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What About Headhunters? Part 2

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(@coach_tomsbcglobal-net)
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Joined: 13 years ago
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Hello Everyone!

Last month, I mentioned that I will talk about the right way to approach, work with, and manage your expectations regarding headhunters, both independent, and their corporate counterparts.

We'll start with the right way to approach one. The right way is to do you homework, and find one who specializes in your particular niche. There are lots of “scientific recruiters” out there, but you need to know, do they place bioinformatics gurus, or research chemists? Pretty wide swath there, so you need to know specifically what job titles they work with. Now, is also a great time to do the heavy lifting and make sure your resume does a nice job of explaining what you do, so the non-scientist recruiters understand it.

Yes, my intrepid scientific job seeker – recruiters who work in your niche very often are not scientists themselves, but they know the buzzwords and jargon. They desperately play “match and send”  between the words on your resume and the position description. If they get a match, THEN your resume gets forwarded to the scientists.

So, you find a recruiter, and send him your resume/CV. The next move is, you forget about it. That's right, you don't think about it, you don't follow up or anything. If you fit something he is working on, you'll get a call, otherwise, crickets. Remember, they don't find you jobs, they fill positions.

Remember this: approaching recruiters is a low percentage shot.

Here's a better approach – make yourself easy for recruiters to find you.

Put your employer and city on your social media profiles. Have an easy to comprehend linkedin profile. Participate in the appropriate forums, and join the appropriate trade and alumni groups.

Recruiters are resourcers and detectives of the first order. They have tools and hacks that scrape the internet for your information. You'll get a lot of calls. Not all will be the next big thing or even the right thing, but you will have opportunities presented to you regularly. The thing is, working with headhunters, works. It's also a slow and painful process if that's all you rely on. As one of the four ways to get meetings with employers, you can't afford to not utilize the method, but you also can't afford to rely on it alone.

Next month, we talk about actually working with and developing a relationship with a recruiter.  Until next time, I wish you all the best

Coach Tom


   
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