guidance counselor 2.0 · episode 49
recruiter ama
key takeaways
- ask recruiters specific questions upfront using a structured guide before committing to calls.
- craft dms with flattery, ask for specific time, and pose a real question to get responses.
- most recruiter outreach goes nowhere so keep talking to multiple recruiters and check in regularly.
- junior devs stand out with clean resumes using consistent formatting and documented side projects.
- ask contract to hire recruiters about conversion salary, pto, benefits, and whether it's a true conversion role.
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about this episode
get answers to common recruiter questions about job search strategy, dm tactics, resume tips, and contract work.
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full transcript
auto-generated from the audio, so expect a few typos. the audio is the source of truth.
All right, let's go ahead and dive into the show this morning. So questions. So let's go to Eric's questions first. And again, so if you have questions about working with the recruiter, please ask me TikTok, ask me Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, Twitter, ask me questions at me, call me any questions you've always want to ask recruiters. I'm here, I'm open book, we'll do this long as the questions come in. So again, ask me any questions. Here we go, first question. No, Eva, you did not miss it. I'm just now getting started. So ask me any questions that you want to ask. Yes, definitely terrified. Not knowing where to start when you finally get up with a recruiter, it gets to nowhere.
So yes, so Eric brings up a good question. So Eric says not knowing where to start when you finally get up with a recruiter and go nowhere because they ghost or lead you to nowhere. And so here is my suggestion. First off, I'm going to tell you this. The job seekers, you're going to kiss a lot of frogs. I'm just Aaron, I appreciate you, buddy. Have a great Tuesday. It's good to see a big dog. I hope your new job's going well. Listen, Eric, the biggest thing I would say is you're going to have to kiss a lot of frogs. There's a lot of recruiters out there that were really bad at what we do.
We don't really know how to communicate. We are so tied to metrics. We have to go, go, go, go, go. That a lot of people get lost in the shuffle. So I will tell you this. First off, when you're looking for a recruiter, I would only, if a recruiter DMs you, Eric, you need to go to my website, download the 10 questions or stuff a recruiter and just say, hey, Mr. Mr. Mr. recruiter, thank you for your DM about a job. Can you answer these questions for me? They should at least get halfway through those questions. At least answer half of them. I would also tell you this, Eric, if you find a recruiter that you don't get a lot of good vibes on, I would say, just move on.
I think a lot of times a job seekers go, I feel like I need to message back every recruiter. I don't want to burn a bridge. Listen, the recruiters don't care about you. I'm just going to say it. The recruiters do not care about you as much as you think they care about you. And say that again, where recruiters don't care about you. Recruiters, they don't care about you as much as you think they care about you. And so you have to move a little quickly. But if you find a few that you really, really enjoy, Eric, I would absolutely keep them close and keep checking in.
Checking in is vital. I am so all over the place. I am all over the place right now that the people who check in with me shoot me a text of the most of the ones that stay top of mind. So continue to do that. But I want to, you know, do not get disturbed. Get discouraged. Most of the contacts that reach out to you as a recruiter will not go anywhere. So that's why you need to keep moving, keep talking, keep talking. So there's two ways to recruiters. One is the people that DM you, which mostly are terrible. And then go out and find you some, which is what I would recommend, which is then I would do the two and two rule, right?
The two and two rules of unofficial rule that I came up with, I would only message a recruiter that's been at that company for at least two years and has been in the industry for longer than two years. Anything less than that, you run into probably somebody not being that great. Eric, I hope that answers your question. Please let me know if it does not. Few people, two students, John, good morning. Aaron, Danny, you have it terrible. Danny, it's good to see you. It's two days in a row, big dog. I appreciate you. Another question from Andrew, how do I avoid HR in your straight supercurement slash supplier slash diversity?
