You will be able to brief a recruiter clearly and check that an agency is licensed.
A recruiter messages Wei Ling on LinkedIn about "an exciting analyst opportunity with a leading regional company". She replies, has a pleasant call, and agrees to be put forward. Two weeks later a second recruiter calls about a role that sounds very similar, and she realises she has no idea whether it is the same job. If it is, and both recruiters send her CV to the same employer, she may look disorganised before anyone has met her.
Recruiters can be a real help in a job hunt, especially if your background fits the roles they fill. Getting value from them takes a little management on your side. This lesson covers how to brief a recruiter, how to keep control of where your CV goes, and how to check that an agency is legitimate.
A recruiter is trying to match you to roles quickly, as lesson 5.1, Three routes in: apply, recruiter, referral, explained. The clearer your brief, the better the match, and the less time either of you wastes on roles you would never take.
Tell them four things early in the first call. The roles you are targeting, using the titles from your market sheet. Your salary range, drawn from the low, typical and high figures you set in lesson 2.4, Build a market sheet for your target role. Your constraints, such as location, work arrangement, notice period or roles you will not consider. And your timeline: actively looking, or open to the right thing.
Being plain about constraints feels risky, as if you are narrowing your chances. In practice it makes recruiters more useful. Wei Ling told one recruiter she would not consider roles with regular weekend shifts, and he stopped sending her the operations roles that had been cluttering her inbox. The two roles he did send were both a good fit.
Before you agree to be put forward for any role, ask which employer it is with. Some recruiters are cautious about naming the client too early, and you can understand why, but you should know the name before your CV goes anywhere. A reasonable recruiter will tell you once you show real interest.
There are three reasons to insist on this. You may already have applied to that employer directly. Another recruiter may already have submitted you. Or you may not want to work there at all. When two agencies submit the same candidate to one employer, it can create a dispute over who introduced you, and some employers deal with that by setting the candidate aside.
So keep a record of who submitted you where, with the date. The application tracker in lesson 5.4, Set up your application tracker, has columns for this. Wei Ling now asks every recruiter the same question before saying yes: "Which company is this with, and have you submitted anyone else from my background there recently?"
In Singapore, employment agencies must be licensed by the Ministry of Manpower, and their recruiters registered. MOM provides an online employment agency directory where you can search for an agency by name or licence number and see whether it holds a valid licence. You can also search for an individual recruiter's registration.
Checking takes a couple of minutes, and it is worth doing for any recruiter you have not dealt with before. A recruiter's email signature or LinkedIn profile often shows the agency's licence number and their own registration number. Look them up. If the agency does not appear, or the details do not match, stop there.
Fake recruiters are a common way into job scams, and they often look professional at first. A few signs should make you stop.
A request to pay before you can apply or be put forward is the clearest one. In the usual arrangement for professional roles, the employer pays the agency, so if a recruiter asks you for money up front, ask what the fee is for and check the agency on MOM's directory before you pay anything. A requirement to buy a training course or certification from them before they will put you forward is another. So is a push to move the conversation to WhatsApp or Telegram with someone who will not give you a company email, a licence number or the employer's name. Pressure to decide quickly, or a request for your bank details, Singpass login or copies of your NRIC before any interview, all fit the same pattern.
Real recruiters do occasionally use messaging apps for convenience once you know who they are. The warning sign is an anonymous contact you cannot connect to a licensed agency. If you are unsure, call the agency on the number listed on its own website, not the number in the message, and ask whether the person works there.
A good recruiter in your field is worth keeping in touch with, even after you find a job. Reply to their messages, even with a polite no. Tell them when you have accepted a role elsewhere. Recommend candidates to them when you can. Recruiters remember who was easy to work with, and the same person may bring you your next role in three years.
In the activity, pick one recruiter who has contacted you, or an agency you would like to work with, and look them up on MOM's directory.
Look up one recruiter who has contacted you, or one agency you would like to work with, on MOM's directory and note what you find.
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