97 Things Every UX Practitioner Should Know

Chapter 89. Know Best Practices for Working with a Recruiter

Ellen Finn

When starting a new UX project, it is important to determine whether you will need a dedicated participant recruiter. In selecting a recruiter, you should always confirm that your recruiter comes equipped with their own database. Most participant recruiters have a very diverse population of people (age, gender, ethnicity, geographic location, occupation, and so on) in a specific file system or database, which they can easily draw on to fill various types of studies. Additionally, recruiters will often utilize other outlets, such as social media, online recruiting forums, job advertising sites, and word of mouth, to get their post distributed to the appropriate audience.

Timeline Management and Recruiter/Client Communication

Time management and communication are critical aspects of interacting with a recruiter. Most recruiting projects are set under tight deadlines, so the recruiter will need to set a schedule that works in conjunction with the client. Communication is key to the recruiter and their client working in unison. When the screener is finalized and sent over to the recruiter to begin, the recruiter will need to create a schedule (Excel) and posting (Word) to present to their database. After the posting is distributed and responses are collected, screening phone calls can begin. Usually the recruiter ...