Office 2010 Key blog when-submitting-your-resume-d

Q: A recruiter approaches you about a job at Microsoft. This recruiter does not work at Microsoft and does not have an @microsoft.com email address. The recruiter asks you to submit your resume for an open position with the company. What do you do?

A: Do your homework.

I’ve mentioned before that most corporate recruiters don’t work for commission fees, and our role is to find the best match within the company for the most qualified candidates. When I refer to “corporate recruiters at Microsoft,” I’m talking about any recruiter who has an @microsoft.com email address, even if he has an a- or v- before his email address … Full-time or agency/vendor. Doesn’t matter. If a recruiter has an @microsoft.com address, he works “on behalf” of Microsoft.

On the flip side are the recruiters who most likely do work for commission relative to candidate placements – sometimes based on the salary of the candidate; sometimes based on the number of placements. When you think of these people, you probably think about headhunters, 3rd party recruiters, external recruiters, whatever you want to call them. But don’t judge recruiters based on their affiliations to a company. Do you homework and find out how they work with the company and how they can help you … or hurt you.

I have a love/hate relationship with Nick Corcodilos’ Ask the Headhunter column, but he addressed this same issue a few weeks ago, and I think his answer was spot on. A reader asked Nick:

I located a position on a company's Web site and asked my recruiter to submit my résumé.

But he has been unable to secure an interview or any feedback for me. Now I would like to submit my résumé directly to the company. I don't want to break any rules of engagement or cause any conflicts between the company and the recruiter.

Any suggestions on a course of action?

Nick’s reply:

Why did you notify "your recruiter" about the position you found? By definition, a recruiter recruits for his client companies, not on your behalf.

This is a misconception a lot of job hunters have. If he didn't know about the company or the job to begin with,Microsoft Office 2007 Product Key, he's not recruiting for them.

His submission of your résumé can create a real conflict for you. You should have approached the company on your own.

At this point, you can try to contact the company directly, but odds are that they've already made a decision about you. Or,Windows 7 Activation, they don't use external recruiters.

They may not talk to you directly now because they'd have to pay the recruiter a fee if they hire you.

This is something lots of folks don't understand. Not all companies are prepared to pay headhunting fees ...



Nick is right. Not all companies are willing to pay headhunting fees, and yes, Microsoft is sometimes one of those companies. I say “sometimes” because, at times, we proactively partner with 3rd party recruiting firms to contact or find candidates on our behalf. Because the logistics of obtaining an @microsoft.com email address can be, uh, bureaucratic (to say the least), these recruiters may not have an official email address, but they should immediately identify themselves as recruiters who work with Microsoft. “Hi. My name is Gretchen, and I work for Recruiting Company X,Office 2010 Key, and we are partnering with Microsoft to do …” It’s not uncommon to hear this.

But what if a recruiter contacts you and asks you to apply to Microsoft but DOES NOT offer up that she works on behalf of Microsoft? First, ask, “Are you working on behalf or directly with Microsoft?” If the answer is Yes, it’s ok to ask follow-up questions to determine how the company works with Microsoft. <I’ll let you use your discretion here, but I really don’t think a recruiter is going to lie to you, and if she does, you can probably tell. If not, shoot me off an email, and I can check it out for you.>

If the answer is, “No,Windows 7 Pro, I do not work with or on behalf of Microsoft,” do not … I repeat … DO NOT let the recruiter submit your resume to Microsoft. If I teach you one thing, let it be that.

I go through all our new submissions every day,Microsoft Office 2007 Professional, and I occasionally find a resume that has been submitted by a 3rd party recruiter who does not work with Microsoft. By doing this, the recruiter represents the applicant, almost as an agent would represent an actor. The recruiter submits the applicant to various companies, and if a company is interested in the applicant, the company must contact the 3rd party recruiter to proceed. <3rd party recruiters will usually remove the applicant’s contact details and insert their own so they can ensure a direct connection between the interested company and the applicant is not established. Yes, at this point, it would be possible for me to look up an applicant’s real contact information – but since I technically found the applicant because a 3rd party recruiter submitted him to our database, doing that wouldn’t be ethical on my part. And you know me … I’m ethical. Sometimes too much for my own good. >

Ok – so the damage is done. I see a good resume and then I notice a 3rd party recruiter submitted the applicant to our database. What do I do next?

I move on to the next resume. Yep, given that we would have to pay a commission fee for that person if we hired him or her (and that commission fee is not factored into our recruiting budget), our hands are essentially tied. But it's more than just the commission. Working with a 3rd party firm means contracts, agreements, etc, and if we don't already have a relationship established through our legal department, we may not be able to work with this company. That’s the cold, hard truth.

I know this was a long entry but if you take one thing from this post, take this:

Submitting a resume to Microsoft (or any other company with a corporate careers page) is really, really, really easy. You don’t need a 3rd party recruiter to do it for you, and you definitely don’t need to purposely seek out and hire someone to act on your behalf. Just do it.

Do it.

gretchen