Job recruiters and head hunters. They can be of great use to employers and employees alike lining up job seeker and job giver. To employers it’s a professional with an extra set of hands. To a person who is seeking employment recruiters are entries into a whole new set of networking venues. As job seeker you may be propelled into whole new areas of opportunities and contact which may not have availed themselves to you in any way shape or form. Yet there are tricks and traps for any wary person pounding the pavement to be aware and wary of when “hitting the pavement” out on the prowl for new or replacement employment.

First of all is the “Oreo Cookie” scenario. In this little play, you will get a job interview although the recruiter knows that full well you do not have one chance in a million of being offered a job proposal or even offer. You were just the warm up act for the star candidate. Life and opportunities in life are generally a matter of comparison and comparisons. Next in the door for the interview process that number one candidate went into, is the star candidate – candidate number two. The top notch , upper level candidate shines in comparison to the first entry – who although a possibility with less experience does not hold a candidate to number 2 who basically knocks the employers socks off.

To complete the process number three in line, is not top of the heap either. Guess who looks like the star candidate and who the sacrificial lambs are at their time and effort.

Oh well one might say – at least you had the experience of a fresh job interview , perhaps an entry into a new field of employment and your networking contacts may have increased.

Scenario number two to be careful and dubious of is what might be referred to as “Gone Fishing”. It is like responding to a blind newspaper employment ad. The job sounds great yet there is virtually no information about who the employer is and what the companies’ qualifications are. Its honey and bait for recruiters for them to network and to fill up their rolodex or job seekers database – all for their benefit and seldom yours. You might get something down the line however in most cases it’s a number game that is for the recruiter. This way they can make the claim and claims to potential hiring companies and departments of the great amount of candidates they offer. This is at your time and effort – but not immediately to your benefit in the hiring process and processes.

In the end headhunters and recruiters have their place and role. If the economy is great and employers are having trouble recruiting staff then a human resources dept may well have no trouble justifying the cost and costs of a headhunting agency. However if the economy is in a tailspin or just not buoyant why would a firm pay the extra costs? Head hunter firms are paid a percentage of salary and even benefits by the hiring firm – often with little guarantees. In this day and age of email and computerized online posting boards a job seeker out on the prowl can often have great impact in the hiring process though their own efforts of job hunting and in the process show and expound their skills and dogged determination through slogging through the system directly with the employer or their h.r. dept all in the quest of getting hired. It’s a two way street in 2010 – 2011.

Author Bio: Allan I Schacter Alberta Canada Employment Opportunities Fire Your Boss Winnipeg Canada Job Banks