‘Love’, the most powerful word in the English language, but how often have you said it to your recruitment agency, or indeed have they said it to you? I bet it’s not many times but I’m going to break that professional taboo and say that we love our candidates. There, I’ve put it out for the world to read in black and white and I even managed to type it without blushing like a silly schoolgirl meeting her pop idol.

So, how do you get to the stage when you fall in love with your recruitment agency? It’s a good question and like with love, you have to be patient and not rush into things but we’ll explain it all shortly.

In all seriousness though, having a recruitment agency that you trust and love to work with when you’re looking for work can help make the whole recruitment process a lot less stressful for all involved. You’ll not only get those funny butterfly feelings in your tummy when we call but at the end of it all you’ll be in a great new company and feel energised and passionate about going to work every day.

Don’t play hard to get

You’ve got needs. I’ve got needs. Everyone’s got needs so let’s not beat around the bush and get down to business. We are, of course, talking about business needs and the one major difference between having a personal relationship and a successful candidate/recruiter one is that you never play hard to get.

This works both ways and if one partner is trying to get the other one to do all the chasing, then, guess what, they’re going to start looking elsewhere.

By not dedicating time to the relationship you could be missing out on opportunities to take your career forward. Absence does not make the heart grow fonder and games of cat and mouse do not make one party more attractive to the other. All it ends up doing is upsetting the other person and you don’t want that if you’re trying to harbour love.

You don’t text me anymore

Were we just a one hire fling? A reckless mistake that you’re now trying to forget and by ignoring us you’re hoping the memory will fade? We certainly hope not. But this works both ways and if your recruitment agency is not staying in regular contact with you, then they’re using you and they don’t really care.

Having meaningful and constant communication is one way of building that love and even if it’s just to say ‘hi’, the knowledge that you’re in someone else’s thoughts can be very uplifting.

By talking to your recruitment agency regularly, they can help plan for your recruitment needs in advance, sourcing and priming the right opportunities for you for when you start looking for your next career move. What this can do, is cut down on the length of time it can take to find you your next position saving you time, money and effort.

Is there someone else?

No-one likes to be cheated on and whilst we understand that we can’t always be mutually ‘exclusive’ to each other, we both have to accept that neither of us wants to hear about what the other person has been up to with whom.

With that being said, honesty is a big part of any relationship and if you’re using two recruitment agencies, then we do need to know about it.

This isn’t about being jealous or trying to break up that relationship but it’s not uncommon for candidates to be listed with more than one agency. If we don’t know who else you’re talking to, then we could be wasting your time by sending you details about positions you’ve already rejected.

If you tell us about the good and bad experiences you’ve had with your other recruiting partners, then we can make sure that those good experiences are replicated with us and that the bad ones never happen to you again.

Let’s work things through

We have to accept that every relationship is going to go through a rocky patch every now and again and that we all have good and bad days. The important thing for us both to remember is that we can get through it together.

That means being honest with each other and if we think your recruitment expectations are too high for your skill levels and experience, then we’ll tell you that. Likewise, if you don’t think we’re finding you the right opportunities, then you have to tell us.

Unlike with other relationships, we’re keen to hear about your ex. We want to know what your previous employer did well and where they fell short as that’ll help us find the right company for your next move.

We want to listen to your problems and with us, you can talk for however long you like and we won’t keep just saying “ok” and “yes darling” while we’re actually concentrating on binge-watching the latest superhero series online. We know that by working together and talking through any problems that we’re both experiencing, we can help you find the right role that will make you zing out of bed in the morning.

A little ‘thank you’ won’t go amiss

Every now and again, we need to show our appreciation to each other and sometimes even the smallest gesture can go a long way. We’re not talking about sending each other bouquets of flowers on our working together anniversary or taking each other out to expensive restaurants but the personal touch of saying ‘thank you’ can go a long way.

We know this is a two-way street and maybe we don’t say it as often as we should but it’s all part of building a solid relationship as no one wants to feel like they’re being taken for granted. These little shows of affection really let the other person know that they’re loved and when that happens, both parties are more likely to pull out all the stops to ensure that when one of them is in trouble with their recruitment, the other one is there to help them out.

We hope that as time goes on you’ll begin to love us as much as we love you and that one of us isn’t left feeling unrequited love.

Get in touch with us by giving us a call on +420 222 512 737 to book a One2One, register with us, follow us on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram, or browse through our jobs and apply directly.

This post was written by Tomas Cides Jimenez, Managing Director at People Place.

Tomas joined the Group in 2007 as a Senior Recruitment Consultant, and has been successfully working his way up to his current position. Becoming responsible for entire business operations within Central Europe and Western Europe. Working closely with managers at all levels in the clients’ portfolio to ensure the business delivery and client satisfaction is always at highest standards. To follow Toma’s blogging articles you can subscribe by clicking the box on your right or register with us.  Or why not connecting with Tomas on Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn.