Demystifying recruitment - Q&A
How do I deal with multiple agency recruiters? How do I find out what realistic salary expectations are? What do I do if I receive two job offers?
The recruitment process can throw up challenging, time-sensitive scenarios like these – which many candidates find hard to respond in the moment.
In December 2024, Prosper hosted a Q&A webinar with three experienced recruiters - giving postdocs in attendance the chance to have their burning recruitment questions answered.
In addition to the video below, you can read a summary of the recruiters' top tips and insights here on our blog.
Speakers
Kadeem Houson (CEO at Kea Consultants – a boutique search firm operating in the alternative investment space)
Kerry McElroy (Stakeholder Development Manager at Prosper, with eight years experience in talent attraction and development within global institutions, Blackstone and Morgan Stanley
Sarah Hodgkinson (Account Director for Recruitment Outsourcing at Robert Walters – a global talent solutions business)
[00:00:07 –> 00:01:30] [KERRY MCELROY]
So I’m Kerry McElroy, I’m Stakeholder Development Manager for Prosper and we are pleased to be hosting this session today. From the Prosper team I’m also joined by my colleagues Stefania and Candice who are on hand to monitor the questions and any tech issues. So please do use the chat function for these. A bit of a heads up on the format, we’re going to be running for around 30 minutes. 20 minutes of those we are going to spend on your pre-submitted questions. Thanks to those of you who have submitted those questions, we split them into two categories, the job search and application process and interviews and offers. We don’t have time to every pre-submitted question and of course we don’t want to do anything, cover any questions that are too specific to one particular field or discipline as we want to appeal to as many of the audience as we can. So we’ll keep quite general with the questions we’re posing and then for the final 10 minutes there’s going to be time for you to submit any questions using the chat function and we’ll pose those to the recruiters. So without further ado I’m going to hand over to Stakeholder Development Manager for Prosper and we’re going to hand over for brief introductions from our recruiters Sarah and Kadeem. So Sarah, over to you.
[00:01:30 –> 00:01:54][SARAH HODGKINSON]
Thanks Kerry. Hi everyone, I’m Sarah Hodgkinson. I’m an account director at Robert Walters Outsourcing. So we’re the outsourcing arm of Robert Walters which is a global recruitment business. I’ve been with the business for about eight years here but I’ve been in recruitment for over 20 so hopefully can bring some experience to the table. And I manage a global team of around about 40 recruiters here at Robert Walters. So that’s me.
[00:01:54 –> 00:02:02][KERRY MCELROY]
Thanks Sarah. And Kadeem?
[00:02:02 –> 00:02:34][KADEEM HOUSON]
Thanks Sarah, thanks Kerry. Hi everyone, I’m Kadeem Houson. I’m the CEO at Kia Consultants. We’re a London-based boutique search firm focused on financial services, more specifically roles in investing. So that’s hedge funds, private equity funds and venture capital firms. I’ve been in the business for 12, about 15 years. I’ve been in the business for about 15 years. I’ve grown up with the business and now kind of oversee our overall search operation and direction in general. So pleased to be here today and look forward to hopefully being of help.
[00:02:35 –> 00:02:58][KERRY MCELROY]
Thank you. So we’ll jump straight in then with the questions starting with the job search and application related questions. So Sarah, I’m going to come to you first and I’m going to ask what do you, what are the common pitfalls academics have when selling their skills to industry or other fields? So yeah.
