Make Recruiters Work For You.
Some people think that signing up with a recruitment company is a waste of time, however if you know how to work with them it’s not a waste of time at all. The problem is that most people have an assumption that the recruitment company is going to get them work with little or no help from them. So what help is needed to increase the likelihood that the recruiter will find you work, lets have a look:
The Initial Contact
There is two ways that people normally get in contact with a recruitment agency, 1- they apply for a job or 2 - they contact them directly.
In whatever case, you are going to have an initial interview. In this stage the information that you give the recruiter is very important if they are going to represent you, therefore:
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Highlight your selling points relevant to the industry.
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Outline your restrictions - e.g. any companies you don’t want to work for, lack of transport etc.
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They can’t read your mind, so ensure they have clear idea of the job you are looking for, don’t let them assume.
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Let them know what salary you are looking for, recruiters hate wasting time finding a position only for you to turn it down based on renumeration. Give them clear range of what you would work for.
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Your Resume
Since you have now given them the information it’s time to supply the tool, your resume. As your resume is “you on paper” it makes sense to supply a recruiter with a good one. The last thing a recruiter wants is to stand before they’re client with a badly formatted, mistake ridden resume and try to recommend you.
But how do you know if your resume is crap, well from the jobs that know you could do how many job interviews do you get? If the response is 1 job interview per 7 job applications or higher, you need to take a serious look at your resume.
As a quick fix, I would recommend you use professional resume writers like Resume Doctors or Shine Resumes as they produce great resumes for a cost that is so cheap it’s almost stealing (only $47, no catches). To visit Resume Doctors - click here or Shine Resumes - click here.
If you rather not fork out money for resume writers. Then do some research on fixing your resume, it will take longer and you may not get it right but I am sure it will be better than not doing anything at all.
Start your research by having a look at our resume advice area - click here
Follow Ups
Most people see recruitment as a service and therefore expect them to be constantly be on the phone giving you updates. In actual fact you are 1 of up to 100 people that the recruiter maybe assisting, not to mention all the clients that they’re recruiting for. As you can now imagine the workload of a consultant can be very high.
Therefore to help them out by simply keeping in regular contact with them, I don’t mean call them everyday like an Indian call centre but just let them know you are still looking. Keeping in contact keeps you fresh in their mind and more likely to be the first person that is thought of when a position comes in.
Follows ups allow the communication to flow, tell them of any job interviews you have been to, any changes to your situation and any ideas that might help them out. Ask them for advice, as they are in the industry they are going to be the best reference if you need help.
Make sure you don’t harass them, just like you they hate it.
At the end of the day if you help the recruiter they will help you, it’s very simple. People love to bag out recruitment companies as they had “no success” and I had to “find a job myself”. This conclusion is common because people tend to rely on recruitment companies to get them work, and are upset when it doesn’t go to plan. Don’t rely on them, treat them as another person helping you to find work and keep up your own job search.
