yeah, glad you could make it. I think this is going to make it, I think this is going to be uh, I know this is going to be an interesting topic. So glenn's with coltech consulting, he's a that's his business and he's a recruiter. And the manufacturing space, um, air and oil and gas, all that stuff. So all manufacturing, yes, all yeah. So he's had years of experience in recruiting and so he and I were talking the other day about you know what? What is it that recruiters want job seekers to know? So, glenn, glenn's got some ideas Five things every recruiter wishes job seekers knew. So those of you out there listening, watching, hopefully this will help you with your either job search or job transition. Or maybe you're looking to change jobs and you kind of want to get some inside baseball, aside from just the LinkedIn profile and the you know a nice resume, blah, blah, blah. So, glenn, I'm going to turn it over to you. What's the number? Should we go from one to five or five to one?

Speaker 3: 2:58

One to five is fine. I thought I'd start with three myths. Okay, all right. First myth Recruiters don't find jobs for you. They find people for jobs, not jobs for people. So we are contracted by clients, companies, who need specific talent. We have to go find that talent. If you're a job seeker and you hit up a recruiter but you don't fit what they need, you may not be able to again. They may want to work with you in the future, another opportunity down the line, whatever that looks like, but they may not be able to engage with you now because we are driven by client needs, not your needs as a job seeker. Yeah, okay, that's a good one to know. We are driven by client needs, not your needs as a job seeker.

Speaker 1: 3:47

Yeah, okay, that's, that's.

Speaker 3: 3:48

That's a good one to know, that's like a real estate agent where we work for the. We work for the seller, not the buyer Right.

Speaker 1: 3:55

Right Cool Number two number two myth.

Speaker 3: 4:01

Number two myth the applicant tracking system has a human looking at your resume. It's not lost in a black hole or whatever you think it is. There are lots of automation streaming this thing. We use all different systems. I use a system that goes out to probably 75 boards but there is a human looking at it at the end of the day. Looking at it at the end of the day. My counsel and encouragement focus on how you are getting that human to engage with your branding material. Purpose of a resume is a conversation that will never get you a job.

Speaker 1: 4:36

That's good to know too. So there is somebody looking.

Speaker 3: 4:42

Again, you get different versions of this right. Some of these large companies, tech companies especially that are hiring hundreds and thousands of literally extremely niche type jobs. They are very sophisticated in their systems with people, internal recruiters, sourcers versus recruiters, versus onboardings. It's lots of layers. My business is pretty simplistic compared to a lot of the recruiting empire's world because I work with a lot of small, privately held manufacturers in northeast oklahoma, central oklahoma. I do work with some bigger companies in the auto industry. Most of my clients do not have hr or even-house recruiting, I just work with the hiring manager direct Very different. So there's lots of layers to this.

Speaker 1: 5:30

Right, right, All right.

Speaker 3: 5:32

Number three Number three there is no, really there is no hidden job network and I only say that to say it can be found by your networking and connecting efforts as a job seeker. So all jobs exist out there in some level of public deal. But this sort of I call it an internet myth of the hidden job market, I actually kind of believe some of that. But in reality, if you're doing what we would coach at I coach as a career coach, I coach as just who you know, volunteer at Overcoming Job Transition If you're doing networking, connecting, you're going to go and end up where jobs are found, and this is beyond job boards, it includes job boards in that world of jobs so it's not what you know, it's who you know.

Speaker 1: 6:36

Is that what you're saying?

Speaker 3: 6:38

correct.

Speaker 3: 6:39

In nine years of recruiting we've tracked it. I have 60 of my placements have been people who are referred to me or I found through reaching out to them, like I connected to them in some way. And that can be as crazy as the brother of my specialist doctor who happened to ask about my supply chain book. I placed his brother 10 days later in a supply chain job. I placed his brother 10 days later in a supply chain job in Kansas. Who knew, right, miracle worker, that my doctor asked about a book I was carrying? Cause you normally in a doctor's office you're not asking about their family and right, if they need a job. He asked me at a placement in 10 days Crazy.

Speaker 3: 7:23

So you, you, by, by being connecting and you will uncover the hidden job market. People say, well, there's nothing on job boards. Your, your experience, your profile, your skills may not fit what is being posted out there at the moment by a recruiter or by a, a company or a or any kind of other firm. So think about that. That's crazy. You will find things that are hidden by reaching out and connecting and you have to have a value proposition know your story, connect you know, talk to people about their problems, ask them how you help them, how you help others, so you know. So the myth of a hidden job well, it's a hidden job board, man. I can't find it. What are you, where are your activity?