[00:02:59 –> 00:05:42][SARAH HODGKINSON]
Thanks Kerry. Yeah, I mean, I had to think about this one, obviously ahead of the call and I think one of the biggest pitfalls is people just presenting themselves in purely academic terms. So, you know, once publishing papers and securing grants is really impressive, you know, within academia, industry employers care much more around how those skills behind those activities. And so I think that’s a huge problem for a lot of people because I think that’s one So for example, I were to give one, instead of saying on a CV, I’ve published six papers on renewable energy, for example, you could frame it differently and say, you know, I’ve led a multi-year research project developing innovative energy solutions that reduce costs by 20%. So for example, so what you’re doing is you’re just pivoting and you’re approaching those highlights with practical ideas. impacts of your work that ultimately resonates much more with employers outside of academia and another challenge that I was thinking about is just under estimating soft skills I think academics often overlook the value of leadership teamwork communication all skills which are crucial in any industry you know for example if you’ve supervised students well that demonstrates leadership if you’ve collaborated on projects that showcases teamwork so it’s just about ensuring you get across those transferable skills because that’s what will set you apart and it’s just really important to highlight those in your applications and I think thirdly it was more just around being mindful of using you know academic terminology abbreviations because whilst they’re familiar to you they can be really confusing or alienating to industry employers who might not understand that terminology so just make sure you can explain your work in more of an accessible language that resonates with that sort of non-academic audience so I know I’ve mentioned a few things there but I think ultimately the key is just to shift your mindset and instead of focusing on literally what you’ve done just about thinking how those achievements can be applied to challenges or needs of a specific industry or a specific role that you happen to be targeting and I think by translating your academic work into more relevant terms you’ll then bridge that gap and you’ll present yourself as a real valuable asset to any potential recruiter or employer yeah I hope that
[00:05:42 –> 00:05:50][KERRY MCELROY]
makes sense it does thanks Sarah and the other thing which you just did there is when you were talking about in the CV you went specific with the numbers you know you’re talking about the
[00:05:50 –> 00:05:56][SARAH HODGKINSON]
yes absolutely is that all those things out because it’s it’s just transferable and it’s
[00:05:56 –> 00:06:25][KERRY MCELROY]
giving real world impacts it’s how you can solve an employer’s problem yeah brilliant thank you very much so following on from that then one for you Kazim um if you have always worked in academia what are your top tips in sort of approaching and starting that process of considering a change in career direction um yeah and identifying those what those transferable skills Sarah just mentioned identifying what they are
[00:06:25 –> 00:07:33][KADEEM HOUSON]
yeah like I’ll likely echo a lot of the things that Sarah’s already said I think the first thing I’d say in terms of prefacing my response is that um I don’t think people should be apologetic about the fact you spent time in academia like it’s actually a really interesting route to have taken I think there’s a lot of skills that can be developed from that I think um kind of tiptoeing into recruiting processes or into industry um in the future I think it’s really important to be very apologetic and kind of almost shy away I don’t necessarily serve your career search right I think that it is about being very deliberate and intentional around okay what are those skills I have picked up let’s really introspect on what those things are and how can they really be applied in a real world context and um I think you know to Sarah’s point thinking quite deeply and simply and in some instances around you know what are the three or four skills that I’ve picked up that really would transfer to a wider audience in different industries um is is how I really think about that but but again you know without trying to echo your point I think it’s really important to to many of the things that Sarah’s already said I think a lot of it from a mindset perspective is just not being overly apologetic or or polite around the fact that you have taken a different route initially um and then being quite simple concise and specific around the skills you have
[00:07:33 –> 00:07:50][KERRY MCELROY]
picked up along the way um that would transfer into into a wider set of industries thank you and then another question which I found really interesting which has been pre-submitted is if you are moving on from academia what what level role should you be going for?
[00:07:50 –> 00:09:43][KADEEM HOUSON]
yeah should you consider entry level sure um I’ll I’ll give a bit of an on the fence answer which um but but maybe some context as well which might be helpful um it it depends you might hear myself maybe Sarah said this quite a lot um like some industries are very rigid some organizations are very rigid um some teams are very rigid um so you know it can be very difficult and difficult to give a very broad brush answer in terms of where where to specific where to kind of position yourself um look I think on balance there’s a lot of things that I think are very difficult to say it’s worth being receptive and open to different levels whether they be entry level or not um in general just because I think um you know opportunities opportunities I think it’s worth being pragmatic around your search in general um I’d say there’s a couple of caveats maybe um is that if you look at your career with a long-term lens um I think the entry point doesn’t necessarily mean your finishing point so um I think in part you know whilst you know if even if you were to accept an entry level role somewhere um I think it’s worth being pragmatic around your search in terms of you know being quite um deliberate around negotiating your trajectory the pace at which you can move forward the pace which you can progress through an organization provided that you hit certain performance metrics is probably a helpful way to think about things too it might be that you take a bit of a haircut day one but doesn’t necessarily mean you don’t land in a more senior and progress quite quickly um you know through an organization thereafter so I think about it I think about it twofold first um you know be receptive and be open to things um but negotiate right I think you get one chance to kind of negotiate on the way in I think you probably should leverage that but if indeed there is a scenario where you can’t get the kind of role on the on the entry point that you really want really think pragmatically around how you can be rewarded for your progression and how you might progress the organization thereafter um so so yeah it it really depends in industry wise but um there’s just a few thoughts that I probably put
