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This is a post from the archives written by Megan Gebhart while she was out in San Francisco for an internship. With summer quickly approaching, its time for resumes, job applications, and interviews--something students are all too familiar with. This post looks at the other side of the equation, the HR guy reviewing your resume, conducting the interview, and--hopefully--offering you the job. 

I met Tom Fosgard, HR Recruiter for Premier Retail Networks, at his office in downtown San Francisco. I had been in San Francisco for over a month, but had never actually been inside one of the many high-rise buildings I passed daily on my way to work. The building’s swanky interior was a major contrast to the grime of the city street and I felt like I had discovered a hidden world. I kept my poise as I asked the secretary where to go, but as I entered the elevator, I couldn’t help but feel intimidated.

Entering the PRN offices, I checked in with the receptionist and marveled at PRN displays around the waiting room while I waited nervously for Tom. (PRN Energy is behind the TV displays in Wal-Mart and other stores, check out their website or this video) A few weeks earlier, I had started a discussion on LinkedIn looking for Bay Area Spartans to tell me about their careers and Tom had answered. We had exchanged emails but this was the first time we would talk in person.

When Tom walked out and introduced himself my worries melted away. With his energetic and friendly manner, I knew the interview would be fantastic. And it was—over the course of an hour, I learned about a position in recruiting and discovered great tips for finding the right career.

Finding a Career
Tom graduated from Michigan State in 1990 with a degree in Economics. Much like the current economic condition, the job market was scarce and Tom wasn’t interested in the few business-oriented positions that were available.

Realizing that unemployment wasn’t an option, Tom took a job at the local Kinkos. There he was, a man with a college education, working as an entry-level copy guy. But it was a full-time job with benefits and a great way to stay productive while Tom decided what it was that he wanted to do with his life.

Well, the temporary job turned into an eight-year stint with Kinkos that included moves to Detroit, then San Francisco and various promotions ending in an employee-training position. Yet he still hadn’t decided on a career.

That’s when he read a book called Do What You Are. The concept is similar to the Myers-Briggs personality test and identifies jobs that match personal characteristics. As a result, Tom realized that Human Resources—specifically recruiting—was a fit and took an open recruiting position with Kinkos, which started his career as a recruiter.

It took eight years and a whole lot of copies for Tom to decide on a career, but finding the career was worth the wait. For almost a decade, Tom has worked in various recruiting positions and it’s evident he loves his job. The excitement in his voice lets you know he enjoys heading to the office every day.

So what does a recruiter do?
A recruiter handles the process of filling open positions within the company. The process starts when a hiring manager discusses a hiring need with Tom and ends with a job offer to the top candidate.

First, Tom meets with the hiring manager to create a specific plan for the position and then chooses the best place to post the job opening. Applicants are found online through LinkedIn and similar sites, internally with the Employee Referral Bonus program or through colleges if new graduates are wanted.

Once the posting has been up for a while, the interviewing process starts. After narrowing down the applications, Tom typically interviews twenty to thirty candidates by phone before choosing six to ten for in-person interviews. A second round of in-person interviews are conducted for the top one to three applicants before a final candidate is offered the job.

It’s not the typical Human Resource job
There is always an unspoken difference between recruiting and Human Resources. The HR director at PRN has done recruiting in the past and she hates it. Tom has done HR directing work in the past and he hated it! They are two very different skill sets. Generally, HR is a lot of paperwork—enforcing and writing policies and procedures, administering benefits, etc. In contrast, recruiting is very personal and unpredictable. It is a great position if you enjoy high variety and getting to know people.

Selling the company
An overlooked element to the job is the selling aspect. While the hiring manager writes the job description, it’s the recruiter’s role to make the position and company appealing to candidates. His job is to find the best candidate for the position and oftentimes the best candidate works for another company and is not actively searching for a job. That means Tom must get the candidate interested in the job and excited about the company. So there is a definite sales aspect to the job.

A typical day
At any point in time, there are usually several job openings at various stages of the search so each day is very different. Tom may spend the morning setting up a job post and after lunch, schedule interviews for a different position before talking with a candidate about a job offer.

Perks of the job
With recruiting, there is a definite completion point. Every time a candidate is hired, the goal is achieved. While Tom enjoyed training employees at Kinkos, the satisfaction was nebulous—it was difficult to judge how much of an impact he was having on the company. In recruiting, there is a reward to having a new person that you were responsible for hiring.

What type of major do you need?
There is no specific major to be a recruiter. However, the majors often seen are social sciences, Psychology and Social Anthropology. But there are former IT professionals in recruiting and people from Business and Finance backgrounds as well.

Want to know more?
The Department of Labor has great information about this and many other careers. Check it out here.

The bottom line It’s okay if you’re not sure what you want to do the rest of your life. There is time to decide so don’t rush into something you’re not ready for. Take your time and explore for a while-don’t take a job because it fits your major, take a job because it fits you.