Do You Read Cover Letters? – And Other Questions For Recruiters

In this article I’m taking a different approach by looking at recruiting from a candidates point of view. In past posts I’ve written articles from a recruitment marketing perspective on topics such as candidate engagement, cultivating talent networks and recruitment marketing. I have 4 questions, plus a few mini-questions that I’d like to ask recruiters.

(I admit that this post is a little selfish in that I’m working as an intern to increase my experience and make me more attractive in a competitive job market.)

4 Questions for Recruiters (plus a few more mini-questions):

1. What is the best way for less experienced candidates to engage with recruiters?

I understand that the job of a recruiter is to find the best talent for a position, but how do candidates that recently graduated engage with recruiters. They don’t have as much experience as a veteran in a given industry, but they do have transferable skills, an understanding of key concepts and a work ethic that will make their learning curve less steep. Or is the learning curve the problem? Do you want new hires to be able to fit in seamlessly without coaching?

I’ve also taken an unscientific poll of candidates that are currently applying for jobs and the consensus is that the application process is like throwing something into a black hole. You don’t know where your application goes when you hit the ‘apply now’ button and you never hear from the company you applied to. Of course this isn’t always the case but candidates tell me that they want to know how to make themselves more attractive to recruiters.

2. Do you read cover letters?

I’ve heard so many things from different recruiters. Some say that they don’t read cover letters, some say that they’ll read a cover letter if it’s included with a resume but won’t hold an applicant back if they don’t have a cover letter, others say that a cover letter is crucial, particularly one that is customized to the company and the position. How do applicants make themselves stand out from all the clutter and what do you look for in a cover letter?

3. What is the best way for non-veteran candidates to market themselves to recruiters?

From another one of my non-scientific poll’s, candidates tell me that they don’t know how to get themselves in front of recruiters. It’s much easier to express the intangibles you would bring to an organization with an in person meeting versus a cover letter or resume. I know you’ll tell me that the interview is for assessing the intangibles, but I’m talking about creating an opportunity for the candidate to even have an interview.

4. How important is social networking?

Should candidates use social networking sites like Linkedin to reach out to recruiters? How do you feel when a candidate interested in your company contacts you through a social networking site? Are you happy to help, annoyed or you just ignore the request? What if a candidate that contacts you through Linkedin was referred by someone you trust, does that increase the chance that you’ll respond?

I find this area of recruiting extremely interesting because a lot of it seems like a mystery and there are so many differing opinions. From a candidate’s point of view, you never really know what the “right” way to engage with recruiters is. A lot of it ends up being trial and error or someone else telling you what worked for them in their job search.

I’d be happy to read any responses to the questions I’ve asked.