[{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org\/","@type":"BlogPosting","@id":"https:\/\/chameleonresumes.com\/cant-hire-recruiter-find-job#BlogPosting","mainEntityOfPage":"https:\/\/chameleonresumes.com\/cant-hire-recruiter-find-job","headline":"Why You Can\u2019t Hire a Recruiter to Find Your Next Job","name":"Why You Can\u2019t Hire a Recruiter to Find Your Next Job","description":"Why You Can’t Hire a Recruiter to Find Your Next Job Many job seekers feel like ‘I am a slave to my job’ day in and day out. The thought of finding time to look for a new job, when they don’t have time to breathe invokes many emotions and questions. Some job seekers circle…","datePublished":"2025-05-22","dateModified":"2025-05-22","author":{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/chameleonresumes.com\/author\/admin#Person","name":"Lisa Rangel","url":"https:\/\/chameleonresumes.com\/author\/admin","identifier":1,"image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d232d4d94c36a87067529574d8bf976cdcbe10988a09d79e9fbc2b75ce6cb95a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d232d4d94c36a87067529574d8bf976cdcbe10988a09d79e9fbc2b75ce6cb95a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","height":96,"width":96}},"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Chameleon Resumes, LLC","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/chameleonresumes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Chameleon_FullColor-1.png","url":"https:\/\/chameleonresumes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Chameleon_FullColor-1.png","width":1000,"height":442}},"image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/chameleonresumes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/cant-hire-a-recruiter-300x205.jpg","url":"https:\/\/chameleonresumes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/cant-hire-a-recruiter-300x205.jpg","height":"","width":""},"url":"https:\/\/chameleonresumes.com\/cant-hire-recruiter-find-job","about":["Blog","Job Search Planning"],"wordCount":743,"keywords":["applicant tracking systems","Chameleon Resumes blog","executive recruiter","job search","lisa rangel","networking"],"articleBody":"Why You Can’t Hire a Recruiter to Find Your Next JobMany job seekers feel like ‘I am a slave to my job’ day in and day out.The thought of finding time to look for a new job, when they don’t have time to breathe invokes many emotions and questions.Some job seekers circle the drain and never get out of this “woe is me” phase to move forward in the search.However, many of you, respond with, “This isn’t going to happen to me!!”You are choosing to take proactive steps to own your career fate.Bravo!!And then you get an awesome idea…You figure you will outsource your job search and ‘hire’ someone to do it for you.Specifically, here are examples of the empowered responses I often receive:“Thanks for the wake-up call. I am going to hire a recruiter!”“I’m eager to get started. I was going to hire a recruiter to help me with my job search.”“Whew! Thanks for the reminder… I’m going to contact a recruiter this week to start my job search.”I scratch my head in disbelief when I hear these replies because that is NOT how recruiting works. I am going to tell you how recruiting works.Listen to this… and listen good.You can’t “use” an executive recruiter.You can’t hire an executive recruiter.You can’t contact one by Friday to start your job search.(Well, you can, but they most likely won’t start your search for you.)Only 10% of hires happen through executive recruiters.And I know because I was an executive recruiter for 13 years.Executive recruiters only work for their client companies that hire them to find specific talent.When I was a recruiter, if a candidate that I sourced had what my client company needed and was interested in the job, I presented that candidate to my client.And if my client hired the candidate, it looked like ‘I found that candidate a job’, right?Wrong…I didn’t find that candidate a job. I found the talent my client wanted and PAID me to find them.Recruiters work for the company that pays the fee.Not the candidate.Here is the extra clincher that will piss some of you off:If the candidate I presented didn’t get hired, I didn’t continue to work at finding that candidate a job (See – Didn’t work for the candidate.).However, I kept looking for talented candidates whom my client company would want to hire.That’s how I got paid – by the company, not the candidate.So you may get lucky and be placed by a recruiter.Know you can’t hire a recruiter.(Also, recruiters who want to be paid to find you a job? Run the other way!!)Know you can’t ‘use’ a recruiter, either.Recruiters use candidates.Yes, they use you.They find candidates to fulfill their client company’s needs and get paid doing it.Now that we squared that away…How is an executive supposed to find a job these days, if recruiters are not helping candidates find jobs?Here is the good news:Roughly 70% of hires happen through employee referrals, social media contacts, and personal connections.20% of hires happen through job boards.So it’s paramount that your resume is written for reaching out to people and for proper parsing into applicant tracking systems.Only when hiring managers can’t find talent through these means will they use a recruiter, if the budget allows it.GREAT jobs get filled through networking.Tough jobs that can’t get filled through networking and job postings get filled through recruiting.Are you interested in learning how to not be dependent on a recruiter (who wouldn’t be looking out for you anyway)?Do you want to know how to find your own job opening leads and how to contact the hiring managers?Knowing you can’t hire a recruiter and need to generate your own leads, you know it’s time to hire us. So, schedule a call with me to discover how my team and I can help you if you hire us: https:\/\/chameleonresumes.com\/contact-us.Hire us to instruct you on the RIGHT job search activities and FINALLY start getting results from your efforts.No more depending on recruiters anymore. Take back control and get 1-on-1 attention now:Chat soon,Lisa"},{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org\/","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Why You Can\u2019t Hire a Recruiter to Find Your Next Job","item":"https:\/\/chameleonresumes.com\/cant-hire-recruiter-find-job#breadcrumbitem"}]}]