Dealing with recruiters

Brittany Mederos
Let’s Enchant
Published in
3 min readDec 22, 2015

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This post is part of a larger series of posts aimed at helping designers present themselves online. Learn more about “Crafting Your UX Portfolio” here.

Recruiters that work for you

When most people hear the word “recruiter”, they immediately think to a person at a company that’s looking to hire people for that company. But that’s not always the case. Did you know there are recruiters out there that want to work for you?

Yup, staffing companies are looking to find talented people like you and connect them with companies. They get cash out of the deal, but only if they succeed in matching you with a company.

For example, let’s say you’re looking for $75K at a small startup where you can learn lots of things quickly. Matt from Jobspring (a staffing firm that Brittany has experience with) will learn about you, your skills, the type of company you’re looking for, the compensation you want, etc.

Matt will then match you with companies he knows about that might be a good fit. He’ll find a company that’s willing to pay $85K for you. If the match is a success, Matt (well, Jobspring) will take home the extra $10K. They’ll check-in on you afterwards to make sure everyone is still happy a few months down the road; this helps them improve their process.

There are plenty of staffing companies around, so take a look and get your name out in front of a few. Let them work on your behalf:

  • Jobspring: staffing agency with a personal touch. Focused on tech-centric companies and roles, they play matchmaker to get you a job you love.
  • Anthology: an anonymous matchmaking app. You to put in what you are looking for and Anthology matches you with companies that are looking for you.
  • Toptal: one of the best online design/dev matchmaking services. As a designer, you fill a profile go through a screening process. Toptal then finds you companies that want to hire you based on your availability.

Chatting with a recruiter

Sooner or later, you’ll get to the point where someone asks, “So, what do you do?” We’ve all dreaded that question. How can you possibly mash all the things you do into a concise, relatable answer? It’s tough.

Here’s a rule of thumb: start by broadly stating what you do, then hone your way into the specifics by talking about specific skills or tasks that you perform:

Them: “So, what do you do?”
You: “I’m a designer, and I work on websites and apps.”
Them: “What specifically do you work on?”
You: “Well, I focus on interface design: that’s how everything is laid out. I plan and design the hierarchy of what matters most to help people navigate the site or app.”
Them: “Can you give me an example?”
You: “Sure! Think about a profile page. Most profile pages have the same elements and design patterns…” etc.

You’ll want to gauge the person’s knowledge by the questions they ask back.

If you’re working with smaller companies, startups, or small teams, you’ll find that you’re usually talking directly to the person you’ll be working with. That’s great, because they probably know quite a bit about what they’re looking for, so they can ask the right questions.

On the other hand, if you’re working with larger companies, you’ll may have to survive a layer or two of recruiters. These recruiters stay at a surface level, scanning for buzzwords such as UI design, UX, visual design, prototyping, etc. so you won’t need to explain the details or give specifics examples.

Once you make it past the recruiter layer, you’ll be connected with an interviewer or potential teammate. They’ll definitely dig in, so be prepared to explain specifics.

Prepare for recruiter conversations by practicing

A great technique for preparing is to stage mock conversations with yourself. Use the personas above (recruiter, interviewer, potential client) to work through a few scenarios.

But the best technique we’ve found is to go through lots of conversations where you have to explain yourself. This can be at networking events, or at actual interviews (even if you’re not 100% interested in a company, give it a shot.) It’ll help you fine-tune your presentation with real feedback. In the case of interviews, you’ll also help the company hone-in on what they’re looking for.

Next up → “The interview process

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Senior designer @Microsoft. Proud new mama, working towards my health and life goals, living on coffee and dreaming of traveling to new places.