How to Pass a Recruiter's Screen

INTRO

The first step in almost every application requires you to speak with a recruiter before making your way to the hiring team.

Our job as recruiter’s is to make sure not just the best candidates get selected to interview, but the best candidates that are most likely to accept an offer if given.

Read that again.

The more you understand the last part, the more you can understand what’s going in the mind of a recruiter so you can tailor your answers to get past our screens. Instead of playing victim and saying “recruiters suck!”, try understanding their reasoning, psychology, and just play the game.

Remember, at the end of the day, the companies pay our bills. So as much as we want to advocate for our candidates, the client’s interests come first.

Do this, and you’ll land yourself more interviews.

Red Flags Recruiters Look For

Knowing what red flags recruiters look for is a major hack that will help set you apart from other candidates

The key is staying objective and self aware. Don’t play victim. Instead, get out in front of them, address them, tell the recruiter what they want to hear.

When you see potential red flags in your background, stay objective and figure out how to address them. Not all recruiters look out for these red flags. But some do. Some look for a few of these, while others look at some others. These flags are created overtime based off their experience, what they’re taught, or what they see online as a good practice.

If you think you have one of these, don’t worry. We will just need to be creative with your responses.

When a recruiter brings up any of these red flags - the best thing to do is to get out ahead of it and control the narrative.

1A: Resume Tenures

One of the most controversial “red flags”. Especially in 2023, it’s become more common to accept the fact that people are going to switch jobs more often to maximize their income. More common with younger generations & contractors you’ll see people switching every 1.5-2 years, trying to grab a 20% increase each time.

But - there are still recruiters out there that will penalize you for this. And some of those recruiters may be working a job or company you’re really interested in.

So make sure we have a good narrative to go along with it. Most people don’t want to hear “I left for more money”. Personally, I don’t care if someone says that. But most recruiters out there don’t want to recruit a purely money motivated person because they’ll think in the back of their head “will this person keep interviewing 24/7 looking for a higher paying role? Can we invest our time and resources into this candidate only for them to quit soon?”

So instead turn it around and make it about your growth. You were seeking growth opportunities whether in your skillset, industry, roles & responsibilities, meaningful work, etc. And now you believe that this role you’re calling about fits that need for you.

1B: Resume Tenures

Believe it or not, there are even recruiters out there that penalize you for staying at a company TOO LONG!

Go figure. Candidates can’t win! Stay at a company too short or too long, penalized. Now - not every recruiter does this. But enough do to address this.

For example, if you’ve been at X Company for 10 years, they’ll think you’re content, stagnant in your growth, loyal to a fault that you’ll never switch, or more.

Spin this into a new light - let them know you loved the team you’re working for, the project & work you were doing, but it’s just time to look for the right role. Play a little hard to get. Spin it back on the recruiter, start asking them questions about the job to make sure it’s the right fit for you, and have them sell you (we should be doing these things anyway!).

2: Resume Gaps

Another controversial one. In other words, time in between jobs.

People can assume the worst, for example “this person was out of work for 4-5 months. What did they do, watch Netflix on the couch all day?”

Meanwhile - there are a ton of reasons why someone could have taken off. From family time & issues, to medical issues, to actually watching Netflix on the couch all day because they were so burnt out from their previous job.

So let’s get out ahead of it first and control the narrative.

Here are some common other reasons you can say:

• Took a little mental health break as I was burnt out. Spent the time playing catch up with much needed family time. This way, when I do join my next company, and I can come in, refreshed and recharged, ready to hit the ground running

• Personal Family reasons

• Spent the time upskilling on some other tech/skills such as XYZ

• Was working on a side project/hustle/passion project

• Medical reasons (only if true)

• Maternity/Paternity

3: Lack of Preparation

It’s one thing if a recruiter randomly calls you and you pick up - obviously you were cold called and won’t know anything about the opportunity.

But if you schedule a call, that’s a completely different story.

Chances are when you schedule a call, the recruiter is providing you with information about the role & company in a calendar invite. That's basic information you need to tailor your responses to their questions. If you don't, you may say something that gets you eliminated.

Use the information they provide you to tailor your responses. The company (research them if they aren’t well known), job description, project description, and the recruiter. You’ll be able to gain a lot of knowledge and to tailor your responses to the recruiter accordingly.

4: Poor Communication

Poor communication can mean many different things and effect many different aspects of the application lifecycle, and is one of the main reasons recruiters pass on candidates.

• Communicating your skills on interviews and screens: If you’re just regurgitating your roles & responsibilities instead of showing what impact you had, the recruiter will think you’re a weaker candidate & not fit for the job.

• Your availability to speak, interview, response times to emails/texts: If you’re difficult to get a hold of or schedule, the recruiter will think you won’t be interested in the job and potentially push someone else’s application over yours

• Communicating your interest level: If you try to play too hard to get, you may end up turning off the recruiter as a risk you’ll just end up wasting everyone’s time to reject an offer.

• Communicating your demeanor: Even if you’re an A-Player, you need to present yourself well. If you act like a jerk to the recruiter, they probably won’t submit you. If you’re a jerk to them, the logic is that you’ll be a jerk to the hiring manager, and to the team.

You could be the best candidate in the world, but if you can’t communicate these 4 things, you could end up self-eliminating yourself.

5: Compensation

Trying to mimic Boiler Room or the Wolf of Wall Street won’t get you anywhere with a recruiter.

This is why it’s imperative to do you research up front, because even if you get past every other question the recruiter asked, getting compensation wrong can blow up the entire screen for you.

Research is so important. So many industries have wide pay ranges than others. Big Tech pays the most. Banking & Financial services is right behind there. Healthcare, Life Sciences, Telecom are not known for the best comp packages. So if you’re applying from a high paying industry to another - you better be ready for that or you’ll be disappointed.

Further - you need to know what your skillset & years of experience goes for. If you’re a junior level / mid level candidate asking for a sr. level salary without the skills to back it up, you’ll likely find yourself rejected.

Finally - make sure you stick to the agreed upon salary up front. Sure there are salary ranges posted these days. But still stick to the agreed upon salary when the offer comes in. Obviously things happen, you might interview for another role with a higher salary. But if you like our role, make sure to communicate that in real time so we don’t feel blind sided, or think you’re trying to get one up over on us.

TL; DR

Knowing what recruiters look for in a recruiting screen is a major hack in your job search. By understanding your psychology, you can get out ahead of any red flags you might see & control the narrative.

1. Resume Tenures

2. Resume Gaps

3. Lack of Prep

4. Poor Communication

5. Compensation

Thank you if you made it his far reading

Two random thoughts.

1. Check out my ebooks if you haven’t already. Some resources to help you gain leverage as a job seeker and land the job you want, and some free resources for resumes & interview prep also: Products

2. Here’s a random picture of one of my dogs, Slim. Share a photo of your dog if you have one!s