7 Insider Secrets That You Must Know During Your Job Search Here are some quick tips and “must-knows” to demystify the process of contacting and working with recruiters, and to help you build relationships that ensure you are top-of-mind when the ideal position for you comes across a recruiters desk. Working With Recruiters: www.distinctiveweb.com There are two types of recruiting firms and the distinctions are crucial to understand. Remember that recruiters work for the company, not for you! Retained recruiting firms work directly for client companies and are paid to screen candidates based on very specific criteria. Retained firms often handle recruitment searches for the most senior and highest paying positions. Contingency firms sometimes work in competition with each other and only get paid if they find the winning candidate for an open position. This is the most common misperception. The company is their “client” and you are the candidate—essentially the “product” that the recruiter is offering to their client. Because of the way the recruiting industry is structured, most recruiters will be seeking to work with the candidate most likely to get hired (the candidate who fits a very specific profile provided by the client). Most likely to get hired’ does not necessarily translate to ‘most likely to succeed,’ so if you find you are not the perfect fit for a position, don’t take it personally. Recruiters will often tell you that you (the job seeker) should cultivate an Related to point #3, once you have contacted recruiters and have begun
Transcript
7 Insider Secrets That You MustKnow During Your Job Search
Here are some quick tips and “must-knows” to demystify the process ofcontacting and working with recruiters, and to help you build
relationships that ensure you are top-of-mind when the ideal position foryou comes across a recruiters desk.
Working With Recruiters:
www.distinctiveweb.com
There are two types ofrecruiting firms and the
distinctions are crucial tounderstand.
Remember thatrecruiters work for thecompany, not for you!
Retained recruiting firms work directly forclient companies and are paid to screen
candidates based on very specific criteria.Retained firms often handle recruitmentsearches for the most senior and highest
paying positions. Contingency firmssometimes work in competition with each
other and only get paid if they find thewinning candidate for an open position.
This is the most commonmisperception. The company istheir “client” and you are thecandidate—essentially the“product” that the recruiter isoffering to their client. Becauseof the way the recruitingindustry is structured, mostrecruiters will be seeking towork with the candidate mostlikely to get hired (thecandidate who fits a veryspecific profile provided by theclient).
Most likely to get hired’ does not necessarilytranslate to ‘most likely to succeed,’ so if youfind you are not the perfect fit for a position,
don’t take it personally.
Recruiters will often tell you that you(the job seeker) should cultivate an
Related to point #3, once you havecontacted recruiters and have begun
(the job seeker) should cultivate anexclusive relationship with just one ortwo recruiters. In an ideal world this
would be great, but I disagree with thisadvice.
contacted recruiters and have begunto establish rapport with at least afew, your goal is to begin to build
personal relationships.
Recruiters don’t necessarilyshare information aboutsearches that they are
working on. So, if you onlycontact a couple of firmsand 20 others have an
assignment that matchesyour qualifications, you
would never know aboutthose assignments. That is
why I recommendcontacting as many
recruiting firms that thatspecialize in your industry
or profession as ispractical.
Treat recruiters no differently than you wouldtreat any other contact in your network. Whilethe initial contact is generally made via email,now is the time to pick up the phone and startto build a dialogue. The best networkers knowthat effective networking involves some degree
of reciprocity.
Again, related to point#3, do your research.
Make it easy forrecruiters to help you.
There are presently well over 15,000recruiting offices in just the United States
alone. It is impractical and a waste ofeveryone’s time to contact all of them
indiscriminately. Do a little research anddetermine which firms specialize in your
industry of choice or positions like you areseeking. This small, segmented list is the oneyou should focus your time and attention on.
Structure and write your resume in a formatthat makes it easy for them to quickly identifyyour key qualifications. This is not the time fora functional resume! Most recruiters will simplythrow a functional resume away. You must also
be absolutely honest. Do not be tempted toembellish your resume. If you are found to belying about anything, you will be black-listed.
Your accompanying cover letter should be fact-filled and written specifically to help the
recruiter match you to their open assignments.
Put some thought into your job search and
Put some thought into your job search andthe order in which you will conduct it.
If you have already contacted a company, your resume is likelyalready in that company’s internal database. If a recruiter now
presents you as a candidate for a position at that same company,the company will not want to pay the recruiter for finding you
because you are already known to the company.
This creates a level of complexity in the whole deal that is almostimpossible to overcome and most recruiters won’t work with you if
they suspect you have blanketed HR departments with yourresume.
