Is there such thing as a person who will find a job for you?

Executive Recruiters will do this as will Employment Agencies, but it’s like buying a house. They are being paid by the company so that is who they work for.

Well, there are recruiting companies whose job is to market you to companies looking for employees in your field. The companies hire the recruiters to find employees that match their needs, and the recruiters keep a percentage of the amount the companies pay for each employee. If you signed with a recruiting company, they would certainly review your resume with you and make changes to make you as desirable as possible to their client. This doesn’t cost you any money. The recruiting company will want you to get the job since they’ll make a percentage from your working at their client’s company, so they’ll let you know what should and should not be included on your resume.

Also known as, “Headhunters”!

temp agency

Thank you Babo….

You could try using your local state employment agency It will help you find a job at no cost to you.
Here is another link in case the first doesn’t help.

Your college alumni office can check over your resume, usually without cost. Ditto for reaching out via informational interviewing to mentors in your chosen field; they’re usually more than happy to offer advice.

As to an alternative to headhunters, temp agencies, and exec recruiters mentioned above, make sure your profile (not resume, per se) is active on LinkedIn and you’ve joined respective groups on that site too. For more info on how you can utilize LinkedIn to its maximum potential, visit I’m on LinkedIn – Now What??

Are there any “headhunters” that don’t work for specific companies but that are agents for the job-seeker? That’s more what I’m looking for because I’m looking in the non-profit and education fields. @scamp: I will try out that state agency tomorrow. Thanks all!

I can’t speak for others, but when I refer to headhunters they work for headhunting agencies and represent you. Granted, they can only refer you to firms that contact them but they don’t work for those firms.

If non-profit or education, have you looked on idealist.org?

Thanks for the clarification. Yep. I get an update from idealist every morning…

Good luck Megan64 !

Non-profit and educational institutions tend to only use outside recruiters for very high level positions because they’re very expensive, charging anywhere between 10 and 25% of a year’s salary for a permanent placement. Such organizations very rarely want to spend that kind of money, especially when they usually have more applicants than they know what to do with. However, if you have very specialized skills that are in high demand, someone may seek you out.

I’ve never known a recruiter that started with a candidate and then went and sought out possible employers, usually because candidates can’t afford the fees. They may keep you on file until a possible opportunity comes in, but that’s a passive process.

I kind of have a distrust of recruiters because their loyalties are torn between two masters, candidate and client, but only one master pays the rent. Some will push hard to close a deal that may or may not be in your best interest.

It’s better to find professional organizations in the fields and geographic areas in which you wish to work. Often those groups will have job boards that you can search, and you may meet other people already working at a possible employer that can give you insight into how things work there.

Good luck and be careful out there.