A few readers have asked me for information on how the recruiting industry works.  The following Q&A with Michael Burgett, founder and president of CIO Partners of Atlanta, a national IT services company that does recruiting, will hopefully answer those readers’ questions.  This is the first of two conversations I’ve had with different recruiters that will explore the dynamics of the recruiting industry and how CIOs can build long-term relationships with headhunters.  Let me know if you find this material helpful. 

CIO: How does the recruiting industry work?  Does the recruiter represent the company that’s looking to fill a particular position, or does the recruiter represent the CIO who’s looking for a job?

Burgett: That’s a good question.  Most people are unclear about that.  They think we represent a potential candidate on a for-fee basis.  In fact, we represent the companies that are looking to fill a particular position. 

How are recruiters compensated?  

Typically a recruiter is paid a base salary and then earns a commission when they fill an open position with a client. 

How do you find candidates for positions your clients are looking to fill?

The primary way we find candidates is through our personal networks.  We do use the national job boards and we subscribe to several national resume databases. We also use Internet-based spidering tools to find names of individuals with the skill sets our clients are looking for.

Do you guys even look at unsolicited resumes that come in via e-mail?  How many of these do you get each day or each week or each month?

Absolutely.  We do get hundreds of resumes a day. Folks will look our company up and will reach out to me or to a member of my team looking to make an introduction.  I answer every e-mail I get because I’m the president of my firm.  Any resume we get, we put into a database of prospective candidates.  When we have an opportunity to fill a position for a client, we first think of the people in our networks that we deal with on a regular basis, people we’ve placed before or someone we’ve spoken to recently.  But we also use that database.  We don’t force fit anyone into a position.

There are some folks who assume that networking is just blasting their resume all over the Internet: They think, “The more folks I touch, the better off I’ll be.” That’s not always the case.  Those are usually folks who have an immediate need for a new job.  It’s seldom people who want to build a lasting relationship and they typically get lost in the shuffle.