Career Coach: Job Recruiters

CHICAGO (CBS)-- Through this job crisis, CBS 2 is Working For Chicago by working with a career coach every week to bring you advice about looking for and landing a job.

Job recruiters are the focus this week.

Lynee Alves, president of Interview Like An Expert, says to keep in mind that recruiters don't work for you, they work for businesses and organizations looking to hire. Recruiters seek out, screen and interview candidates before presenting them to the company.

"Typically, these firms are welcoming your resume so if you can find that they are recruiting for the types of roles you're looking for, getting your resume into them is absolutely the first step," Alves said. "Try to follow up to get your resume noticed."

Alves recommends researching three different types of recruiters, based on your needs.

The first work at staffing agency firms, which are hired by a company and typically do large volume hiring. The second type are executive recruiters, which are typically looking to fill higher-level management roles.

The third type are contingency recruiters, which only get paid if the company hires their candidate.

"They're all competing to try and bring that one candidate to the table and get them hired," Alves said. "The only way that firm gets paid is if their candidate gets hired so being on the radar of a lot of different firms in important cause you never know who will come out the winner."

For any jobs seekers interested in working with a recruiter, Alves says a basic Google search can help you look for and connect with recruiters in your career field, industry or location.