“Can I hire someone to find me a job?” As a tech career coach, I’m often asked this question by job seekers who are looking for a new opportunity and want support in finding their next venture as quickly as possible.
It’s a fabulous question, since we hire experts and service providers for a lot of projects in life — fixing your car, filing your taxes, buying a house, planning for retirement, and the list goes on — so why not hire someone to find you a job?
While you can technically hire someone to find a job for you, you’ll want to proceed with extreme caution, as many of these service providers prey on those who are struggling to land a new role.
If you’re thinking of hiring someone to help you look for your next gig, your best alternative is likely to learn how to job search intentionally and strategically. Then, if you need customized support along the way, you’ll want to think about hiring a career coach who can teach you how to search effectively and efficiently.
With this important distinction in mind, I’m going to answer some of the most frequently asked questions that come up when job seekers want support in finding their next role:
- Can I hire someone to find me a job?
- Is there someone who can help you get a job?
- How do you find a job quickly?
- Why do I struggle to find a job?
Can I Hire Someone To Find Me A Job?
Yes, you can technically hire someone to find you a job. These individuals often call themselves reverse recruiters and market their companies as reverse recruiting firms. Compared to a traditional recruiter, who is paid by the employer, a reverse recruiter asks you, the employee, to pay them.
Although their services vary, these firms will often send mass messages and job applications to open roles on your behalf. While this sounds good in theory, your job search and career are typically being outsourced to someone in another country making a few dollars per hour.
Moreover, this scattershot approach can result in your resume, along with a generic message, being submitted to roles that are misaligned with your experience, or even worse, people you’re already in conversation with. As a result, you can come off as tacky and spammy.
You must ask yourself whether you want your reputation to sit in the hands of someone who is simultaneously juggling dozens or hundreds of people’s careers, particularly if you’re a senior manager or executive.
Note: A traditional recruiter, whether in-house (employed by the company itself) or agency (third party), will never ask you for a dime. If a recruiter asks you for money, they are selling a service, not representing a company. Period.
Is There Someone Who Can Help You Get A Job?
Thankfully, there are alternatives to reverse recruiters and reverse recruiting firms. The most common is to go at it alone. However, if you’re reading this article, you likely want to hire someone to help you find a job.
One possibility is a career coach, who can support you in finding a new job. Although I outline how coaches can help you navigate the process further in this article, here are some of the common ways they can support your search:
- Identify and clarify your career goals, including a target industry, companies, and positions.
- Update and optimize your career documents: your resume, cover letter, and LinkedIn profile.
- Learn how to job search and network efficiently.
- Prepare your talking points for your interview.
- Navigate the salary negotiation process with confidence.
- Onboard and hit the ground running at your next job.
Depending on your specialty, job function, and level, you can also speak with headhunters to ensure you’re getting in front of the right decision-makers. I’ve summarized some of the search firms my executive clients in tech most often use in this article.
Importantly, you do not need to pay those headhunters, as they are receiving their payment directly from the company where they place you.
How Do You Find A Job Quickly?
If you’re thinking about hiring someone to find you a job, you might also need tips for landing a role quickly. Though the average job search hovers around five months in length, there are steps you can take to speed up the process.
[Read: 10 Reasons You’re Not Hearing Back About Jobs (And How To Address Them)]
One of the most effective strategies for speeding up your search is to have a narrow target. You want to get specific with both the type of company and role. The more precise your target, the easier it will be to customize your resume, cover letter, and LinkedIn profile to show that you’re the perfect fit for the roles you’re targeting.
Take a few minutes to reflect on the following questions:
- What industry do want to work in, and are there ones that are off-limits?
- What size company do you want to work for? Do you prefer a startup, enterprise company, or something in between?
- In which functional areas within the organization do you envision yourself?
- Do you want to manage people? Or perhaps you prefer a specialty role?
- What are your salary expectations?
These questions are merely a jumping-off point as you clarify your next position. I dive deeper into the types of questions to ask when looking for a new job in this article.
Why Do I Struggle To Find A Job?
Please know that it’s normal to struggle — at first — to find a job. There’s a lot of competing advice online, and you’re never taught how to effectively look for jobs in school. This can be even more challenging if it’s been 5, 10, or 20+ years since you last looked for a new position.
I find a lot of people further struggle with the job search because they don’t know where to focus their time, energy, and effort. Between picking a target role, updating your resume, optimizing your LinkedIn profile, learning how to network, and preparing for interviews, there are a lot of moving pieces that can make it difficult to stay organized.
So where do you start, how do you spend your time, and what can you do to avoid overwhelm? One of my biggest recommendations is to set small, achievable KPIs (key performance inflators) that help you make progress toward your larger goals. Here are some examples:
- Speak with your partner about your requirements and preferences for your new job.
- Spend 25 minutes per day updating your resume.
- Draft a new cover letter that catches the attention of employers.
- Optimize your LinkedIn headline to attract recruiters and hiring managers.
- Update your elevator pitch in preparation for your interviews.
- Schedule a consultation with a career coach.
You can also download my free Job Search Launch Guide where I break down all the steps of a modern-day job search. I teach where to focus your time, energy, and effort so you can find a new role quicker.
[Read: “Why Can’t I Find A Job?” Answered]
Final Thoughts On Hiring Someone To Find A Job
Let’s revisit the original question that inspired this article, “Can I hire someone to find me a job?” Yes, you can. But before outsourcing your career and reputation to a reverse recruiter or reverse recruiting firm, which often deploy haphazard approaches, consider if you might want to partner with a coach on your job search instead.
A career coach can empower you to confidently navigate the many moving pieces in a modern-day job search. If you’d like to discuss whether partnering with a coach is right for you, please feel free to schedule a consultation. I’m here for you! You’ve got this!
