While some of the responsibility for the relationship lies firmly at the door of the recruiter it is imperative for candidates to take greater ownership of this relationship.

A lot of candidates get it very wrong and don’t help themselves. The recruitment world is a minefield and when you approach a minefield it is often not advisable to run madly through it swaying from side to side – carefully placed steps are often better.

1. You need to have a relationship with your CV. It is the story of your working life and your personal pitch document. It should be a document you are proud of and something that represents what you have done, as well as helping you get where you want to go. It should be honest (please be honest – organisations will find out if you have lied on your CV), concise and well laid out.

A lot of candidates send their CV and say: “Here is my old CV which needs a bit of work but gives you a bit of an idea”. Can you imagine a corporate pitching for an important piece of business and saying: “Here is our pitch document, it's a bit old and needs a bit of tidying up but it gives you a steer on what we can offer”?

2. Choose the agency or recruiter you want to use carefully. Some may be better for certain sectors or levels of roles and will suit you better than others. 

Also use those agencies who give you the time of day and genuinely sound interested in what you want to do – those that don’t, treat you as a commodity. 

The better you get on with your consultant the better you will work together. Recommendations from colleagues/friends are often a good place to start.

3. Be careful where your CV goes. Plan who you are going to send it to and be very clear whether you have given consent to have it sent by an agency to a client.

Some agencies are very honest, others aren’t, and increasingly in this market agencies think it is ok to send candidates’ details to clients without their consent. You need to be aware when this is happening and have the strength to be honest with your recruiter.

You should never be in a position where you are not sure if your CV has been sent to a particular client or role. 

It just does not look good if your CV arrives at a client twice. Often this is not your fault but it does reflect badly on you and the agency. 

It often happens when an agency has been ambiguous (often deliberately) as to whether they are going to send the CV or not, or the candidate has been ambiguous as to whether that is ok or not.