Most of us have been in that chair ­ – wringing sweaty hands and watching a prospective employer thumb through your CV.

You are probably also hoping and praying that the recruitment consultant has sent you to an interview for a position that suits your requirements, skills and ambitions.

But how can you judge whether your consultant has a clear picture of your experience, or a full understanding of your qualifications? Do they understand the difference between your certifications?

Equally, do they really know what the employer is looking for? Do they understand the technical expectations and how to translate the business problems an employer wants to solve into real skills requirements?

The truth is that using a recruitment firm means placing your trust and your career prospects with an organisation that specialises in placing people in jobs, not assessing technical skills.

Recipe for disaster

The arrangement can spell trouble for both sides. Potential employees can find themselves at interviews where it becomes obvious that their skill set does not match employer expectations. Potential employers, meanwhile, have their time wasted by candidates who are simply inappropriate for the vacancy.

While consultants should be experienced enough to understand how different qualifications represent varying levels of competency within the industry, it is all too easy to suggest they are to blame every time they send someone deemed to be unsuitable.

Candidates must ensure they are clear about their experience, their capabilities, their qualifications and what these skills actually mean they can offer employers in practice.

The overuse of acronyms in the computing industry means employees can easily forget that the majority of people reading a CV have a limited understanding of how technological jargon applies in a real business environment.

Candidates need to recognise employers usually talk in terms of problems to be solved. They do not specify that employees have to have certain letters after their name.

So, candidates must help recruitment consultants by being clearer about what they can do, not just what exams they have taken. For example, in addition to telling employers they are certified, candidates should offer examples of their experiences when managing real networks and securing business technology systems.

What are the problems they have solved, the issues they have faced and how have they met these challenges? Candidates must get across how their qualification enables them to problem-solve in the workplace.

Employers respond to real-life scenarios far better than lists of certifications. And recruiters can only make an appropriate match if they understand what candidates can actually do.

Clear, concise and specific

It would be naïve to suggest that this is a one-way street. Employers have to do better as well. Not only do they need a clearer understanding about which skills are required for various roles, they also need to tell recruitment companies exactly what they want.

For instance, it must be appreciated that the IT industry has fewer recognised benchmarks against which to gauge people’s abilities than sectors such as law or accountancy.

Without such benchmarks, employers have to be more specific about what they want from new recruits ­ – or the chances of a mismatch will always be higher than is desirable.

Many companies use recruitment consultants to screen the pool of available candidates. But how successful can consultants be if they are unsure about what skills the employer is actually looking for?

Recruitment companies can do their jobs well if they are given a solid brief, a clear overview of what candidates must be able to do, and firm details about what the role involves.

The message is a simple one. In the absence of clear, recognised benchmarks in the technology industry, your recruitment consultant is only as good as the information with which you arm them.

Employers need to be clear about what they want from candidates. Candidates need to talk in terms of experiences and skills, not qualifications and acronyms. Only then can recruitment consultants match the supply to the demand.

Matthew Poyiadgi is European vice president at the Computing Trade and Industry Association (CompTIA)

Top tips for making the most of your recruitment consultant

For candidates:

• Spend time with your recruitment consultant reviewing your CV and explaining what your various qualifications mean.
  
• Provide them with clear examples of where you have applied your knowledge to real business situations.
  
• Make your recruiter share their employer brief with you, so you better understand the job role. Help them describe your skills in a way which matches employer requirements, so businesses will understand how you can deliver value and support in their workplace.
  
• Avoid the use of jargon to justify your relevance to the position.
  

For employers:

• Appreciate that there is no one benchmark against which to gauge IT skills, and consider how you want to evaluate candidates.
  
• Work closely with recruitment consultants to ensure they understand the requirements of job you wish to fill. Avoid talking in terms of overarching skills ­ – use real examples and demonstrate exactly what a successful candidate will actually have to do.
  
• Where possible, research the qualifications and experience you want people to have before they walk through the door. Do not interview someone who does not meet the basic requirements.
  
• Allow consultants to share your brief with candidates.