How to get the Recruiters attention - Margaret Buj - Interview Coach

How to get the Recruiter’s attention You’re ready for that new job. You know you’re perfect for it. You go through all the requirements; tick, tick, tickety tick. You send your CV to the recruiter. And. Well, nothing. That’s it. You send a follow-up email. You phone. You consider resending your CV. Time passes. The job is now filled. You are still waiting for a call, or email, telling you why you weren’t called or emailed. Unfortunately, this scenario is all too common. No level of candidate (that’s you, job seeker) is exempt. No amount of experience, credibility or seniority is beyond being ignored. Everyone is able to become invisible with the same ease. So how do you get them to notice you? Interestingly one of the best ways is to get them to find you. There is something very hunter’ish about recruiters. Part of the ‘excitement’ of finding you, is actually in the finding of you. Men are from Mars, women are from Venus, recruiters are from Saturn. Number one on my list of ‘must haves’ then, is a good (or great) LinkedIn profile. Recruiters use LinkedIn like you use Google. For search. It is their prime hunting ground. You have to be there and you have to have a well written profile. Link to people, so your profile comes up in more searches. Remember LinkedIn only looks within three degrees. If you’re not connected to many people, who are not connected to many people… well, you can do your own maths. Keep your main thing, your main thing. Don’t be tempted to tell the recruiter all the things you could possibly do, with a fair wind and a following sea. None of their clients have asked them to find a Jack-of-all-trades. Focus on your expertise and explain what will make you an asset to their client. Consider this your first interview for that job. Always write your covering letter in the body of the email. Make it enticing, so that the receiver wants to open the attachment (your CV/resume). Have a highly relevant (to the job in question) CV/resume. Make sure it details everything you’ve done that their client(s) want. Talk in terms of achievement rather than task. Treat recruiters like people you might like. The better you get on, the more they will remember you. Viewing them as an obstacle to getting your perfect job and treating them accordingly, will not get you far. For far, read nowhere. Keep on, keeping on. There are good and bad in every profession. Don’t let a rogue recruiter put you off applying for that next perfect role. Author of Get That Interview and Clickst@rt Your Career Julie Holmwood is The Job Seekers Guide. She works with thousands of clients through her audio and web-based programmes, helping them get job search fit and successfully navigate their way into that new  role. You can find out more about Julie here.