Why Should You Talk to a Recruiter, You Ask? I’ll Tell You - by Andrea LaCoy

I think that everyone would agree with the statement that we live in a world that is ever changing and always evolving. The standard way of doing things in the past are being replaced with the better, faster, more efficient versions and this can been seen in almost everything we do. Making a career change is no exception.

Gone are the days of reading the ‘Want Ads’ in the newspaper, or dropping off your resume to that potential employer. In some professions, gone are the days were you even have to look for a new job; new jobs are often coming to you. This is largely due to people who look for talent day in and day out, people who specialize in matching your resume to hiring profiles and making sure that the match is good for both the employer and employee. These people are called Recruiters and here is why you should consider talking to one.

Some of the top companies in the industry that are known for hiring the best of the best, are all able to attract talent and hire the right people because they have a recruiting team dedicated to doing just that. Recruiters are the hiring managers’ window into the talent pool and team of experts that they turn to when they have open roles to fill. The hiring manager looks to their recruiter as being not only a subject matter expert on the talent market, but also their “gatekeeper” to any potential candidate.

When a recruiter reaches out to you, it’s your first step in the interviewing process within that company. It’s not an extra step that you should avoid; it’s the step that is essential to you getting considered by the hiring manager. When recruiters contact you they are doing so based on a set of criteria and requirements that they gather directly from the hiring managers themselves. Recruiters have information that goes beyond what you read in a job description; they know exactly what type of person needs to be hired
and what the person will be responsible for. While this is a benefit to the hiring manager, it also benefits the candidate. Talking to a recruiter will give you invaluable insight into the company, the specific team and the details of the position – something that you would never be able to learn off of a job description. Being able to talk to a recruiter prior to interviewing for the job and getting all of the details upfront will only help you through the interview process.

Companies have been using recruiters for quite some time now and the process has allowed them to be more effective in their hiring. The partnership between hiring managers and recruiters has proven to be a better, faster, and more efficient process and one that job seekers should understand the value in when exploring new opportunities.

Are you ready to connect with a Recruiter and see what opportunities are out there? The Microsoft Online Services Division is currently hiring and we are seeking Program Managers who are familiar with or can quickly learn about deeply algorithmic topics. This is the cutting edge of computer science – extremely technical and extremely data driven. We’re looking for PMs who drive for results, aren’t afraid to code, who can fluently cross the language barriers of technologies and customers, work closely with Microsoft Research, are extremely creative, and who want to win in the biggest battleground on the web today.