How do I avoid HR and go to procurement supplier diversity? It's less than I don't know. I don't have a sort of voltage. I think it's network over LinkedIn, right? So if you're trying to get to a certain part of an organization, it's messaging people on LinkedIn. It's tactical things, right? I had a conversation actually yesterday with Becky. She is on this. I had a conversation with Becky back in good morning. Yesterday, just about like, if you feel weird asking for things for you, don't ask for things for you, just go out and ask about somebody else, right? So, Andrew, let's say you're trying to get to procurement supplier diversity teams.
You know, I'd mess up any, hey, listen, I'm fascinated with the organization and what they're doing from a diversity perspective. Who do I speak to? I would love to have a conversation with them and what makes them so passionate about doing that. It would be game changer, right? It would be an absolute game changer. So definitely focus on that. I hope I answered your question. Andrew, please let me know if it does not. Aaron, I have a coding boot. Yeah, please send, my side is kind of a place where it's a hub for everybody, especially from a junior dev presidot things. Eva, has there also gained congrats on the job girl.
Awesome place to end up at. My wife shoots for Beachbody. So that's pretty cool. Has there been uptake in low quality open recs lately? I will say there has always been low quality recs openly. I think low quality is obviously going to be different for each recruiter and each hiring manager. But for me, yes, I would say at the end of the day, there has been an uptick because there are most, there are most managers want people on site and it's terrible. So yeah, that's my answer to that. There's always been terrible job orders. Now there's just more terrible job orders because companies don't know what's going on.
Eva, one question, oh hey, speaking of which, I couldn't find the link to your website for the recruiting questions. Yeah, so tailedesthen.com backslash free guides. Let me type that up real quick. Hold on real fast. Let's see here, haloedesthen.com backslash free guides. I think that's it. Let me see, hold on. Yep, that's it. So do this, I'd be there. Check it out. That is where you get the 10 questions, stuff for recruiter and my resume template. Oh, what else? Let's see here. Is it fair to say the actions of a recruiter is often indicative of the company. Oh, gee, what the heat this morning, Jean and hug you if I could, but we got to be social distance and you're also in Denver.
Yeah, listen. Yes and no, right? It's not black and white, per se, but I think with me, I think the big thing is make is, I don't know, I'm torn, right? Because like, listen, there could be a recruiter too that works for me that you have a conversation with a really, they're culture stinks. Well, no, the recruiter may not be that good, right? So I would be careful with that, but as a whole, yes, if a recruiter sends you a templated message, they don't take the time to speak with you. They don't do all of that, then yes, that is an indication as a probably more, that more times it not be company culture.
So big on that, Andrew sending fire emojis, I appreciate it. Andrew, I drank all your coffee. You sent me, thank you. Eric, yes, absolutely. Thanks for tuning in, appreciate it. I love the insights. Hey, thanks, Luke, appreciate it. That was so helpful. Yes, so let's talk about what Becky, and again, if you have any more questions, we're running out of questions here. So I'll end it if there's no more questions, but keep asking questions. And again, I'm gonna talk with Becky, bring it up, right? It's all about phrasing things in positive intention. I think the biggest thing, the biggest issue I see when it comes to DM's, and I did a whole live show on DM's.
I may have to bring it back. I may have to do another show on DM's, because the issue is, is people just ask for things a lot, right? Like, I can't tell you how many times I get asked, hey, well, you work with me, hey, will you review my resume? Hey, will you do this? Will you do that? Like, I get that all the time, right? You have to provide value in some way, shape or form. You have to be interested in me. It's kind of like dating, right? You gotta be interested in that person and show some interest, right? And so when it comes to DM's, and when it comes to doing those things, you have to phrase it correctly.
Hey, right? So there's three things, the art of DM's, there are three things that are important when it comes to DMing people. One, flattery, right? Hey, Taylor, I see you doing these live streams a lot. I love watching them, right? That immediately hooks me. That immediately hooks me because I know you pay attention to me too. Ask for a specific amount of time, right? Hey, Becky, I would love four minutes of your time, right? Cause listen, I get somebody, hey, can we chat? No, I don't have time to chat. But if you message me more times than I'm gonna go, if you message me, you go, hey, Taylor, can I have three minutes of your time?
