How to work with Professional Recruiters

How to work with Professional Recruiters. An insiders guide to success. A step by step strategy for making the most of your professional recruiter relationships.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Resume
• Relationship with recruiters
• Understanding of your qualifications

1. Find the specialists. Professional Recruiters typically specialize in particular industries. It's important to find ones that recruit for positions that match your skills and experience. Ask friends for referrals. Look at the job postings that the recruiter has placed by using services like www.indeed.com.

2. Understand what Professional Recruiters do. Recruiters help jobs find people more than people find jobs. In other words, they are driven by the openings their clients provide them, and if you're not currently a match for any of their open requirements, they may not be able to do much for you at that time. This doesn't mean they don't like you, or think you're not a good candidate, it simply means that they respond to their clients needs, (who are paying them), and typically don't do proactive marketing of candidates.

3. Help the recruiter help you. If a recruiter doesn't have an immediate opening for you, you should still get in their database. Ask what you can provide so they can find you for future openings. This typically means a copy of your resume, references, and a brief description of your experience and interests in a new position. Don't be shocked if they don't immediately respond to you... they will when they have an appropriate order from a client.

4. Be honest. Once a recruiter does contact you about a future opportunity, be honest with them about your interest in the position, what else you may have going with other firms, and your ability to successfully accomplish the position offered. It's better to turn something down if it's not a match than to try to fake your way into the position.

5. Be responsive. Once you've interviewed for a position, be sure to immediately alert the recruiter about your interest in the position. If you're interested, it's useful for the recruiter to know that when they debrief the company. If you're not interested, the recruiter can disengage for you in a professional way that won't interfere with your opportunity to pursue other opportunities with that company.

6. Keep your word. If you agree to accept a position, don't change your mind, or try to delay to wait for other offers. Your actions at this stage are the first things the new company sees you do, you don't want to send the wrong message about your honesty or dependability.

Tips & Warnings

• Work with more than one recruiter, but respect the confidentiality of each one.
• Let all the recruiters you work with know when you accept a position. They can keep their database records about you up to date, and perhaps offer you something else in the years to come.
• Always ask recruiters to provide the details of a position before submitting your resume to the client. If they won't, ask to have your resume removed from their database. Honest recruiters should always be willing to tell you about the job before introducing you.