blueskyresumesblog

Working with Recruiters

A reader wrote this morning to ask about recruiters. Having not looked for a job in sometime, he wanted to know whether I could recommend a headhunter in his area.

I actually don't know anyone, but even if I did, one headhunter would not be enough.

Many people share the misconception that, for senior level positions, contacting a headhunter is the way to find a job. To understand why this is wrong, you have to understand how headhunters work.

A headhunter (or recruiter) is engaged by a company to fill a specific position. She is given very specific qualifications, and she is paid for her services by the company. Sometimes she is paid on a retainer basis, but most often she is paid only when she successfully fills the position.

So her compensation depends on finding people who exactly match the specifications she has been given, and her client is the employer NOT the job seekers.

Depending on the size of her practice, she may be working on just one position at a time, or several, but she doesn't have hundreds and hundreds of openings. And because she is paid for filling a position, she doesn't have time to spend on candidates who don't match the job criteria.

This means that it's not likely you will be a match for the position she's currently trying to fill. It's not impossible - but the odds are not in your favor. Which is why you need to contact multiple recruiters to have any good chance of receiving a call back.

You must also understand that most recruiters specialize in either an industry or a field (marketing, sales, finance etc.) and sending your resume to someone who doesn't hire for your profession is just a waste of time.

So to work effectively with recruiters, you need to contact a large group of people who specialize in your industry or profession.

I recommend Executiveagent for this purpose - it compiles a list of recruiters based on the criteria you determine, and once you pay, your resume is emailed to all those recruiters. The fee is relatively inexpensive, and it's an efficient way to reach a lot of people at once.

The alternative is manual research. Buy a directory of recruiters from a bookstore, or use Google to track down as many names as you can.

Just remember - the recruiter is working for the company, not for you.

Inject Some Personality Into Your Resume

When we take on new clients, we try to make sure that they understand (and like) our approach to resume writing, but every now and then we fail.

That happened recently, when a client expressed unhappiness with his new resume because he felt the whole thing needed rewording. I had been pleased with my work on his resume, so I was surprised to see this. But when I reviewed his comments, I saw the problem immediately. My client was expecting his resume to sound formal, to be filled with the types of words and phrases he's accustomed to reading on resumes. Instead, he received a document that told his career story in very natural language - the kind you would use when talking in an interview.

This was just a style mismatch and easy to rectify, but for me the use of natural language is such a crucial tenet of good resume writing that I wanted to take a moment to write this post. I am such a strong believer in this approach that I would rather refund money (as I did in this case) than rewrite the resume in a less effective style.

To believe that formal, stilted language is the right approach on a resume, you have to believe that recruiters and HR folks put their personality in a locker when they arrive at work. But of course they don't. They are real people just like you and me, and they have to wade through piles of resumes that all look and all sound alike.

If you inject some personality into your resume by writing in a natural style, your resume will convey the essence of who you are - the reader will sense your character as he or she reviews your resume, and you will stand out from the crowd because everyone else will be using what some in our industry call 'resume speak' (meaning language that you wouldn't find anywhere but on a resume).

Of course, I'm not suggesting that you use slang, or put jokes into your resume ... just that you review it for any signs of highly formalized language - language that you are only using because you have seen it on other resumes. When you find an example like that, ask yourself 'how would I say this in an interview?' Chances are, that's the way you should write it.

What Makes an Effective Reference Letter?

Thanks for the great questions that keep arriving in my in box. I enjoy reading them! One reader writes:

I've been reading your blog for a while now and always with the greatest pleasure, and now I have a question which might be of interest to you.

A great recruiter helped me to find my dream job, and now I'm writing a recommendation letter for him. Unfortunately, I couldn't find a sample letter for this profession or any other kind of advice, and thus take the liberty of addressing you. Are there any aspects of the recruiter's job that are of a particular importance? I can write a lot about this person's "personal-professional" qualities, like unprejudiced approach, timely responses, etc., but I want to write something of real value, something that other professionals in this area can appreciate too.

The key skill for a recruiter is the ability to make a sale. Recruiting is a sales job as much as anything - not only does a recruiter have to persuade a company to her, but she also has to persuade candidates to interview for vacant positions.

Therefore, if this reference letter is intended to help the recruiter either seek new employment, or advertise her services to potential clients, I would focus on her ability to match the perfect client to the perfect job (in this case you) and her ability to facilitate that match by selling you on the position and managing the transaction in such a way that she closed the deal. (If any of our readers who are also recruiters have other ideas, please feel free to let me know.) 

By the way - these principles also apply when you are seeking reference letters for your own job search (or writing them for other people.) Reference letters should focus on what matters to the target audience. A glowing letter about all aspects of your personality and background won't be as effective as one that hones in on exactly what the reader wants to know.

So when you request reference letters, you should always tell your referee what part of your background/skills you want to highlight, and you should determine this based on what you know is important to your target employers.

Is there Anybody Alive Out There?

That's the opening line of Bruce Springsteen's last single, but judging from my in-box, it's also the cry from many job seekers wondering why they get so few responses to their job applications. One reader writes:

I've been marketing myself since Nov07 to find a job, unfortunately without success until today. My feeling is that companies are saturated from receiving emails with Personal Records from anybody in the world who is looking for a job, and they just delete them, many times without reading them. What a shame!

 

You write that there are many organizations who need what I have to offer. Please be so kind and tell us which organizations! I've submitted at least 130 times (and probably more) my CV since Nov07. Only 7 companies have answered, but no job possibilities until now. Of course we all have a set of skills, experiences and accomplishments, which are apparently not valued.

 

Can you please help me and other subscribers to your blog with an answer? I'm sure there are many unemployed people in a similar situation.

Well, firstly - 7 responses out of 130 applications is just over a 5% response rate. Many surveys show that companies fill anywhere from 5-10% of their jobs from Internet job postings, although this number increases when the company's own job board is also included.

So that does suggest that this job seeker is experiencing a lower than average response rate to his resume submissions - the most likely problem is that his resume is not effectively communicating his value.

But even after improving his resume, the sad fact is that a strategy of simply applying to posted positions is unlikely to result in a huge improvement.

Job search success requires a much more proactive approach.

Consider this, from an annual survey of American recruiting practices:

Referrals (employee, alumni, vendor, etc.) make up 28.7% of all external hires and are arguably the number one external source. The efficiency of referrals i.e. “every third referral turns into a hire” is one of the single most important characteristics of US hiring practices…and not leveraged as well as it might be

One in three referrals turns into a hire! Doesn't take a math degree to figure out that you will significantly improve your chances of securing a position if you are referred by an insider.

Which means two things:

1) Use your network - make sure that everyone you know is aware of your job search, so that they can be in a position to refer you should they hear of something. Don't restrict your networking only to close friends and family. Include everyone - your doctor, your dentist, the guy in the local Starbucks who you talk to every morning - the more people who know you need a job, the better your chances of a referral.

2) Use the Internet to make contact with people who work at your target companies. LinkedIn is the perfect tool for this and if you don't already have a profile,you need to get one now. Members can search the network by company name, and then make contact via the system.

These are only 2 possible strategies - your success is limited only by your creativity - for example, I know people who have secured job offers by writing blogs about their job search. I know others who have networked their way into jobs that were never even advertised  just by doing research to identify possible opportunities in advance.

But if your job search strategy consists of applying to advertised positions, you will inevitably be invited to far fewer interviews than you deserve.

For more on job search strategies, download the Career Hub "Insider's Guide" series of free eBooks. You'll find tips and strategies from some of America's leading job search experts and there's no charge and no need to give an email address.