​There are often grumbles around the candidate experience when dealing with a recruiter – and rightly so in many instances. To address this, I have created a quick guide on how to make the most out of your relationship with your recruiter.

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1 – Make the relationship two-way. Right from the opening call, you should receive as much information as you give, but don’t fire questions such as “what’s the salary?” before the recruiter has even introduced themselves. Be sure to sell yourself and don’t be afraid to ask detailed questions, as this will allow you to both understand the role yourself and to check that your recruiter does too and is familiar with the employer they are working with.

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2 – Once you have built a relationship with your recruiter, be open and honest. If an opportunity isn’t in the right location, doesn’t pay enough or simply isn’t the right opportunity for you, then just tell them so. You may be questioned on your thinking, but in my view, this should be to understand what isn’t working rather than push you into doing something you don’t want to do. In the long run, maintaining open and honest communication is of benefit to both parties.

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3 – Where possible, speak with your recruiter on the phone. Clearly you may meet them in person initially to get a feel for one another, but after that, I would always advise you to speak with recruiters on the phone. Your recruiter should be free to talk after working hours, so maintaining good communication this way should be pretty painless for you. It builds rapport between you, and helps to keep you current in the recruiter’s mind.

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4 – Keep the recruiter posted on developments at your end. If interviews or meetings occur via other channels, just let your recruiter know. They may have other opportunities for you so can apply urgency where needed. Don’t feel pressured to tell them any details of the companies you are interviewing for, but to simply advise them that you have a first stage interview next week on Friday is a great help.

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5 -If you have bad news for your recruiter, hit it head on. It probably won’t be the first time this week that they’ve had bad news, so don’t go radio silent – if you do, they will expect the worst anyway. If you’ve been offered a job elsewhere, don’t want the job they’ve helped you secure or don’t like the role that they have placed you in, revert to step three and call them. Again, any decent recruiter will completely understand your decision-making process, and they shouldn’t apply unnecessary pressure to accept or stay in the proposed role.

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So there you have it. Just to summarise:

Step 1 – Make sure it is a two-way relationship.

Step 2 – Be open and honest.

Step 3 – Call them where possible (your recruiter should be free after hours).

Step 4 – Be transparent when things change at your end.

Step 5 – Hit bad news head on.

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Like everything in life, there is the good, the bad and the ugly and nowhere is this truer than in recruitment. If you have a recruiter you trust, the above five steps should help you develop a strong relationship. If your recruiter makes any of the above steps difficult to follow, then get in touch with the team at Delve. We will gladly talk through our working methods and our “Beyond the Paper” approach.