I'm A Recruiter (not for an agency) - AMA

[BlueNeighbourhood]

So I work for a team doing internal recruitment for my company.

If you have any questions about applications, what looks best, feedback, anything you like...I'll answer as honestly as I can, even if it's not what you want to hear!

What makes someone stand out?

Would you judge someone's application if they're very young and have multiple children?

Do you have any pets?

Do you care how old an applicant is. Or how fat, ugly etc?

Why are many companies not including the salary band in the job advertising?
I’m currently interviewing, and after investing time in very lively discussions and hiring managers telling me I’d be a great fit, as soon as we talk money they fold?

What makes someone stand out?
Someone who has the relevant experience, has worked or is working for one of our competitors and has an easy to read CV, with their most recent role at the top of the CV. Someone who has taken the time to tailor their CV to the role, and you can sense the effort they have put into applying.

Would you judge someone's application if they're very young and have multiple children?
No, not at all. Some of our roles offer a degree of flexibility and are there for parents to work around their children's school hours. That's not to say that there aren't recruiters out there who do. I remember one manager at a previous role would never employee women younger than 35 as they'd want maternity leave. Safe to say I didn't stay at that company!

Do you have any pets?

An odd question! I'd love a little dog, but as of yet nope I don't have any pets.

Do you care how old an applicant is. Or how fat, ugly etc?

Not at all. However you have to remember this is my opinion, there are recruiters out there who will care which is a sad state of affairs. Personally I'd never judge someone on their age or how they look unless there was a specific requirement to.

Why are many companies not including the salary band in the job advertising?
I’m currently interviewing, and after investing time in very lively discussions and hiring managers telling me I’d be a great fit, as soon as we talk money they fold?

This comes up all of the time in my workplace. For most roles, we don't advertise salary. The reason being is that our competitors would see it, they'd raise their salaries knowing full well they are beating ours and it would end up in a war over cost of hires. It also gives us flexibility as well. If a candidate was looking for £35k, and we put on the advert £30k - would that candidate still apply? We want them to and we would put a business case forward for that extra money to be spent or meet in the middle or whatever we decided. We don't want the salary to put people off applying immediately, especially if they are a great candidate which it sounds like you are.

Saying that though, I put my work mobile at the bottom of every advert and if a candidate called me to ask salary, I'd ask them their expectations and then if it aligned with what we could offer I'd carry on talking to them. I hope this answers!

Thank you!

Do you consider applicants that don't have directly relevant experience but do have transferable skills? If so, how can these be best highlighted (instead of the application being immediately discounted based on the current job role)?

Would you judge someone's application if they're very young and have multiple children?

How would you know how many children someone has from their application?

Would you interview women that take a year or a few years out with their kids ? Or would that come under no recent relevant experience ??

I actually asked this on another thread but would also really appreciate your advice please :)

I'm applying for a job (closing date today!) and the application page states that in the covering letter, applicants must confirm their current package and bens.

I've taken a couple of pay cuts recently when changing jobs (for good reason, I really wanted the positions) and were in a different, lower-paid, sector so my current salary is about 20% less than the advertised salary for this vacancy. I have done this type of position before so I know I can do the job though.

Can I put something in the covering letter along the lines of 'salary and benefit details confirmed upon request/offer of position' or will that be totally frowned upon?

Any advice massively welcomed please!

(Excuse some copy and paste from my other post.)

Do you consider applicants that don't have directly relevant experience but do have transferable skills? If so, how can these be best highlighted (instead of the application being immediately discounted based on the current job role)?

This is a tricky one as it really does depend on the job the person is applying for. If it's a Customer Service Advisor, then yes, absolutely. Industry experience wouldn't be necessary but having skills related to the role would. I'd definitely consider someone who has worked in a shop for example. However, niche roles, 99% of the time we need someone who is time served and trained to be able to do the role, so we can't look for transferrable skills, they need to be able to do that exact job from the second they walk in.

Would you interview women that take a year or a few years out with their kids ? Or would that come under no recent relevant experience ??

