Honesty is the Best Policy
Let’s talk about honesty. There are few things more important than honesty and this holds true for working with recruiters as well.
For some, working with a recruiter sounds like a complicated process. However, when you partner with a reputable agency that has a record of success like ours, you will find the process is actually very straightforward.
Nonetheless, there are always certain situations where no matter how organized or defined the process is, a candidate makes things difficult. There are a number of reasons for this. It could be inattention to detail, lack of preparation, or miscommunication. Sometimes it simply boils down to the candidate choosing to be dishonest. Purposely embellishing experience or withholding information from your recruiter will do nothing but hurt your chances of gaining employment.
One scenario we see often is when a candidate has already been submitted to a position with X client, either personally or with another agency, and allows one of our recruiters to submit their resume to the same position. Applying to the same position will not make you a more attractive candidate or enhance your candidacy in any way. Be honest, if you’ve already applied tell us and we will work together again in the future.
Another scenario is when a candidate is asked about their criminal history and they choose to withhold information from their past. The majority of our clients request background checks and require that they are completed prior to the candidates’ first day. A suspended license or misdemeanor for speeding on your background report may not be charges that would impact a candidate’s chance of gaining employment, but finding out after the fact will make you loss some credibility. Active cases are also important to disclose. Bottom line, it’s best to be upfront with your recruiter.
In other scenarios we’ve seen candidates withhold details of pre-arranged vacations for fear of time-off preventing them from securing the position, not to mention falsified experience or information provided during phone screens or listed on resumes. The list goes on, but our goal here is to assure all candidates that honesty is the best policy. Being honest allows our recruiters to work with the facts and help you the best way we can.