This is a popular blog post topic within the recruiting industry, and what’s great is that each one provides different perspectives and opinions. These are 4Sight’s:

MYTH: We’re just out for a commission.

TRUTH: Recruiters are indeed paid on commission, and ‘bad apples’ do exist.  However, if they’re smart business people, a good recruiter will be most concerned with the match they make, their client relationships, and simply adding value to people . . . not commissions. This comes from doing high-quality work, getting to know our clients and providing great service, making good hires, and hopefully earning the opportunity to work together again. If a company assumes that I’m simply a headhunter out for a commission, I challenge them that my goal is to improve organizational personnel, solve business problems, and hopefully form a mutually beneficial partnership. And yes, I need to make a living just like you. It just so happens that my job also involves speaking to talented professionals all day.

Furthermore, I personally love my work and that’s what drives me on a daily basis. I certainly don’t receive commissions on a daily basis, but I talk with people and companies everyday. I have blogged before about entering recruitment after a life-changing, I’ll say ‘tear-jerking’ experience (see my “Why Recruiting” post). That sense of reward of helping people – companies and job seekers alike – reach their goals, is what fuels me and wakes me up excited to work every morning. The commissions are just extras (implemented by whomever structured the recruiting industry that way, not me).

MYTH: Our main goal is to find people jobs.

TRUTH: This is one of our goals, but our process starts with a company client’s hiring need. At the core of our business, we are engaged by companies to find good people. Yet in this process, we have the privileged opportunity to help industry professionals improve their careers, and make good matches. What I typically tell my colleagues in the job market is that I have to spend the majority of my time recruiting for my openings, but I make time (around 20%) to assist people who are job searching and to simply network with talented people. That’s how it all starts, and I enjoy networking and making connects whether or not it impacts my business. Let us be an extra resource for you, as we do work with some great employers. But at the same time, recruiters aren’t outplacement resources. And I as an independent consultant have to be especially diligent with my time, as it’s just me.

MYTH: We’re salespeople and don’t really know our industry.

TRUTH: Yes, there’s certainly a sales component to our work. But good recruiters spend time deep-diving into their practice. Here are some topics that I discussed in depth with industry professionals just in the past week:

• New OFCCP anti-discrimination and self-disclosure regulations effective this year

• Social media approval processes and monthly, quarterly and annual content planning

• Customer Lifetime Value

• Shifts in healthcare marketing more toward a retail B2C focus

• FMLA maternity leave processes and requirements

• Taleo vs. SuccessFactors vs. JobScience

• Enterprise-level implementations of Oracle, Salesforce and other platforms

I advise anyone who engages with a recruiter or search firm to not just ask for success stories, references and stats, but ask about how we go about our business.