7 Frequently Asked Questions About the Recruitment Process
How to get recruiters to notice you and invite you in for an interview
We are talking with recruiters every day to bring their secrets to you. A big thank you to Ashima Khanna for joining us in a recent webinar. She led a session on understanding how recruiters see you.
Below are the most frequently asked questions for recruiters from the Career Pivot community. These are their answers, lightly edited for context.
1. How Does the Recruitment Process Work?
The recruitment process starts 3-6 months before you see a job ad. The hiring manager identifies the need for more staff and works internally to justify hiring someone. They develop a job description and position budget with their team.
Note this critical step and its timing.
The job description is written by the hiring manager and team, not by the recruiter. The recruiter may decide the position level within the company and an equitable salary, or this could be done by HR.
The recruiter and HR team post the job on the company website, and it shows up on the recruiter’s list of positions to fill. The job ads are shared far and wide, often without any input from the recruiting company.
People apply for the position. Often, hundreds of people. Or thousands if the company is well known or the job ad goes viral.
It is the recruiter's job to sort through these applications to find a select few for interviews. They often use an electronic Applicant Tracking System (ATS) to narrow down the applicants to a manageable number, which they then look at manually to find a good fit.
The recruiter typically goes through applications starting with the first ones received. Recruiters may look at an application for just a few seconds—they have many roles to fill after all. They are trying to someone who matches that role perfectly - not too senior or too junior.
The recruiter will look through the applicants and have a list of 5-10 candidates with whom they will conduct initial phone screen interviews. Then, they will share the applications, along with their notes and thoughts, with the hiring manager.
Together, they will make a short list of 3-5 candidates who will move on to the serious interview stages. Recruiters schedule those interviews with the hiring manager and a panel of other staff, and receive the feedback on candidates as they go through the process.
Remember that the recruiter doesn’t do the hiring. They are just the first gate to get your resume in front of someone who will make the final hiring decision. The recruiter wants to find people who will stay in that job for at least two years—they don't want to be filling the same role again and again.
2. How Can I Get an Interview if My Profile Doesn't Exactly Match the Job Requirements?
Do not apply for just any job. That will only lead to heartbreak—mainly yours.
Recruiters want to find the perfect candidate for a role. They are looking for people who exactly match the job description. You can increase your chances of being that candidate by using this seven-step process to define what you want to do long before you apply for a job.
Take time to think about what you really want in a job, what you do well, and what you are interested in, and then find companies that provide an opportunity for you to use those skills.
Find people who work at companies you want to work for and talk to people there to assess your fit. Make sure they have you in mind before the job is officially posted, if possible.
It doesn’t matter what your resume says if someone already knows they want you to work there. This is a far more effective way of getting a job than focusing on your resume alone.
In addition, there is a hidden job market that includes the jobs you never see posted or the jobs that have certain people in mind before they even get posted. Ideally, you want to be that person and know about those jobs before they are public.
3. What Do Recruiters Look for in Resumes and Interviews?
A recruiter may have a dozen or more positions to fill and wants to fill those with someone who really cares about that specific job, plans to stay in that job, is skilled for it, and is a good fit. Their goal is to create a talent pipeline for the organization, which will make their job easier when they need to fill many open jobs.
Make sure you show why you want that job. Why your past skills and experience fit that role.
Do not say or show that you'll do anything. That show of desperation will scare away the recruiter. They will know you'll leave that job when you find a better one and they'll be stuck filling the role again, this time with an angry hiring manager.
This means that you should not apply to many jobs at the same company. Instead, talk to people who work there (informational interview!) to see where you best fit. Then, you can communicate effectively to the recruiter why you want to work at that company and why you are a good fit for the specific position.
Try to answer the question for the recruiter: “Why is this role the best next job for this person now?”
4. What Job Can I Do in a New Industry Based on the Work I've done in International Development?
You have many transferable skills that you may not realize are transferable because you’ve only applied them to one field.
Describe what you do to others in the industries you are pursuing and ask them to help you highlight what is also relevant in their field. Work to understand the vocabulary and terms used in the new field you are pivoting into. This is why informational interviews are so important.
Dream about what job you would do if you had no constraints. Take the time to think about what skills you enjoy using. Then, think about which of those skills are employable. Which ones are needed and sought after in the marketplace?
Google Career Dreamer is a good option. You can also join a “Design Your Epic Life” workshop to define this with a recruiter and coach.
5. How Can I Make My Government CV More Like a Private Sector Resumé?
If you are pivoting to the private sector, please quantify everything!
In international development, CVs tend to quantify the impact we made in lives saved, diseases prevented, violent incidents prevented, etc. The focus is on the social good.
The private sector is focused on selling. Resumes need to talk about quantified impact on revenue—“what our work did”. That means translating resumes to show how many potential customers were reached and the value created. GenAI can be very effective at this translation.
It is a different way to think and it can feel odd at first, but it's an important change to make in your resume and your mind.
6. How Do Recruiters Rank and Use Resumes, Cover Letters, and LinkedIn Profiles?
LinkedIn Profile
LinkedIn is a key hiring mechanism for recruiters looking for talent. There are many ways to optimize your LinkedIn profile.
Your LinkedIn profile may target a range of industries and broad range of roles and should include keywords that will help you be identified for the opportunities you are considering. Use the keywords of the industry you are moving into.
Resume
A resume and cover letter should be tailored to the specific position within the specific company you are applying for.
The recruiter wants to see that your skills in the past fit that job they are trying to fill. That you did it in the past and therefore can do it again in the future, for this company.
Recruiters usually look at the resume first and try to find the skills needed for the open position, preferably written outright, without having to dig.
Large companies use an ATS with artificial intelligence to do a first sorting of applications. That’s why you need to optimize keywords from the job description to make sure they are in your resume so you pass that stage.
You can use GenAI to write the base version of your resume, but you need to edit it to be personal. Recruiters can spot a copy/paste from GenAI and often discard that resume.
Cover Letters
The cover letter is often up for debate—some recruiters read it at first and others don’t.
Regardless, it is passed on to the hiring manager and the interview panel when you go on to the subsequent stages. You can use it to explain your interest in the role, why it fits at this time, how your skills align, and why you are excited to take this job at this company.
7. What Do Hiring Managers Look For in Potential Interview Candidates?
There are typically two ways to enter the interview shortlist:
Apply early to posted job advertisements and hope to pass the recruiter screening to be shortlisted for an interview
Connect with the hiring manager outside the recruitment process and be shortlisted automatically
There is also a third way. Someone who already works at the company and knows you refers you to the recruiter or hiring manager as a good candidate. This is why informational interviews are so important. A referral will push the recruiter or hiring manager to pull your resume out of the application pile.
Some companies even have a referral bonus for employees who recommend candidates that end up being good hires. Your new best friend may be helping themselves while they are helping you!
If you can’t network your way into that company or for that job, nail the phone screen. Tell the recruiter why you are the best fit for that job today. Make yourself available, personable, easy to work with.
Be prepared to answer questions like:
Why does it suit your career right now?
Why does the company need your skills versus someone else’s?
What is something unique that you bring to the table?
Also, remember that interviews are two-way streets. You are interviewing the company just as they are interviewing you. Make sure you like the place, want to work there, and will stay there—otherwise, you are wasting everyone’s time.
What Other Questions Do You Have?
Please ask your questions in the chat. We’ll do our best to get you an answer or have recruiters answer it directly.
