Using LinkedIn to Find Recruiters
From ERE.net by Shana Borwegen on March 15, 2011
Recruiters are a great source for finding a job that will fit your need and skill set. They help you through the interview process and try to help prepare you for your interviews. The best thing about having a recruiter help you is that they have already done most of the leg work. They know the right contacts for certain companies and have built relationships with the people that work there.
Social networking is extremely important in today's society. It's a good way to introduce yourself to large groups of people and also a great way for people to find you. The more contacts you have, the better chances of you receiving a great job opportunity. LinkedIn is one of the top social networks to use right now, because everyone is a professional and looking to make connections with other professionals. It's extremely successful in helping to build relationships and helping with your job search. Most recruiters use this LinkedIn to find candidates with the right experience for the positions. Since your profile is basically your resume, make sure it's accurate and up to date! That way recruiters can find you easily and reach out to you. Recruiters can search the database of information for people with relevant skill sets and experience pertaining to specific job requirements.
Here's what you need to do to get started:
- Create a profile. Include current and past employment, education, and any other information that details your skills or qualifications.
- Make sure to use keywords! This way, you can be found when those keywords are searched for.
- Post a picture. Make sure it's just you in the picture and professional looking. People with profile pictures get more connections.
- Build your network. Connect with colleagues, friends, family, etc. The more people you are connected to, the more opportunities will come your way.
- Join groups of interest to you. This is a great way to meet new people!
- Get recommendations from previous colleagues and bosses.
You don't have to wait for the recruiters to contact you. Find out which company the recruiter is working for and visit their website. Most of the time, jobs will be posted in their career section and you can check and see if there are any open positions that support your background. If you find a position that you are interested in, try and reach out to the recruiters and let them help you get the job!
Photo Source: http://bit.ly/fwl1NT
Sources:
http://mashable.com/2009/01/05/job-search-secrets/#
http://jobsearch.about.com/od/networking/a/linkedin.htm
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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I concur that LinkedIn is a powerful networking tool but would encourage job seekers to understand the very limited role that recruiters play in the job market. It is estimated that at most 5% of new jobs are filled through recruiters. These positions are most often senior level positions or where a company is trying to recruit confidentially or trying to steal a candidate from a competitive company or looking for a candidate with a unique set of skills. For most positions it is very easy for employers to find candidates while avoiding the high recruiter fees.
Recruiters can also create false hope by setting up an interview with no position available but simply as a way to pass the time of day. A good recruiter can be a valuable source of business intelligence concerning market conditions and on occasion may have contacts with potential employers, but this is the exception not the rule.
Job seekers should also be wary of sending resumes to every recruiter they identify. There are recruiters who will simply take a resume and do a broadcast mailing thus contaminating the market if the job seeker, through another no-cost method, contacts a potential employer who has received the mailing. If the job seeker's information is on record at the employer as having come initially from a recruiter, the potential employer may consider the job seeker to have a price on his or her head and will automatically ignore any direct contact. Typically these "broadcast" recruiters also have very little credibility in the market.
A dirty little secret is that many recruiters may include your documentation as part of their submission of four or five candidates. The strategy they will use is to include not only their preferred candidate, who is often not that strong, but also information on candidates that meet the bare minimum requirements so that their preferred candidate looks better than he or she really is. Occasionally a gullible client will take the bait and assume this is the best candidate available and hire a mediocre job seeker. This does not mean that the less qualified candidates put up for comparison purposes are not good candidates but not just for that position.
The recruiters worth pursuing are the few that are highly respected, have strong industry and geographic contacts, but they are few and far between.
Should you secure an interview with a recruiter for a position and with a company that is very interesting to you, who either sends your documentation (most often blind) to the company or does not, and you do not get an interview with the recruiter's client, confirm with the recruiter that it will not be in a position to help you with that company for that position. The mission is to do whatever it takes to get the company name and target position. As you know a position exists use this as business intelligence to contact the key decision maker directly using the "spot opportunity" strategy. As you are not on record with the company and as you do not come with a price on your head, but you have the advantage of the business intelligence you gained from your interaction with the recruiter, you have a distinct advantage over the recruiter's candidates.
Regardless of whether recruiters are one of the marketing channels you are using, I would encourage you to take Sheila's advice and make your LinedIn presence powerful as it will be searched by potential employers, recruiters as well as other LinkedIn members who may be of value to you in your search. Put it out and let it work but do not waste time on pursuing recruiters unless there is a compelling reason to do so.
If you find a position listed on a company website, I would encourage you to pursue it aggressively directly and only fallback on a recruiter if you cannot crack the company using a "spot opportunity" strategy after doing what HR has asked you to do.
For senior level job seekers it is very worth while building and maintaining relationships with the best Retained (Executive) Recruiters as they can be very valuable in bringing new opportunities to highly qualified executives.