Speaker 1: 8:06

where is it taking you Is my sort of counter to that myth, right, you want to go into the top five things recruiters wish all job seekers knew. Oh man so.

Speaker 3: 8:22

I got a couple angles on this. All right, yeah, no update is a no until you are told about the next steps in the process as a job seeker and you're dealing with a recruiter or even a somewhere where you've interviewed. If you haven't heard anything, you have to assume it's a no until you hear otherwise. Meaning the silence will kill a job seeker's soul. The silence it kills a recruiter's soul when I don't hear from clients. But I have to assume no update is equal to a no. In how I plan my life I treat that as a recruiter. So if a client hasn't responded to my candidate, that I think is pretty good for them, I have to assume they're not interested in that candidate and we're moving on. Or we've got to find another home for that candidate at another client need Right, same thing. You haven't heard back from them. Maybe you had a great interview, whatever. Maybe they've gone silent Again. There's lots of things going on behind the curtain of a company that are valid business reasons for not to engage you. Your job is to move forward.

Speaker 1: 9:40

So how long should a person wait before they assume? You know it's probably not a day, but no, I counsel another.

Speaker 3: 9:51

That's a good one's a good segue be persistent, not a pest. That's another thing I find myself saying a lot. Be persistent, not a pest. So most job seekers are not persistent and they're certainly not pest. In fact, most of them are flies on the wall just waiting for the internet to find them in their corner of the earth. Yeah, well, that's man, that's brutal. But if you have your branding material again, you can get found. But this is about follow-up. You ask about follow-up, right, you know, initially, first of all write a handwritten thank you note. I said handwritten in the age of the internet, and we're on zoom Right, and and and send an email both. Like you know, I, you, you may interact with someone where you don't know their physical address. Well then, you obviously write an email, but do both, if you can, right, that's immediate. And then after that, seven no, no, more than seven days, follow up.

Speaker 3: 10:53

I would say for the first 30 days follow up every seven days. First month follow up every week, After that maybe every two or three weeks and you can go to monthly. I can tell you a story I once followed up with three people for 18 months monthly. Finally got a job. Hmm, yeah, again, don't be a desperately seeking job seeker. You know we did a movie desperately seeking Susan. Yeah, yeah, anyway, I'm old enough to that dates me. But anyway, add value. Right During that interview process you heard some things that they problems. They have. You read the link. Send them a link. You know, when you follow up, try to add some value.

Speaker 1: 11:42

All right, so be persistent. Not a pest. Did you hit number three, or are we at number?

Speaker 3: 11:48

That was number three.

Speaker 3: 11:49

That was number three yeah, no update is a no until you hear otherwise. Be persistent, not a pest is number three. Number four pointing fingers at others makes never serves you. We always use the uh this, you point a finger. Guess how many fingers are pointing back at me? Yeah, three, be very careful. Right, less is more, but you have to have a logical story as to why you're talking to the, your audience. Why'd you, why'd you leave your last job? And they've made they may have made the choice for you to leave, or you have made made the choice to leave, but you have to logically tell me your story and I like to hear people's logic of their moves and that's just. Work on that. Work on that with your friends. Talk to your trusted confidence.

Speaker 1: 12:42

Practice. So number one is no, update me as a no. Number two be persistent.

Speaker 3: 12:48

And number three is what Pointing fingers at others makes Pointing Okay. Pointing fingers at others makes Pointing okay. Pointing Pointing fingers at others points three back at yourself.

Speaker 1: 12:56

Yeah.

Speaker 3: 12:57

And then number four All experience is good experience. How are you positioning it for your current focus? I find myself saying that all the time and I am an advocate that you don't need a date. All experience depending on how you want to position yourself. We know, we know ageism exists. We I get, I still get clients requests, glenn, I want this person to be a certain age range and I go really I constantly steer that client back to okay, these are skills and abilities we want to your job as a job seeker communicate how you are unique and what problem you solve.

Speaker 3: 13:39

I believe all your experience is part of all your story. Maybe you're some of your earlier jobs. Maybe you're in a cash job right now that you don't want to put on your resume. That's fine, but it may be part of your story and you would appropriately position it as part of your story, right? I have literally had people cut experience off because I've been told to cut it off because of their age or whatever. Now I find out what it is, I go oh hey, I got another job. I literally put a lady into a different job than we started the conversation with once. I learned some of her prior experience. And again, sometimes people work at unique companies. I would put unique as you're in the military, whatever you did early in your life that makes you unique. That's not something to be hidden. I think it's something to be told as part of your story. Again, maybe you don't date it, maybe you minimize it, maybe we position it differently on your branding material.

