Theright recruiter will accelerate your career.
A great recruitment service is about getting you access to the right job and helping you land it for long term success.

The best recruiters add value to your application and career. They open doors for you based on the strength of their relationships with employers. And importantly, they have the capability and appetite to help you secure the right job.

Relationships between recruiters and employers are built on a track record of making successful placements.

Marc Sumner, MD of Robertson Sumner says one of the things I am most proud of in our business over the last 16 years is that over 90% of all placements we make are still in post a year later. This is a testament to the efforts of our team and the unique we target our people.

Candidates can make an informed choice
You wouldn’t let a mechanic skilled at fixing trains to service your sports car would you?

It’s the same with recruitment. You need a recruitment expert who is experienced in your industry with a strong track record of making successful placements.

Recruiters are likely to want to meet or phone interview you before sending your CV off. They certainly should – how else will they fully understand you and the skills you have? Remember, this is a two-way interview and you can use this as an opportunity to build a relationship and get comfortable that they will represent you well in the market.

Industry expertise
It’s important to be confident that your recruiters really understand what you do for a living.

Have they worked in the industry themselves? Can they tell you what you do for a living? Who else have they placed into similar jobs? Are they prepared to target a company for you or simply fill roles they already have? Do they understand transferable skills? Which companies do they regularly work with?

A specialist recruiter should speak your language, know current market rates of pay, demonstrate good relationships in the market and be able to prove that they can be trusted with your application.

Jack Sharkey, Recruitment Consultant at Robertson Sumner agrees As a recruiter I talk to candidates all day and this gives me deep industry knowledge and enables me to benchmark salaries and roles. However my time spent in the industry working for Comparex means I also truly understand the market and the sort of jobs that we are hiring for.

Networks; the new currency
Spend a few minutes considering the track record, profile and standing of your potential recruiter.

How long have they been in business? What does their corporate LinkedIn profile tell you? Are they well connected? Do they have good endorsements? Is the business featured in CRN or other trade press?

Charlotte Hallam, Director, Robertson Sumner explains: Personal networks are very important to our role as recruiters. Ensuring we stay close to our loyal candidates and clients enables us to move quickly when people need our help. External networks have become increasingly important over the last few years too, and we invest time and energy growing our communities on both Linked In and Twitter.

Dan Mundle, Recruitment Consultant, Robertson Sumner adds In the reseller market people tend to prefer to employ people with comparable experience. However, my time working at resellers including Insight and Misco means I have a big network of people who trust my judgement as they can see I’ve done the job myself and trust that know what it takes to be successful.

It pays off for my candidates because, if I believe they will be a great hire, my clients usually agree to meet them based on my recommendation. In fact, I’m making more and more placements this way because the employers in my network appreciate that I understand the transferable skills people need.

Stay connected; stay visible
It is worthwhile investing some time to stay front of mind with your chosen recruiters.

• A quarterly phone call to check in with your recruiter – even if it’s to say you’re happy and have no plans to move!
• Update your CV annually – you never know when an amazing job will come up and the chances are the agency database will be their first port of call
• Social media – follow them on Twitter, join any LinkedIn groups and comment on any discussion points
• Tell your recruiter of any specific company (or person) you’d like to work for – it’s a small world and they might be able to facilitate and introduction even if there is no job being advertised

Moving jobs; a big decision
There are not many things beyond buying a house or getting married that affect security, money, friendships and someone’s future as much as getting a new job.

Marc Sumner agrees; The service we provide changes people’s lives. When I am hiring recruitment consultants into our business it’s important that they understand people and what motivates them. It is essential that anyone working for us as a recruiter has the experience to recognise the skills needed for the jobs they are hiring and the confidence to offer the best advice.

People are not ‰’deals’ to be done and recruitment is about getting the right person into the right team for the right reasons. When we do this it’s a win-win for everyone.

Don’t just take our word for it!
Robertson Sumner follows up with recently placed candidates and below is a selection of recent comments:

Steve Fisher, Solutions Sales Specialist (consultant: Dan Mundle)
Things are very good here and initial impressions are this is going to be a superb job. I thank Dan for having the right contacts in place to discover this role.

I think Dan did a superb job with what he could and I look forward to working with him again in the future when the next step needs to be undertaken.

Laura Cairns, Marketing Manager (consultant: Mark Reddy)
I wanted to contact you to say thank you very much for Robertson Sumner’s efforts and help in securing me a great role with a great company. You were consistent in the support and help your provided, always available to speak to and helpful in moving the whole process along so thank you very much.

I feel the role is a great fit for my experience and I am looking forward to getting stuck in and helping to make a difference here.

Tiffany John, Internal Sales Account Manager (consultant: Arran Collymore)
I’m very happy here at Westcon and I was very happy with the way Robertson Sumner handled things. I would highly recommend you to others and you have a really good team.

Hannah Gore, Sales Support (consultant: Jack Sharkey)
I absolutely love it here, and I very happy with the job role. I have nothing but great things to say about your recruitment services, and I would happily recommend you to anyone I know.
Finally, I just wanted to especially thank Jack for all of his help. He was professional, informative, helpful, and made the whole process more enjoyable.

AdamBerditch, EMEA Strategic Relationship Manager (consultant: Charlotte Hallam)
Thanks for getting in touch. So far so good! I’m enjoying the role and it looks like a great fit for me in the long term. It’s just the kind of position I wanted so I’m really pleased.

I was looked after by Charlotte Hallam and I really can’t praise her service enough. She was completely professional and a pleasure to deal with the entire time. She also found me the perfect role even if it wasn’t one that I had considered, so I was really impressed by that. One thing that I feel made all the difference in me being offered the position was the prep that Charlotte helped me with before my interview. She made sure that I turned up with a strong understanding of the role and the business, which went a long way.

Mike Warner, Senior Strategic Account Executive (consultant: Anthony Meek)
The opening couple of weeks have been good, certainly a lot to learn and then mapping that knowledge on to the customer base is what I’m trying to do. I’m thinking the more I do it, the more fluent it will become.

Anthony Chadd and his team here are very good, and very supportive whilst I’m in the learning phase.

I also have the trip to Washington in a couple of weeks, for a week’s training at the Neustar HQ so looking forward to that as well.

From a RS service/experience side, Anthony Meek was very good, and was keen to listen and understand from me what I was after, and thankfully not just in auto-mode of sending every CV to every job in the hope that something might stick, which frustratingly was the approach from a number of the agencies that I crossed paths with.

Further enquiries:
For more information on Robertson Sumner contact: Samantha Bell, Marketing Director, Robertson Sumner sam@robertson-sumner.com
Follow us on Twitter @RobertsonSumner
Join our LinkedIn group IT Sales Careers