Yes, I will chat with you, right? The final thing, the third part of a good DM is asking a specific question, hey, if you have six minutes to talk to me about how you improve diversity within the workplace. Right, that is how, that is a well-crafted DM and has worked for me every time, almost every time. Right, so that is how you do it. There, I have a few more questions that came in through email. So I wanna read those to, I appreciate flattery, listen, girl, say it, me too. So it's here, I'm a homin, I'm a merinestact developer, can I only tell me what should I add or move to LinkedIn to get more clients or careers?
We don't search, we don't search on Marn, right? Mongo Express React node, we don't recruiters don't search on Marn, recruiters search on React and Node. Those are your main things. And so that's what I would put heavily in your LinkedIn and resume, don't put a ton of acronyms because recruiters don't search on acronyms a ton, recruiters search on a specific tech. So my homin, I think for the question, I have another question too, I came in, it says, let's see here, I'm kinda seeing this, to recruiters, it says, why do recruiters insist on getting on a call with you, discuss a position when they've already given you up to that point is the job title, or at best a few vague words which hardly qualifies as a job description.
I agree to this, I'd literally never get anything else done during the day, but if you ask relevant details, you're merely treated like garbage ghosts, or both. Yeah, I mean, listen, here's the deal, right? Recruiters are numbers driven. And so the reason why we try to get you on the phone immediately is because recruiters, a lot of times, are tracked by how many calls they make. Right, so what I would tell you, that's why you go to my free guides, free guides, and just send them those 10 questions, right? So again, Sean, his name's Sean, he's trying to ask me his question, but like, listen, hey, Mr.
and Mr. and Mr. and recruiter, thank you for this deal, and can you answer at least half these questions for me, right? And that's incredibly important. But the reason why recruiters, recruiters bait you, right? Recruiters don't send the job description, recruiters don't send the salary range recruiters, and listen, I did this. Right, I'm not gonna sit here and say I'm perfect. I did this, because the thing is, is you wanna get people on the call with you because then you can probably feel like you can like finagle them into something else, right? We're sales people. So just send them, send them that question, send them the questions on the free guide.
Thank you for that question, Sean. I have a few more from Sean too. Ever goes, how do I get recruiters? Stop trying to put me in for jobs. I'm not obviously qualified for. This is incredibly important, by the way, my coffee mug's really gross. I don't drink coffee this way. It just kind of, I don't know, it's kind of gross. Sorry about that. How do I get recruiters to stop trying to put me in for jobs? I'm not, I'm not qualified for it. Don't answer them that. Just don't answer them back. Again, like if they contact you for job assignment, close, don't even say, hey, no thanks.
Right, listen, I'm gonna pull out relationships again. I'm telling you, I feel like I should be part-time dating relationship person and recruiter, right? What's the best way to get a message off to a clean guy or girl? You don't message them back, right? When you message them and say, no thanks, they know they still got you. Right, they know they still got you. So just don't message them back. Luke, any thoughts on what would make a junior dev stand out to you as a recruiter? Yes. One, ask a lot of questions using my resume template. So if you go to my website and you send me your resume and it's in my template form, like I immediately pay attention to you, because that means you've done as a diligence.
I think writing a well-written resume is really good for junior devs. I think consistent font, consistent spacing, consistent bolding. I think that's really, really important. And yeah, so I think those are the way to do it. I think notating all of your side projects or all of your school work as a junior dev. As real world experience will show me, more like will draw me to your resume more. Those are the biggest issues you just see with junior devs. Also they try to cram too much on a resume. Like listen, just put your projects, don't make it really tiny font and then just move on from there.