[00:09:43 –> 00:09:58][KERRY MCELROY]
out put out there yeah okay perfect and this one’s for Kadeem or Sarah have you got one on how someone might find out a bit more about a company so they can sort of get a bit of a feel
[00:09:58 –> 00:10:52][KADEEM HOUSON]
so you know what they need to what sort of level they need to be going for yeah I mean I can jump in um I think that things like LinkedIn are a really great resource um you can kind of you know I think you can get a pretty clear precedent in terms of um what sort of levels people have joined that what their backgrounds have been prior to joining a certain company and it gives you a bit you know uh your your position either way right it might be that you see that there’s a ton of academics who have gone in a very senior position and therefore you’ve got a lot more bargaining power and leverage it might be that everyone has joined a very specific level um regardless of their background prior to that and therefore you might have less leverage so I think trying to leverage the data that exists um on public resources like LinkedIn team websites that sort of stuff um is is pretty helpful just in terms of framing your starting position um you know I’d I’d I’d probably start there personally
[00:10:52 –> 00:11:23][SARAH HODGKINSON]
Sarah might have a complimentary view or opposing one who knows no no no I completely agree I think there’s also really useful tools like you know Glassdoor and networking so I know that goes back to the LinkedIn point predominantly but definitely network there’s no harm in connecting with people and asking questions um so just doing research within that industry um you know without sounding too cliche but the web is your best friend in this instance I think don’t think there’s any information that isn’t on the web so it’s all there to be found but it’s just research research research
[00:11:23 –> 00:11:48][KERRY MCELROY]
yeah I’d agree with that and never underestimate how willing people will be to talk about their experience as well um you know people like to be asked so you know yeah put yourself out there and ask a question the worst thing that can happen is you get ghosted so um perfect okay so Sarah moving to the next question which is a biggie and how to get shortlisted for an interview
[00:11:48 –> 00:14:54][SARAH HODGKINSON]
thanks Gary um the one that we all think about not just whether you’re an academic or not um but um you know listen I think ultimately it’s it’s relatively simple in the fact that you know getting shortlisted isn’t it’s not just about having the right qualifications you know they are pivotal in a lot of roles but it’s so important about how you present them and just making sure that they’re relevant so I’d always say a really great place to start is just tailoring your CV and cover letter for every role that you apply for I know that that feels like a lot of extra work to people but it is definitely a lot of work to do and I think that’s a really good fit and it’s certainly worth it in the long run um I would really recommend looking really closely at job descriptions and identifying keywords because these will often highlight exactly what the employer is looking for and then you want to match your own skills and experiences to those requirements and just ensure that they’re reflected in your cover letter or your CV you know for example I was thinking of some examples but instead of saying I’ve completed a PhD in physics you know again saying that you’ve got a PhD in physics and you’ve got a PhD in physics and you’ve applied our advanced mathematical models to solve real world challenges again like achieving an x amount of improvement for stakeholders so again you’re just showcasing that whilst you’ve got the qualifications you’re also showing it in a more of a measurable you know real world impact way which what employers will love and recruiters will love um another key point is just creating a really clear narrative um so you want to just think about telling your educational story and a recruiter or an employer should really quickly be able to understand you know who you are what you’ve achieved and just more importantly why you’re a great fit for the role so i’d always recommend having a really short personal statement at the top of your cv so you can tie everything together and you want to kind of think of that as it’s a statement to say like here’s what i bring to the table so you’re kind of tying it all in in that first sort of summary before you go into the detail um and then lastly i think a key point to get shortlisted because it’s all about that sort of cv stage initially but it’s the fact of please don’t overlook the presentation element um i know it’s really cliche but those first impressions count so you know using a really clean simple layout that’s easy to read again avoiding those excessive abbreviations and making sure that you’re making sure you know you phrase it like bullet pointed highlight those key achievements using bold text or bullet points um and just remember that both recruiters and employers they often get a lot of applications so they will skim them initially and it’s just vital that you grab their attention so you know something that’s got an opening statement personalized cover sheet that’s clean and concise is definitely going to grab their attention um so yeah so by telling your application you know and presenting it clearly you’re definitely going to significantly boost
[00:14:54 –> 00:15:32][KERRY MCELROY]
