The job hunt process can be incredibly difficult if you don’t know how to go about it. You can position your career for remote work and do everything right to get a remote job and still be met with unanswered applications and rejection emails. When it gets to this, it’s time to use a recruitment agency.
In this article, we’re going to discuss how to get remote jobs with recruitment agencies and how they work.
Job seekers often go through the whole process of job hunting alone most times without the right tools to ensure they get a job. Getting a remote job goes beyond having a proper CV and writing an impeccable cover letter. These things are great, but not nearly enough to get you a remote job.
Remote recruitment agencies often work with companies and job seekers to give the companies the candidates they seek. In some cases, before companies list jobs, they first go through remote recruitment agencies to get employees. With this, remote recruitment agencies may be what you need to get an incredible job offer.
There’s a misconception that remote recruitment agencies are only useful for veteran job applicants and full-time on-site work. As remote working became increasingly popular and started to take a form of its own away from traditional on-site work, so did everything exclusive to traditional onsIte work, and that is how remote recruitment agencies were made.
In this guide, we’re going to tell you everything you need to know about remote recruitment agencies and how to use their services.
What are Remote Recruitment Agencies and What Do They Do?
Remote recruitment agencies exist to help companies fill their open positions and to help remote job seekers-you, get jobs.
Remote recruitment agencies are outsourcing companies. It takes a lot to hire employees. Companies often have to sieve through hundreds of CVs and curate a list of candidates that will be called for interviews. This is a lot of work. So, to escape this, they outsource their hiring process to remote recruitment agencies.
So, when a company reaches out to a remote recruitment agency about an open position, the recruitment agency goes through their catalogue of candidates fit for the role and send them up to the companies for an interview. The remote recruitment agency goes through the stress of selecting qualified candidates before the companies hire them.
Recruitment agencies help companies save time and, in most cases, money. They don’t only help companies, they also offer a world of help to the job seekers by helping them optimize their CVs and in some cases, even preparing them for interviews.
Essentially remote recruitment agencies are the middlemen between companies and job seekers.
How Do Remote Recruitment Agencies Get Paid?
It’s important to know that the arrangement between a remote agency and the hiring company can vary. That aside, there are two major ways recruitment agencies get paid.
NB: NEVER PAY A RECRUITMENT AGENCY TO USE THEM
How do recruitment agencies make money? This question can be answered in two ways, depending on the kind of role you’re applying for.
Permanent Positions
For permanent roles, remote recruitment agencies will be paid from your salary when you’re hired. If they have an agreement with you and the company, they can be paid twice.
If your employer outsources a remote recruitment agency, they usually have to pay 10-20% of your starting salary to the recruitment agency. This money does not come from your salary, it’s a preexisting arrangement between the recruitment agency and the company.
Additionally, if the remote agency has an agreement with you, they also get that from your starting salary. This is still around the same 10-20% of your starting salary.
Temporary Positions
If you employ the services of a recruitment agency to find temporary positions, there’s a chance for the duration of the employment, your salary will come from the agency and not from the employer.
The agency gets the payment from the company and after keeping a portion for themselves, they pay the rest to you. This does not in any way mean you’re going to earn less than you should, it just means the recruitment agency takes enough for your salary and their cut.
How to Find a Good Recruitment Agency
There are tons of recruitment agencies that promise heaven. It’s important to be able to pick out the ones that know they’re doing and can help you get a job.
How do you know this?
Is The Remote Recruiter Treating You Like a Talent or a Stat?
To some remote recruiters, you’re not a priority, you’re merely a job seeker among others. It’s important to be able to differentiate these kinds of recruitment agencies.
After submitting your documents to a remote recruitment agency, it’s normal for the agency to try to get to know you at least, either via text, phone call, etc. This way they can better understand what you do and how to optimize your job search.
If all you get from the agency is emails and nobody reaches out trying to get to know you, then you should rule them out without a moment’s thought.
Do They Deal in Your Niche or Industry?
This is a very important thing to note when looking for remote recruitment agencies. Some remote recruitment agencies deal only with programmers. This is very common for remote recruitment agencies.
So, if you’re not a designer, you may want to completely ignore these types of agencies and search for agencies that are more in line with your niche and industry.
Step by step procedure on How to Get Remote Jobs with Recruitment Agencies
Agencies differ in how they operate, but the rule is generally the same or similar. Here’s how to use a remote recruitment agency.
- Contact the remote recruitment agency
When using a remote recruitment agency, you’re going to be the one that reaches out to them. There are several ways to search for and connect with remote agencies. But nothing beats a google search.
- Submit your CV
To enable the remote agency better understand your role and the kind of job to search for, the recruitment agency needs your CV.
Ensure your CV is up to date with all the right experiences and certifications. Your CV is the gateway for the recruitment agency and the company to determine if you’re the best fit for the job. This is why you need to make sure your CV is airtight and is properly written.
- Interview/ get to know the remote recruitment agency
As we said earlier, any agency that will help you and do what they set out to do will do everything to get to know you better. And the best way to do this is to have an actual interview with you.
While this isn’t the company interviewing you, it’s very important to make sure you treat it with the same importance. This is because the remote recruitment agency has a say in who gets hired. So, if you pass off anything other than competence, the remote recruitment agency will pass this same message to the employer.
- Interview with the company/employer
If it all goes well with the recruitment agency and they think you’re the right fit for the job, you’ll get to interview with the company.
If you’re with a recruitment company that knows what they’re doing, you may get several offers lined up in a short matter of time. With this, it is important to not mix up the companies and the roles. This could be detrimental to you if it goes unchecked.
Like all interviews, it’s important to prepare yourself and to attend the interview and get the job. It would also be more advantageous if you researched the company beforehand.
- Wait for a response
If everything goes according to plan, the next phase will be the job offer. Typically, the remote recruitment agency is going to be the ones to inform you of this as well. And they’ll oversee the whole onboarding process such as start date, salary negotiations, etc.
It could also be that your interview was unsuccessful. If this happens there’s nothing to worry about. It just means you weren’t the right fit. Also, it would be best to get the recruitment agency’s opinions on what you could do better to help you optimize your job search.
- Do not be afraid to frequently contact the recruiter
If you submit your CV and don’t get a response, you should email the recruiter to find out where you stand and how to proceed from there. Do not be kept waiting.
Also, if the recruiter reassures you that everything’s going smoothly, then it’s best to leave it to them and trust the process.
Conclusion
Using a remote job recruitment agency to get a job is a great idea especially if you’re unfamiliar with the remote work environment. They’re in a better place to get you faster interviews and better offers. On the issue of using more than one agency, that’s entirely up to you.
Bear in mind that the more agencies you use, the more susceptible you’re going to be to spam emails and calls. So, it’s best to stick with just a few of them. Till you’re certain they cannot produce results.