Honest answer is they would require more questions than your average candidate. This all relates back to flexibility and if they are able to attend work and commit to full time work with us - if they are in a position to do so and have transferable skills from a few years ago or worked in the same industry then I would consider them most definitely.

*'m applying for a job (closing date today!) and the application page states that in the covering letter, applicants must confirm their current package and bens.

I've taken a couple of pay cuts recently when changing jobs (for good reason, I really wanted the positions) and were in a different, lower-paid, sector so my current salary is about 20% less than the advertised salary for this vacancy. I have done this type of position before so I know I can do the job though.

Can I put something in the covering letter along the lines of 'salary and benefit details confirmed upon request/offer of position' or will that be totally frowned upon?

Any advice massively welcomed please!*

If they have specifically asked for your salary and benefits then I would 100% include it, if you don't it looks like either a) You're hedging your bets or b) You haven't read what the employer is asking for. However, and this is sneaky (I've done it before myself) there's nothing to stop you putting your salary a bit higher than the one you currently earn.

As an example, before coming to this role, I earned x amount, on my application (because I reallllly wanted this job), I put I'd accept about £4k less per year. I ended up getting the role at higher than my current salary and it wasn't questioned at all. But you definitely need to put a salary in there, whether you put the real figure or not is up to you.

Thanks Blue. I totally forgot to add that I am considering working out my total 'package', which is what has been requested, ie somehow working out the added bens and pension etc, but am a bit stuck as to how to do so. Any further ideas gratefully received but you've already been kind enough to respond so thanks!

I wouldn't bother writing out what benefits and pension. For example, I would write something along the lines of 'Salary £30k per year, plus company car and pension scheme'. Something basic like that!

One of our competitors - their benefits package is out of this world, so much so we know if a candidate applies to us we cannot compete with it. So I think they're perhaps just wanting to know the basics of what you're on now and if they can compete benefits and salary wise.

Thank you so much - massively appreciated. I'm at risk of redundancy in my current position which I find makes applying for jobs even more stressful.

A somewhat related question - I've been at my job for a loooong time and my salary hasn't kept up with the market. The kind of jobs that have the skills I've got are paying about a third more than my current salary. I don't like telling recruiters my real salary as they then assume I'm much more junior than I really am.
So, the ethics of it aside, should I inflate my current salary to what I think I should be paid. And if I do is it possible any future employer would find out?
Thanks

Also do I have any "rights" in terms of asking my internal HR to benchmark my salary to the market. I've mentioned it to my manager but he hasn't done anything to progress it

I don't like telling recruiters my real salary as they then assume I'm much more junior than I really am.

@Djchickpea, that's definitely where I am as well!

A somewhat related question - I've been at my job for a loooong time and my salary hasn't kept up with the market. The kind of jobs that have the skills I've got are paying about a third more than my current salary. I don't like telling recruiters my real salary as they then assume I'm much more junior than I really am.
So, the ethics of it aside, should I inflate my current salary to what I think I should be paid. And if I do is it possible any future employer would find out?
Thanks

I've never heard of it being possible for anyone to find out your current salary - and this is again a common thing that comes up.

As a recruiter, if for example I'm advertising for a Business Development Advisor - I'd have a salary in mind I'm looking to pay. I'll get about 50 CV's for this job, and usually I think it's about 15 seconds I'll spend on a CV looking to see if they're good for the job.

If I see the current salary is £10k below what I'm looking to pay, when I was a bit more green I'd think the candidate isn't at the level I need - now I'm in more of a position to understand that there's reasons why their salary is so low. So personally, and unethically, I'd bump my salary up as recruiters out there are useless tbh. I wouldn't give them any easy reason to say no to your application.

It's a bit off the topic of this question, but if an employer asks you to fill in details of your current employer/notice period/salary/car driver - please fill these in and don't write 'See CV' or 'N/A' as this is the first thing I read on an application and it screams laziness to me. I'm not asking for an essay, just answers to questions.

Also do I have any "rights" in terms of asking my internal HR to benchmark my salary to the market. I've mentioned it to my manager but he hasn't done anything to progress it

There aren't any 'rights' as such. But I guarantee the second you hand your notice in for a better paid job they'll counter offer you!

That's great - thanks for the info!