your chances of getting shortlisted for an interview yeah i think that’s really good insight to think about it from the you know the recruiter’s perspective as well in terms of the volume they get and you know the ease of reading an application is is massively important um okay so moving on now to the interview and offer process and i’ve welcomed both of your views on this one um but sarah i’ll come to you first because i think it’s a really good question um i think it’s a really good this is one where you know there’s never too much information on this so how do you actually know if there’s room for negotiating salary bearing in mind that many academic jobs have a salary bracket
[00:15:32 –> 00:18:59][SARAH HODGKINSON]
um which are shown on them so how do you go about that negotiation process yeah i mean this is definitely one i think for everyone causes the most anxiety um and i always say salary negotiations a bit like a delicate dance but i think with the right approach they can they are can absolutely be smooth and professional i think if you see phrases like competitive salary or depending on experience in a job advert that definitely indicate as a flexibility um you know employers will often use those terms to just signal that they’re open to discussions based on somebody’s experience and what value that they can bring so i know you mentioned that quite a few of the adverts where there is range is stated um but where there isn’t again it doesn’t mean that salary can’t be negotiated um i’d go back to the research point here it’s really pivotal to understand the market um because that’s essential to try and negotiate with confidence so i mentioned some of the resources earlier in the other answer book glassdoor linkedin industry reports networking you will be able to find those salaries for that industry or in the region because they will differ regionally as well that’s really important um but you know for example if you’ve got a range for a data analyst position and the average is 40 to 50 well that gives you a solid benchmark from your research and then if you feel that your skills and experience you know should be getting the higher end of that then it’s entirely reasonable to sort of ask for that so i think when you get ready to discuss this whether it be at those early recruiter conversations the interview or even at that offer stage you just want to treat it as a collaborative conversation rather than a confrontational conversation um so i would always say like a really professional way to introduce the topic could just be like based on my experience and my research i was hoping for something closer to x is there flexibility in the budget for this role and i think by phrasing it that way you’re just showing that you’ve done your homework but you’re also confident in the value that you bring and you’re not sounding demanding at all um and then competitive salary is something you’ll also often see because i see this one all the time and i get asked about it my team get asked about it so this normally means that they’ve already benchmarked against market rates but again it doesn’t mean that you can’t negotiate doesn’t mean there’s not room for negotiation but here you want to slightly pivot it a little bit and you want to more ask for clarity so you could say things like could you provide an idea of the range for this role um because i’d like to ensure that my expectations align so you’re just asking respectfully you’re showing professionalism and they’re all qualities that employers will value so you know it’s absolutely fine to do that um but yeah i think it’s it’s about approaching the negotiations with a professional dialogue you know just confidently advocating your experience for fair compensation and but above all else and i say this to a lot of people just remember salary negotiations um they’re not only going to be a big part of your career but they’re also going to be a big part of your career and so they’re not only going to be a big part of your career but they’re also going to be a big part of your career and so i think it’s not only normal but they’re expected so recruiters and employers fully expect that those conversations are going to happen um so i think just not being
[00:18:59 –> 00:20:01][KADEEM HOUSON]
fearful around them is absolutely key yeah go on kadim uh yeah i mean i i i agree um with everything that’s been said so far i think a couple of things that i’d maybe add um practically is um look i think negotiation can be can be tricky and this might get onto a question that we’ll ask later on in terms of working with recruiters but for a lot of people it’s not going to be a good thing recruiters are kind of there sometimes to take on the brunt of those ugly bits of the conversation that negotiation process um that um that might be less comfortable for the prospective employee so definitely leverage recruiters in some of those conversations as well is kind of what i’d say um another practical thing i’d say as well this is kind of negotiation 101 from from our perspective is um let the employer cast the first the first bid um you don’t really want to bid against yourself um so it might be that you might go with a number that you think’s really really high and they might have a number that’s double that so um oftentimes i’d say you know let them cast the first stone um and then look to negotiate from there um because um oftentimes you might find yourself with a better outcome um that’s uh
[00:20:01 –> 00:20:12][KERRY MCELROY]
than otherwise you’d have thought think that’s yeah that’s an um a really good point so do you know what we’ll jump to that question now kadeem if that’s okay um about advice on working with
[00:20:12 –> 00:21:45][KADEEM HOUSON]
