Candidates often treat recruiters either as gatekeepers to be charmed or as a service that owes them attention. Neither works. Recruiters are paid by employers to fill roles, and the ones who help your career are the ones whose incentives happen to line up with yours.
The three kinds you will meet
Internal recruiters work for the employer. They know the team, the salary band and the process, and they will be honest about fit because a bad hire is their problem too.
Agency recruiters are paid a fee, usually a percentage of salary, when a candidate they submit is hired. They work many roles at once, move fast, and have a strong interest in placing you somewhere.
Executive search consultants work on retained assignments for senior roles. Slower, more consultative, and usually only relevant later in a career.
Knowing which one you are talking to explains almost everything about how the conversation goes.
What recruiters are measured on
Roles filled, time to fill, and whether candidates stay. That means they value:
- Candidates who match the brief closely
- Clear, current information about your situation
- Reliability: you turn up, reply quickly and do not vanish
- Realistic salary expectations
- No surprises late in the process
Being easy to work with is genuinely rewarded, because it reduces their risk.
How to get useful help
- Be specific. “Data analyst roles in healthcare, remote or hybrid within an hour of Phoenix, from $70,000” is something they can act on. “Open to anything” gets filed and forgotten.
- Share your constraints early: notice period, work authorization, other processes you are in, salary floor.
- Answer quickly. Pipelines move in days.
- Tell them when you take another offer. The recruiter you let down today is the one hiring for your dream role next year.
- Give feedback after interviews. It helps them represent you better next time.
Our guide on negotiating salary covers how to discuss numbers with a recruiter without boxing yourself in.
Questions worth asking them
- Are you working directly with the employer, or through another agency?
- How long has this role been open, and why is it open?
- What is the salary range, and is it flexible?
- Who will I interview with, and how many stages?
- What has made other candidates unsuccessful so far?
- What does the manager care most about?
Internal recruiters usually answer all of these. An agency recruiter who cannot answer any of them may not have a real relationship with the employer.
Warning signs
- Refusing to name the employer before you commit to an application.
- Submitting your resume without your permission, which can block you from applying directly.
- Pushing you toward roles that plainly do not match what you asked for.
- Asking for payment of any kind. Candidates never pay; see our guide on job scams.
- Pressure to accept an offer immediately.
Being found by them
Most recruiters search rather than browse. A clear headline, the right keywords and an up-to-date profile matter more than anything else you can do, which our LinkedIn profile tips cover in detail. Keep your resume current too, following our ATS-friendly resume guide, so you can respond the same day.
Frequently asked questions
Should I work with several agencies at once?
Yes, but track who submitted you where. Two agencies sending your resume to the same employer creates a fee dispute and often removes you from consideration.
Do recruiters negotiate on my behalf?
Agency recruiters are paid a percentage of your salary, so they have some interest in a higher number, but their primary interest is closing the deal. Do your own research and decide your own floor.
Why do recruiters stop replying?
Usually the role was filled, paused or re-scoped, and the follow-up got lost in volume. Send one polite check-in, then move on, as described in our guide to following up.
