How To Work With Recruiters...The most common misconception about recruiters, aka headhunters
and/or executive search consultants, is that “they” will find you a job. The reality is that headhunters find
people for jobs, not jobs for people.

Our primary role is to help our client companies find the talent that most closely meets the
requirements of the role and the culture of the company. There are ways, however, to enlist the
assistance of headhunters and interest them in your personal career advancement.

The most important single thing you can do is to listen to the headhunters who ask for your help
in the course of their conducting a search. If you hear from the same recruiter several times a year,
it should be obvious that recruiter is actively involved in your industry or function. Retain their contact
information and offer them assistance even though you are not actively looking at other opportunities
when they call. Refer the recruiter to suitable contacts who may either have the appropriate background
or who may know others who do.

Hint: Do not presume to judge another person’s interest level at any point. No matter how well you
believe you know people with whom you work or have worked, there are too many life variables that
can affect career decisions. Hint: If your consistent response to a recruiter is “I don’t know anyone,”
they will stop calling and when you require their assistance, they may feed you back your own words:
“I don’t know of anything.”

The time to prepare for your next job search is while you are happy in your current job. When
a headhunter calls, ask for a little more information about any given opportunity, explain briefly why
you are not interested and what might interest you down the road, and then offer referrals.

Beware if you never hear from the same recruiter more than once! It is possible that individual
has left the business—there is an extraordinary turnover rate in the recruiting industry—but if recruiters
in general seldom or never call you a second or third time, it is likely your interpersonal telephone skills
are poor, or that you have not complied with some request for additional information. Ask the next
recruiter who calls how you might improve your chances of repeat calls.

Understand that most independent recruiters personally work only a handful of searches at a time.
The individual you speak with may not be working a suitable search at the time of your contact.
Hint: If “your” recruiter is a member of a formal recruiting network they may invite you to submit your
resume for sharing with their recruiting associates and affiliates. This can significantly increase your
introduction to headhunters while protecting your identity from unwanted exposure to the general public.

Hint: Do not expect “your” recruiter to present you for positions where you do not meet most of the
company’s stated requirements and desired qualifications. While the recruiter may agree you are
a fast learner and could quickly learn the industry/product/market/skills to do the job, the company
is paying only for the candidate(s) who currently hold very similar roles to those they are trying to fill.
Submit your resume to recruiters in their specified format. If posting at a website, follow the directions
carefully.

Realize that many recruiters cooperate together, and any given recruiter may not know the identity
of the client for some specific job for which he's recruiting. His job and intent is to forward the resume
and cover letter to his affiliate so that the affiliate can come to some prudent conclusion based on his
awareness of all contenders in the pipeline. Depending on how many others have applied, its possible
that your resume may not be submitted at all.

If you have not heard any thing from anyone in say 10 days, call the recruiter to whom you initially
responded and ask him to make an inquiry to his affiliate. He will normally do that willingly and get
back to you with some indication of his perception on your chances of being called for a phone scan
pursuant to an interview.

Many recruters prefer a reverse chronological resume with a brief introductory summary.
For active searches, I require a Word document resume which I generally will reformat to my
historical style and which I think gets more attention based on the belief that the employer knows
that I will generaly have spoken with the resumes owner at length and will be prepared to answer
questions about motivation, desire, salary, location etc Eliminate fancy borders and blocked areas
which are difficult or impossible to move or reduce. Simple text is always best. Avoid reverse video.

Personally I do not believe in headers or footers, and like to see condensed well selected words
generally on lines of 65 to 70 characters. which is about the limit of the human eye. Remeber that
hiring managers may read dozens of resumes per day. .and their time and patience is limited
and if you repeat the obvious or your resume implies that you believe that the more you say the more
likely it is that you will be called.. when truth is closer to the reverse.. The more credit you give for
the intelligence of the reader. .the more will accrue to you..

My famous example is the line Batchelors in Mechanical Engineering - Milwaukee School of
Engineering, Milwaukee Wisconsin 1989. when BSME MSOE 1989. says the same thing. ! Would
you work for a firm who didn't know that Milwaukee school might actually be in Milwaukee ? Is there
anyone on the planet who doesent know that Milwaukee is in Wisconsin ? That is what you want
to avoid ! Needless repetition or info which is clearly implicit or totally unnecessary for the reader to
make a decision on granting you a phone scan or not, will generally get your resume quickly into the
round file..

Hint: Most recruiters today are paperless and do not accept or maintain mailed or faxed resumes.
Listen closely to the briefing instructions a recruiter offers before an interview. They may be able to
point out the information the client most needs to make a favorable decision. I do not accept PDF files

Those who know me know that I insist on a generic cover letter which touches on whether or not
you are currently employed, final salary, relocation ? yes/no ? where ? where not ? and some
characterization of your optimum employer, your title, with some indication of scope and magnitude..
ie do you prefer a billion $ firm or one with revenue in the $10 million range ?

Have you supervised others ? How many ? What were their functions ? What was the impact on the
bottom line ? What are your leadership qualities What is your vision ? Where do you see yourself in
3 to 5 years ? To whom did you report ? How much autonomy did you have ? Did you have profit &
loss responsibility ? What was the magnitude of your budget ? What is your objective ? your motivation ?
Your work ethic ? Your professionalism ? Your ability to solve problems ? Make changes ? ???

Always remember that you represent the recruiter as well as yourself. Their reputation rests on
your shoulders. Make them pleased to have you represent them so they will represent YOU to other
clients when appropriate. Respond as quickly as possible to your recruiter’s calls, emails, and requests.
Unreturned calls or emails will quickly result in your candidacy being moved to a back burner.. With
the demand on recruiers time given the supply and demand inequities. He is working with those whom
are most cooperative..

Call immediately following a scheduled interview with their client and let them know how you think
the interview went. Advise of any concerns, troublesome questions, or important points you think
may have been overlooked or missed during the interview. Ask when they expect to hear from the
client; gauge your follow-up accordingly.

Hint: If interviews are scheduled over several days, it is unlikely the recruiter will have meaningful
feedback until all interviews are completed. If you did not make the cut, ask the recruiter what you
might have done to have improved your chances, and accept the answer as constructive criticism
to help you in your next interview. Generaly, once a decision is reached by the reviewing gatekeeper
its pointless to spend any time there or to hold out some hope of reversal on that decision. Better
to concentrate on creating your next opportunity to interview.

Please do not pass the company names of the recruiter’s clients on to other job seekers. Instead,
refer those people directly to the recruiter for presentation to their client. I almost always conceal the
name of my client until I have submitted a resume. One who went around me before I managed to
send his resume before I did ... did a quarter million $ damage to my life style, and put my wife of then
38 years into a vegetative state where she has been for the last 8 years. Those individuals names are
indelibly engraved in my mind as lacking integrity— not a list on which one wants to be included.

If you accept a job through another source and leave the job market, notify those recruiters with
whom you have been working so that they will stop marketing you to their clients. It is also important
that they have your new contact information so they can call you regarding future searches.