Why Recruiters Shouldn't Be Your First Call

Recruiters are not career coaches. They are procurement professionals. Their job is to fill a specific role as efficiently as possible, not to figure out how your background fits.

This isn't cynicism. It's structural. A recruiter working on a Director of Product role has a brief from the hiring manager. They're scanning for the three or four signals the hiring manager asked for. If your resume doesn't immediately surface those signals, you're not a bad candidate. You're just invisible in that recruiter's workflow.

The strategic move is to reach the hiring manager (or someone close to the hiring manager) before the recruiter screens you. When the hiring manager already has context for who you are, the recruiter's job shifts from "evaluate this unknown person" to "process this person the hiring manager is interested in." That's a completely different conversation.

Use recruiters strategically, but don't depend on them to make your case. Make your case to the people who actually make the decision, then let the recruiter handle logistics.