Three reasons why you might prefer using recruiters instead of applying directly to banks

When you're looking for a job in financial services, you have a choice: send your CV to a recruitment intermediary, who will scrutinise it for you and pass it onto a bank if they think you're employable. Or send it to a bank directly.

Needless to say, recruiters have a bad reputation, but they also have numerous advantages.

More particularly, sending your CV through a recruiter has the benefit of:

1) Sidestepping bureaucracy

Big banks have complicated recruitment processes supported by internal systems. This causes delays. Hiring managers have contacted me more than six weeks after my online application, asking if I was still interested in the role as my application was stuck in the system and not sent to business side.

2) Sidestepping HR

When applying directly to a bank, applications are reviewed by HR first. HR staff lack business knowledge and are not paid on the number of roles filled, so they have less incentive to carefully read through applications to see if candidates are suitable. A friend in the HR department of a big bank once told me that during peak hiring seasons, they don't have time to even read applications and can only search for an exact word in a CV that matches the vacancy's job title. I can't imagine how many potential candidates are screened out before their applications are reviewed by the hiring manager.

3) Gaining an advocate

Headhunters liaise with hiring managers directly, bypassing HR. They are more flexible than HR. With a small pool of talent in the market, they are willing to take a risk of selling candidates with relevant, but not direct, experience.

The views expressed in this article are those of the author and not of eFinancialCareers. The author works for a financial institution in China. A version of this article was first published on our Chinese site.