Speaker 1: 14:42

Yeah, no-transcript and then, last but not least, number five. Oh man, you need a drum roll here let me.

Speaker 3: 14:52

It's not. It's not a build-up um, this is about recruiters. So we thrive on referrals. However, let's qualify that. We need them for our client needs number one we got a need for a hot, whatever it is. That's the referral. We need Number two clients who can use our services, clients that in our sector, in our industry, in our region, whatever it is, you work as a recruiter or again, know that Random job seekers not in our sector, not in our industry, not in our region, very distant.

Speaker 3: 15:30

Third Doesn't mean you can't help them, but it's just a lower priority. And a lot of recruiters give tons and tons of time because they're in the space volunteer-wise. Oh my gosh, it's way beyond overcoming job transition locally here in Tulsa. It's huge. There's a huge amount of recruiters out there who give very generously and create great tools and I've found them very helpful as I've gotten into recruiting, because I got into recruiting the last nine years, but for 20, what goodness, 24 years before that I was an engineering operations guy. I did a lot of recruiting in-house, hence I ended up as a recruiter, but I didn't grow up in HR recruiting.

Speaker 3: 16:12

So recruiters are looking for referrals 100% all the time and just know, when you help them, help their clients, you stay top of the mind.

Speaker 3: 16:25

So if I'm working with Scott he's a candidate in marketing but I don't have any marketing jobs, but Scott sends me this cool mechanical engineer that I end up placing or I end up working with or whatever I'm going to remember Scott. Funny how that works, right, even though Scott's trying to get a job or whatever he's trying to do himself. I'm going to remember Scott when he helps me with a more urgent need. Right, when you help your network, when you help others first, without any trying to get something out of it or do something for yourself, it's amazing how that comes back to you and I don't believe in karma, but I believe that it does work. You stay top of the mind by doing that. Hey, glenn, I met this person thought and some people don't quite dial that in the people that dial that in with your local recruiter, better, you're, a better resource for them. So know your, know your recruiter, especially, know their know your recruiter industry right, right so if so for you, for you if I was uh okay.

Speaker 1: 17:32

So I know Glenn Hall, he's a recruiter, he's in the manufacturing space, uh, he recruits for, um, manufacturing companies. So if I run across somebody who is uh looking for a job, let's say um, they're an engineer, or they're in the automotive, or they've had experience in aero, dive, aerospace or right uh, could be heavy equipment.

Speaker 3: 18:01

It could be oil and gas.

Speaker 1: 18:02

Oil and gas interesting and they say action here. So so then then what I would do then say, hey, glenn, I've got there's this guy over here. So do I reach out to the recruiter and tell them about this person, or do I tell the person to reach out to the recruiter?

Speaker 3: 18:19

It can be both. We talk about referrals at different levels. I'll get kind of blind ones and then I'll get people introducing us or asking permission and I think the better you can personalize that introduction with whatever level. We talk about a referral versus recommendation very different, right. If you're you can recommend someone you've I might. How I classify that? I've worked with them, I've dealt with them in a professional manner. Okay, referring someone can be lots of levels, right, I know them on a personal level, I've met them, I've gotten to know about their skills and abilities, or I don't even know them very well and it's kind of a second, third degree. Oh, okay, so the better you can personalize that referral to someone, the better I prioritize it on the top of my activity. Hence 60% of my placacements in nine years have come through the referral network. They always sort of inject themselves versus the blind applicants or people sort of blindly connecting to me.

Speaker 1: 19:24

No go ahead.

Speaker 3: 19:25

Just it's encouragement for your network activity. It works best that way in all phases, but especially even interacting with recruiters and recruiters don't always call back, but we're listening right, like your network is. I would encourage you to think about.

Speaker 1: 19:44

Well, Glenn, I know you got to go, but I really appreciate your time and the top three myths and the top five things recruiters wish job seekers knew. So, yeah, that was really very good. We'll have to have you back sometime and maybe we'll do a top 10 list or something.

Speaker 3: 20:02

Okay, man, Thank you for your time. Man Appreciate you.

Speaker 1: 20:05

So for Glenn Hall, this is Scott Townsend. Thanks for watching and listening to. Is scott townsend.

Speaker 2: 20:08

Thanks for watching, listening to the scott townsend show is a Dietzelman production. For more episodes, visit the Scott Townsend Show YouTube channel. Listen on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.