So that is my two cents on what makes a junior dev stand out to me as a recruiter. Also being active, right, commenting, posting, on LinkedIn all the time. Noah, not a recruiting question, but have you heard of the new app, HiHo? Yes, I have heard of HiHo. If you are a fan of Gary Vaynerchuk, you sent this out. I've messed with it once. Noah, maybe we can talk about that on our call today. But yeah, HiHo, it's interesting. I think there's some legs on that, but again, just another tool that you kind of have to look at and try to experiment with. Luke, no, thank you man, thanks for the question.
The last question, so I'm gonna wrap up here. I got one more question. If anyone else comes in, I'm gonna answer them. If not, we're gonna go ahead and wrap up. Ever, another question, ever just come with a heat this morning. I appreciate you. Senior, should senior devs highlight their side projects. Also how far back to the resume, go mind, mind, mind, great, too long. So it's a good question, I get a ton. One, senior devs should highlight their side projects if there's enough legs to it, right? Like in the sense of you're putting like a few hours a week onto it, there was one senior dev that I worked with last year during the pandemic.
I placed him at a job because his side hustle was like, this company won the ton of Azure Experience serverless, durable functions, a lot of water, functions, whatever. And I'm just saying things. And his side project had all that. And like, it was enough there where the company goes, okay, this seems like a pretty legit side project. Let's interview him and he got the job. So that's incredibly important. I wouldn't say list like stuff you haven't even deployed or anything like that. But if it's legitimate, like you're helping, I don't know, let's say a nonprofit, you know, and you've written the whole thing in Azure and you're doing all that, I think that's pretty important.
Also how far back to the resume, go, I think at most three pages, I think anything born three pages, my eyes glaze over. Again, I'm only one recruiter. So if you go around and ask 30 other recruiters, they're gonna tell you something different or resume service riders, right? So again, take my thought with the, take my feedback with the grand assault. I think three resumes is max, three, eight, three resumes, three pages. I think you should also write in a resume. You should have the bulk of your experience written for the positions you wanna get called for, right? And so, I remember eyeball in your resume when you sent it over to me.
It looked pretty good. I mean, I can go back and look at it. But, you know, if you're doing dot net Azure stuff and some Angular, like really, really expound on all that in your resume. And then if you're doing like, you know, I don't know, like, you know, I don't know, Cobalt six years ago, like maybe don't put Cobalt on your resume and just write what you were doing out of 30,000 foot view with no technical jargon. Does that make sense? Kind of trail it off. So that's my thoughts on that. Final question here, and again, if there's any more questions, I will answer them coming through.
This is an email question that came through again from Sean. Why do recruiters ask for references up front when they don't know them yet? Or there is no specific job to discuss? Surely references only come into play when employers interested in the latter stages of being screened. Bear in mind that references are an absurd screening mechanism. Anyway, because you're hardly likely to provide context, details of people who say bad things about you. I will listen. Sean, thank you for this question. This, I can unpack this next 15 minutes. I won't. But what I'll tell you this, Resit recruiters ask you for references to get more candidates.
I'm gonna say that again. Recruiters message you to get more candidates. Or ask for references to get more candidates. Okay. I only ask for references when we're closer down the interview process. Now, I will tell you this, if you get good vibes from the recruiter and they ask you for references on the get go, just give it to them. I think some recruiters just try to knock that stuff out in the front end, right? We talk about, I talk about my processes a ton. I talk about my processes a ton. I try to submit, I try to submit a packet when I submit you to a manager, a reference, a test, and your resume, that's been edited by me, right?
So like literally, if you work with me as a client, which I have a few, there's like five or six clients now that I'm working with. If you work with me as a client, as a hiring manager, which, hey, if you're watching this, would love to work with you. If you're ever hiring, I love to work with you, because you get it, you seem to get it. So we submit like a packet. And so when I submit the packet, it just makes it easy for hiring managers to move quickly through the interview process. That's why we ask for references sometimes on the beginning side of things.
