Top 5 Reasons You Should Respond to Recruiter Outreach

This may feel like biased advice, but in reality, if a recruiter is reaching out to you – they have a reason and typically it’s for a specific job. However, if they are a good recruiter, they will take a less targeted approach to the discussion to learn about you to see if the relationship can be mutually beneficial. This goes for both internal recruiters at a company and third-party recruiters. Here are the top 5 reasons you should respond to and engage in a discussion with a recruiter when they reach out. 

An Opportunity – The recruiter is contacting you typically because they have a job they are looking to fill that matches your profile and qualifications. You never know what that opportunity actually is until you have a conversation. Job descriptions and provided compensation ranges don’t tell the whole story. Oftentimes, the compensation information provided may be an ideal number but no one is going to bat for the person who can’t take a quick phone call to increase that number. 

More Opportunities – Whether it’s a third-party recruiter or an internal recruiter, they are hiring for more than one job. Maybe the initial role they reached out about doesn’t match your career goals or the direction you see as your next step. On the other hand, there may be other opportunities that better align with your goals, compensation expectations, ideal location, and workplace type. Whether it’s now, or a month from now, your dream job may cross their desk, but you’ll never know if you don’t engage in a discussion.

Networking Relationships – Not every discussion is going to lead to an instant result however, recruiters are in tune with what’s going on in the market and they know a lot of people. They can facilitate connections to vendors and service partners who can support you in your current role with business needs. Build an alliance with these folks.

The Unknown Future – Today your job may be a utopia and tomorrow the world could throw an unexpected wrench into your universe. This happened 2 years ago for many people. Build relationships that can support you in the good times and the bad. Today you may be happy and hiring a staff (where a third-party recruiter can help you) and next year you may be out of work frantically looking for a job (where the third-party recruiter can help you). Building and nurturing relationships when you don’t “need” them will allow you to feel more confident in garnering support when you feel like things are falling apart.

It’s FREE! – First, if a recruiter is requiring you to pay them… politely tell them it’s not a mutually beneficial relationship. The majority of third-party recruiters work on a retained or a contingency basis where the ultimate hiring company is paying for their services. Second, you may be inclined to say your time is valuable. It is… but again, if the recruiter didn’t have a good reason to reach out, they wouldn’t have (their time is valuable too!) and reread #3 and #4. 

Next time a recruiter reaches out, respond, and jump on a 5-10 minute exploratory phone call to see if it could be a mutually beneficial relationship. Those 5-10 minutes could change your life.