Ever see a job posting and it doesn’t say who posted it? How about recruiters that won’t tell you who their client is, have you spoken to them?

While my fellow headhunters will NOT be comfortable with me sharing this info, I’m fine giving you this because my company keeps our client’s information safe until we are ready to submit the resume. Then we will ALWAYS share the company name prior to sending. Each company is different, however.

Important Note: Going around a recruiter puts you at a disadvantage. It’s true the company wouldn’t have to pay a fee if you applied directly, but if they agreed to use a recruiter (which they did already if a recruiter called you), then they already budgeted money for this hire. 3 advantages to using a recruiter:
1. The recruiter offers them a guarantee that the new hire will work out. They don’t get that if you apply directly.
2. The recruiter acts as an additional reference talking to the hiring manager directly on your behalf, and briefs you on what to expect in the interview. You don’t get that if you apply directly.
3. The company leaders can reassure their team they hired a specialist to find the best person available, which is especially important when hiring senior level positions where other internal candidates were passed over. The team doesn’t get that if you apply directly.

It may seem like an advantage to sidestep a recruiter to save them money, but in life, and especially in hiring, it’s not always about finding the “cheapest”; it’s about overcoming the challenges and costs that come with finding the best.

That said, here is how to figure out who the client is, and it’s much easier than you think.

The reason it’s blind in the first place is primarily because the recruiting company doesn’t want any of their competition to find out who their client is. Competitive recruiters are relentless and get paid big bucks for new clients, and as more firms work on the job, the probabilities of filling that job for ALL recruiters involved decreases.

However, their security precautions tend to stop there. It’s rare that a company will completely re-write a job description to make them completely unique. They might change the title, but not every line from the description. Many times the recruiter will just use the exact verbiage from the job description off the company’s website!

So to find them, open the blind ad’s job description and find a bullet point or line that is very specific to the job; something unlikely to have been re-written. Such as, “Java/C++/C# or any other language with an object oriented paradigm.“

Copy that entire sentence, put quotes around it, paste it into a Google search and you’ll see all the listings with that exact wording, and very likely, the posting from the actual company hosting the job will pop up for you. Then you’re done, the blinders have been removed.

Simple as that. I hope you found that helpful. There’s always a way to get the information you need. Job search isn’t a game to me, it’s how I make my living as a recruiter, on commission only. Yet I do this successfully month after month, and I can show you how to do it too. If you’re struggling to find a job, and not sure why they aren’t responding, I can show you! Check out DriveStaff.com for IT jobs and people, and SpeedUpMyJobSearch.com for job search structure.