recruiters um yeah yeah i’ll try and be precise i mean there’s probably 101 things to say but i’m also conscious of time and wider questions as well but um look i think a few headlines i’d maybe say is be be proactive um but but don’t be a pest um you know i think that the thing that i’d say to keep in mind here candidly speaking is that recruiters are incentivized to place you um so be really proactive ensure that they’re really armed with you know what your motivations are how things are evolving what you’re interested in um but you don’t need to call a recruiter every three and a half seconds right um i think you know if they’ve got something for you they’re incentivized to show it to you and a good one will do the same for you that really proactively as well and match your productivity so um you know do ensure that they’re really informed with how your motivations are shaping up and what you’re looking for um and but don’t feel the need to kind of over over index there um the second thing i’d say probably to round the point is um like be be really honest right they’re kind of there to really support and guide um your your career search and um you know trying to uh kind of position things in in different ways or kind of be overly political um you know only ends up resulting in you’re not probably seeing the aperture of opportunities that you really want to so um i think be really honest um you know trust them i think recruiters get a bad rep um but uh but they’re not these kind of you know big hairy dragons i think people think they are um they are there to help you in a sense are very much aligned so um do try and work with them closely and in partnership to the best extent you can um and leverage them right they’re there
[00:21:45 –> 00:22:11][KERRY MCELROY]
they’re there to help and be and be of service thanks good team right so i’m gonna come to a questions we’ve got here one which i think is really important to have a recruiter’s perspective on ghosting after interviews you know why is that and it has become i guess more of a trend could you just give an insight into some of the i guess pressures on on recruiters and why that might be
[00:22:11 –> 00:23:36][KADEEM HOUSON]
happening god i can take it um tough question uh look i would i would never advocate for someone being ghosted right if i were to think about it i would never advocate for someone being ghosted how and why it does happen oftentimes it’s just down to like poor administration and poor kind of management of a process like i think oftentimes like you know a lot of jobs are in very very high demand and therefore just the general practicalities of managing a high volume of candidates in certain industries does result in administrative balls getting dropped and communication being dropped a big thing that we always advocate with our with our clients in particular is this point around candidate experience right it’s important that like candidates have a great experience of working with a client and i think as a function of that that kind of does your marketing for you and regardless whether someone gets the job or not you know we always advocate to make sure that those loose ends are really tied up and tied up neatly um and that people leave with a great feeling regardless whether they get the job or not so um look i’d love to say that you know it’s never happened to me of course it has right running a company that works in this industry but for the most part we try and desperately avoid it if it ever does happen oftentimes it’s a function of poor admin and high candidate flow and high volume which can result in balls getting dropped um but um but look i think again to the point earlier try to be proactive try and get loops closed um you know definitely put yourself front of mind again and ensure that you do get the answers whether they’re positive or negative that um that the people that you’ll be looking for
[00:23:36 –> 00:23:49][KERRY MCELROY]
yeah thank you from an in-house perspective as well um it’s just volume at the moment like there are so many applications and yeah i think yeah it’s just really hard to manage
[00:23:49 –> 00:24:44][SARAH HODGKINSON]
i think it also depends on what stage right so i think if you are just submitting a cv you know you have to bear in mind so i can give a real life example but a project manager role at one of our clients morgan stanley for example we will receive six to 700 applications for that role potentially so there isn’t often that opportunity so i think it’s just about not being disheartened some organizations will have automated responses once they’ve sifted through that response um but it’s really difficult again based on workload for a recruiter to be able to do that so i think it’s really hard to manage that and i think it’s really important to give an individual reason as to why they haven’t shortlisted at that stage but i fully expect going back to the candidate journey piece it is a two-way relationship between a candidate and recruiter and i think if you’ve taken the time to interview you should never be ghosted beyond that point so i think that’s just really bad practice and if that was
[00:24:44 –> 00:25:00][KERRY MCELROY]
the case i’d also recommend using a different recruiter so yeah great yeah and then that feeds in quite nicely to what we’ll take as the final question because of time but is it professional to ask for feedback um as to why you haven’t been
[00:25:00 –> 00:25:53][SARAH HODGKINSON]
shortlisted during the interview phase uh go on sorry i think i mean i think i sort of just touched on that point yeah i don’t think it’s unprofessional like listen nothing’s unprofessional because if you’re asking for feedback you’re wanting to ultimately better yourself and try and understand how you can better your chances to get shortlisted on the next role you apply for so in short definitely not unprofessional but i think you’ve just got to try and appreciate it and look from the other side if they’ve got 400 people asking the same question then there potentially isn’t the time to do that but i think if you’re partnered with the right recruiter they will be your partner throughout a search so quite often if you’ve got that relationship they will be able to tell you that so a bit of a double-edged sword but it’s a yes and no answer
[00:25:54 –> 00:26:04][KADEEM HOUSON]
yeah brilliant um kadim anything to add as a final point um no i i think that really covers it off
[00:26:04 –> 00:26:43][KERRY MCELROY]
i don’t think there’s anything i’d add to that perfect well listen we are at time and i know everyone’s got busy diaries to get back to but thank you so much for joining um and yeah i hope that has been useful to those of you who joined and this will be recorded and uploaded to the prosper portal which you can find on our website at prosper.co.uk go ahead and register too for um some additional uh sector advice um and there’s lots of employer insights on there which will be a great extension of what we’ve just started to talk about we know we’ve only touched the surface so um thanks everyone for your time and um yep see you all
[00:26:43 –> 00:26:47][KADEEM HOUSON]
soon thanks very much thanks very much thanks carrie thanks to you bye