Recruiting Mythbusters: Debunking the Biggest Recruiting Myths

By Jimmy Winskowski

The recruitment process often gets a bad rap.

On the hiring side, recruiting can be thought of as a long and laborious process that commences when an employee comes out of the blue and submits their two weeks notice. On the job seeking side, recruiters may be referred to as "headhunters" and have a reputation – deserved or not – for coming out of nowhere and hounding potential candidates into submission.

The truth is that recruiting in the 21st century is a much smarter and smoother process than ever before. That’s especially true for companies who leverage technology like CyberCoders’ proprietary recruiting software. To help clear the air, here are a few of the myths surrounding recruiting that need to be debunked once and for all.

Myth #1: The recruiting process takes several months at least

This is one of the most prevalent myths surrounding the recruiting process, and one that is rightly a huge concern. After all, when you’re trying to fill a position as quickly as possible the idea of finding a recruiter who is then responsible for seeking out qualified candidates can be daunting.

But according to CyberCoders President Shane Lamb, the days of waiting months to find the right candidate and make a hire are long gone. "Our average sales cycle (or the process of finding and placing a candidate) is just six weeks,” says Lamb. In fact, CyberCoders’ team of recruiters is over 40% more successful than the average recruiter when it comes to finding the perfect candidate for the job.

So if you’re still worried that recruiting is going to be a long and drawn out process, the truth is that times have changed.

Myth #2: A third party recruiter can’t do the job as well as an in-house recruiter

Another popular recruiting myth is the belief that no outside recruiter can ever know the needs of a hiring business as well as their own internal team, and therefore can never do the job as well as an in-house recruiter. Stuart Wilhoite, managing partner and head of recruiting at Levy Online spoke to this point in a recent conversation. "We cast absolutely as wide a net as we possibly can," he said of their recruiting process. "We seek out candidates directly, and we also use third parties. Often times the best candidates we find come from outside sources that we would never have been able to locate on our own."

It’s a point that Lamb echoed during our interview. He mentioned that of the thousands of businesses using CyberCoders to manage or amplify their hiring processes, many – like Apple – have in-house recruiting teams as well. But, says Lamb, "Apple uses CyberCoders for one simple reason: The reach is so far beyond what an internal team can manage and the expertise is so different. Apple makes fantastic products, but their expertise is not recruiting."

Lamb added that in-house teams should have an intimate knowledge of the positions for which they’re hiring, and should leverage that knowledge during the interview process. But as for the idea that an internal team can manage the recruiting process more effectively, that’s just not the case.

Myth #3: Recruiting is a very hands-on, labor-intensive process

Again, in days gone by this myth was all too true. The traditional recruiting method is a very high-touch process filled with lots of proverbial "pounding the pavement," keeping a pool of potential job seekers stocked in case the right job comes along.

But with today’s technology, the recruiting process has become faster and easier than ever before. A service like CyberCoders provides not only a search engine for simply and quickly identifying job candidates, but a listing aggregator that posts jobs to top sites like Monster, Indeed, and dozens of others targeted to maximize response. With the help of CyberCoders’ technology, the entire process results in less busy work for recruiters and faster placement for job seekers.

Myth #4: Recruiters are uber-aggressive and will hound potentials to death

Many job seekers are reluctant to work with recruiters because of this very misconception. They worry that once they share their contact information with a recruiter, they’ll be badgered endlessly until they finally give in and take a new job. And job seekers aren’t the only ones who worry about overaggressive recruiters.

Many hiring companies have heard horror stories of recruiters scheduling interviews for every candidate under the sun (qualified or not) or, worse, pulling bait and switch techniques to get a lesser candidate a shot at a job opening. Thankfully, there’s no longer a need to hassle with aggressive recruiters or lackluster candidates.

CyberCoders uses their proprietary system to evaluate tens of thousands of candidates for each job based not only on their skills, but on their likelihood to accept a new job. This takes pressure off of recruiters, hiring managers, and job seekers alike.

Myth #5: Finding top recruits takes a huge up-front investment

Research has revealed that hiring and onboarding a new employee can be incredibly expensive in comparison to keeping a current employee. In light of this reality, the last thing most companies want to do is make a costly up-front investment in recruiting efforts. In fact, this can be one of the biggest roadblocks keeping hiring companies from working with a recruiter.

Again, CyberCoders has eliminated this by providing their recruiters with a solution that allows for swift and effective searching. With the use of their proprietary technology, the recruiting process has never been easier or more cost-effective.

If you’re interested in debunking these myths for yourself, take a look at the CyberCoders recruiting platform. You just might be surprised how simple the process can be.