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After speaking with a number of people about job search techniques, my observation is there doesn't seem to be a clear understanding of how to work with recruiters. Some traps seem easy to fall into: I have read a number of 'how to work with recruiters' articles and yet still made mistakes during this current job search.

Retained Recruiters

I have little first-hand knowledge in this area as I have only talked with a retained recruiter once. It was a very positive experience but the position was with a start-up and I considered it too high a risk.

I left my last company as a senior director. My impression is in today's market there are too many people at my level competing for too few positions. I have kept up with a number of VP and C-Level executives from my former company. Based on what they're sharing with me, only the SVP/General Manager who ran the $250MM+ division is actively exploring opportunities through retained recruiters.

Retained recruiters are guaranteed payment of up to 30+ percent of the open position's annual salary, regardless of whether the company hires the recruiter's candidate. So logic says companies will use an executive recruiter to handle "hard-to-fill" positions or recruit executive-level talent from another company. For the next level down, the companies I'm currently interviewing with don't seem to have much trouble directly attracting a number of highly qualified applicants.

Contingency Recruiters

There are some great contingency recruiters who can add value to your job search. On the other side of the coin, there are also contingency recruiters who should be avoided.

When dealing with contingency recruiters, my view is you need to quickly assess whether the recruiter has valid contingency listings with the company you're interested in working for. You also need to listen closely to the recruiter's sales pitch, as anyone who is promising "sure things" is unlikely to deliver.

John Lucht's book Rites of Passage is an essential read for all job seekers. In it, he says "A warm welcome is a hot clue… Whenever you hear a recruiter say he thinks he can 'help,' the best thing to do is grab your resume and head for the door."

During my search, I've had some very positive experiences with contingency recruiters. Recently, I had one recruiter contact me based on my LinkedIn profile. After we talked for a bit (and assessed each other), he asked if I would be interested in exploring a senior-level position at a derivatives software company. His only promise was that he knew the HR people, could get my resume in front of them and get some feedback. My skills weren't a match, but I came away with a good impression of the recruiter. He didn't over- promise and delivered on what he said he would.

On the negative side, I had a different recruiter take me to lunch to go through my background in great detail, along with the types of positions that I'm looking for. Over lunch, the recruiter told me about VP and COO opportunities he could put me into contention for. A week later, the recruiter called with a job that was two levels below my last position, and in real estate, and industry I know very little about.

Lessons Learned

Where I screwed up is that I agreed to take the interview. I fell victim to post-layoff fear, uncertainty and doubt. I hadn't interviewed in years and thought, at minimum, this would be good interview practice.

The story gets worse: Before the interview, the recruiter told me the hiring manager didn't want to interview me because he felt that I was too experienced and didn't believe I wanted to take that much of a career-step backward. The recruiter was very proud of himself for pressuring the hiring manager into interviewing me.

After I took the time to research the company and people I would be meeting with, go downtown for a multi-hour interview session and follow-up with thank-you notes, the hiring manager still didn't believe I would stay with the company once the job market picked up.

I'm a firm believer that a job search needs to involve differing proportions of networking, responding to postings and working with recruiters. A full-out job search requires a lot of time, and there is always more to do than there is time in the day. Spending time with questionable recruiters, pursuing positions that aren't a logical career move, takes valuable time away from a focused search.

Rob Gordon (a pseudonym) is a senior professional who has held management roles in product development, business management and technology.