5 Red Flags That Recruiters Hate

5 Red Flags That Recruiters Hate 5 Red Flags That Recruiters Hate Recruiters can open connections in your job search, help you negotiate your salary, and mora. But keeping their attention and getting them to commit to helping you isnt easy.After working as a recruiter for more than five years in Boston and New York, Im going to share the biggest red flags that will scare recruiters off, so you can make sure youre avoiding mistakes and enticing them to help you as much as possible in your job hunt. Red Flag 1 Telling half-truths (or lies)Recruiters ask a lot of questions, but its usually to help you. So the best advice I can give here is be upfront. If theres something sensitive about your hintergrund or your story (like being fired), well help you explain it to companies youre interviewing with. Why will we help you? The companies we work with only pay us if you get hired. Thats how recruiting agencies operate for the most part (ever bedrngnisice you never pay us a penny, even if we find you an amazing job?)So we arent going to judge you. But we need to know the truth. We need to ask so we can help explain the situation to companies we show your resume to. One of our biggest fears as recruiters is looking bad in front of a hiring manager or one of the companies that hires from us. And were definitely going to look bad if we send your resume without knowing the full story and then they ask us about it. So if we dont have a clear picture, we arent going to risk sending it, and your resume will sit on our desk and collect dust. Red Flag 2 Youre bedrngnis coachableThe only reason a recruiter will recommend doing something (like a resume change) They think its going to get you more interviews and job offers faster (remember, thats how they get paid). So a recruiter is far more likely to continue helping you, answering questions, and dedicating time if they feel youre taking the advice theyre giving and putting it to good use. Your recruiter might know a few specific things a certain hiring manager looks for in an interview, so they might be giving you suggestions or telling you to prepare differently based on this knowledge. Or they might know a certain hiring manager really appreciates when someone sends a certain type of follow up after the interview. So theyre going to be frustrated if you do something differently and cost yourself the job offer after the interview. A lot of work goes into getting you interviews, and if they feel like youre doing something to hurt your chances after all that work, its a big red flag for them. Red Flag 3 You dont make adjustmentsA second part of being coachable is being able to make adjustments. If you go on an interview and it doesnt go well, call the recruiter you worked with and ask them about any feedback they received. Try to show the recruiter that youre taking the feedback and adjusting and improving so that youll do better in your next interview. Theyll forgive a LOT of mistakes if youre improving an d learning. Even saying, Thats a great point, Ill definitely work on that for next time, will motivate them to keep helping you. Thats how to get them excited about sending your resume out and continuing to represent you in your job search. But if a recruiter gets the sense youre unwilling to change, theyll start to feel its a lost cause and theyll dedicate less and less time to helping you. Or theyll stop entirely and help other job seekers instead. Red Flag 4 Youre unpredictableI mentioned earlier that one of our biggest fears is looking bad in front of a hiring manager we work with. And the quickest way to look bad as a recruiter is to send someone in for an interview, tell the hiring manager one thing, and have the job seeker say something else to them. Because it makes us look incompetent, or lazy (like we didnt take enough time to talk about your background with you). So if we talk with you and say, Whatever you do, dont mention the argument you had with your last boss in this interview and you say Okay, I guess Ill try not to, but you sound hesitant and brush it off, its a huge red flag. Because were not sure what youll say and it makes us nervous. If this happens, most recruiters will be hesitant to continue setting up more interviews, which is going to slow your job search down a lot.So if you want the recruiter on your side, make it clear what youll do in the interview so they have no doubt whats going on when theyre not in the room with you. This doesnt mean you need to say yes to everything they say. If youre told to do something (or not do something) and youre not sure why, ask No good recruiter will fault you for asking them to explain why they recommended something. Just dont brush it off and say whatever when they tell you something, because its going to scare the recruiter immediately. Red Flag 5 Youre scatteredIf youre working with 12 different recruiters and applying for six different types of positions in 9 cities, its a problem. Its okay i f youre not 100% sure what youre looking for but I recommendA) Being able to at least get close to defining what it is youre looking for in your job search (Im looking for a supervisor or manager position in either sales or marketing. Im hoping to directly lead a gruppe, but Im flexible in terms of team size)B) Being prepared to show the recruiter how else youre looking for jobs, and demonstrate that youre organized and have time available to work with them. All of this happens in the first phone call. Its how you answer when the recruiter asks, Tell me about what youre looking for in your next position? or, Tell me about your job search so far? So make sure youre prepared to impress them on those two questions and it will immediately make them want to help you. If you follow the advice above, youll have recruiters working hard behind the scenes to help you find a great job.Biron is an Executive Recruiter, Career Coach and founder of the blog CareerSidekick.com. As a recruiter he ha s partnered with Fortune 500 firms down to 6-person tech startups while helping hundreds of job seekers advance their careers. Hes passionate about business, entrepreneurship, and technology. To learn more about Birons work you can connect with him onLinkedIn.