But that's why recruiters do it. Recruiters mainly do it. I hate references. I think references are done because it's like Sean said, everyone's gonna provide you a reference for the most part gives you a good reference. So it's kind of done. But also just protects us, right? If somebody just bombs during the job, manager that's with, so did you talk to anybody who worked with this person? And if we can say yes, it just covers our butts. That's why we do it. Last few questions that came in, I love it. Hey, keep asking, listen, we can go all day. Let's just go all day. Just keep asking questions.
David, David, looking good in the suit buddy. Is it ever truly worth entertaining a contract to hire? Who are we getting some questions this morning? Feels like a bad faith effort from the get go in the sense that it only benefits the employer and indicates to me that maybe the budget isn't really there for position long term. David, thank you for this question. I, if you want to go, I will talk about this, but if you wanna go back on my YouTube channel, I actually have done, I think two or three episodes around contract to hire work. So here's the deal. I think contract hire is the way to go.
And all of my clients are going contract to hire. And here's why. One, you hire faster because you rely on us to do the vetting. And you also don't, you also just don't get involved with HR, right? HR does not get involved. You can move faster. I would also tell you this is where, this is where you really need to ask the questions with the recruiter. So go to my free guides and ask them those questions, right? Cause one of those questions are, is the position a true contract to hire? We have something in our industry called a right to hire, which is like, hey, it may go full time.
Contract to hire is a true contract to hire. All the roles I'm working on, I'm working on seven real eight roles right now. All our true contract to hire. The only reason why they're not doing direct hire is cause it's cheaper for them to pay monthly instead of a huge lump sum. But you need to ask the recruiter that. To me, you need to know your base bonus PTO benefit cost, all of that HSA 401k match all that. Give that to a recruiter and work with the recruiter on hourly rate. And if you can get an hourly rate that goes over everything, then you're good.
I don't think contract to hire is bad, but you need to ask the questions before you take the job. But I have seen people take contract to hire's and they've been so thankful because literally leadership's changed four months in and they hate it there now. And that recruiter can pull you out. No questions asked and move you onto something else. Also people, I just realized I have a meeting in four minutes. So I'm gonna kind of crush these real quick. Have you ever heard a haystack? And here how we're aiming to revolutionize the, no, I've not heard haystack. Paul, if you wanna shoot me a DM, I'll take a look at it.
Eva, I love COBOB but no one wants me for it. They're a few, hey, if you ever wanna do consulting COBOB, I could potentially find you a job. My biggest beef I'm going with, contract higher steps to the big drop in salary, that inevitably pops up with. Yeah, and again, that's another question, right? I talk about this all the time. You need to ask the recruiter the conversion salary at the end of the day. There's only been one or two times in my career where us and HR have not been on the same page, but that also has been because there's been a leadership shift and they've recategorized the role.
It wasn't on us, it was just a miscommunication in terms of how the client. This is where you need to ask questions. The big thing I'm realizing with contract higher in contract is can it's do not ask the right questions? That's why I created that free guide of 10 questions and stuff for recruiters so you can better know how to educate yourself during a contract or contract higher position. So y'all, thank you, I appreciate it. Hey from Argentina, I appreciate you tuning in from Argentina. I hope y'all got some out of this. Listen, I think this is a great, this is a great little series we're doing.
Tomorrow unicorn finders, 9.30 am central live, the boys are gonna be with unicorn finders. So I'm really excited to hang out with them. Thursday we don't have a show, but Thursday I have a guest coming on. So more to come there, but again, thank y'all for tuning in. I appreciate it, share my information. If you have anybody that is in need of help, please feel free to share my information, tailoredestin.com, text me 615-235-650. Let's keep this kind of dialogue going. If you have any more questions, shoot an email, tweet me and we can obviously share these for other people. I appreciate y'all, this was a lot of fun.
I would keep going, but I have a call here in two minutes. So y'all have a great Tuesday, appreciate y'all ton, be safe, and I'll see you tomorrow with the boys at unicorn finders. Peace.