Learning how to work with recruiters is an important part of helping recruiters to help you. Over the past couple of years there is a trend expressing itself in the behavior of job candidates towards the recruiters they work with. That trend is a tendency towards playing both ends against the middle; telling the recruiter what they want to hear in order to gain the value of their -- usually free -- services.

Most recruiters work for and get paid by their employer clients, not job prospect candidates. Understanding that jobseekers are often eager to find new employment that matches their requirements, they will most times actively pursue job positions on their own as they work with recruiters. No problem. The problems arise when candidates work with recruiters then report to the recruiter only what they want the recruiter to hear, often times even if the report is not exactly true. That gives an advantage to the job candidate to work their own job opportunities or job opportunities with other recruiters as they manage recruiters by only sharing partial accuracy as to their real status. That sort of behavior is unfair and dishonest towards the recruiter and doesn't benefit the candidate.

A recruiter needs to know a job candidate's exact status, if they are to be effective on behalf of the candidate. Most recruiters don't mind, and understand, that candidates will work with other recruiters and pursue their own sources of opportunity. But when a candidate inaccurately reports to a recruiter that they remain interested in a job the recruiter is working -- only to keep that option open, when the candidate really prefers a different job -- then the recruiter is at a disadvantage, encouraging their client towards a person who will likely not take the job. It isn't so much that the recruiter is perceived by their client as being inaccurate. Most employer clients assume that the recruiter is only reporting what the candidate shares.

So such inaccurate reports to a recruiter by a manipulative candidate only reveals the dark strategies of that candidate and established that part of the candidate's character within the confines of the very industry the candidate wishes to seek employment. It's a small world. Help your recruiter help you by delivering fair and honest reports of your job search status towards a specific job. You may be surprised that if you tell your recruiter that you really prefer a different job, they may offer advice to you to help you secure that position. Believe it or not, most recruiters are upstanding, professional individuals of good character

Most take the long view that whether they make a fee on a candidate today or not, that they serve their respective industries well by being honest and fair themselves in all dealings.

GOOD LUCK IN YOUR JOB SEARCH.