Resume and Interview Tips
If you are job hunting, you should send your resume to recruiters. Recruiters know about your industry or occupation and they know about job openings that you may never find on your own.
Recruiters and search firms work for the employer or hiring entity. The employer pays them a fee for locating the right individual for the job opening. Recruiters never work for the job-seeker. A recruiter will not act as your personal employment agent by trying to find a position for you. If your credentials happen to match an employer's needs, the recruiter will try to place you. But don't expect an employment firm to go out of its way to find a job for you.
Retained and Contingency Recruiters
There are two types of recruiters, retained and contingency. A retained search firm has a contract with a company to find a candidate and receives some payment as a retainer during the process. A contingency recruiter has no search contract and receives no payment unless a placement is made.
Some employers prefer working with contingency firms and some with retained firms. Both are respected by employers and useful in your job search, but, the two types of firms will not be handling the same positions with the same employers simultaneously.
The retained recruiter has entered an exclusive contract with an employer to fill a particular position. The retained recruiter is likely to advertise a position, sharing the specifics of the position, location and employer openly. The retained firm feels a great obligation to fulfill the contract by finding the best person for the job. Retained firms generally work with higher level positions.
The contingency recruiter, on the other hand, usually does not have an exclusive relationship with the employer, and is only paid a fee if the job search is successful. Often, if the employer uses contingency firms, there will be more than one contingency firm competing to fill a certain position. Contingency recruiters generally work with more mid-level management and professional positions.
Research & Contact Recruiters
Different recruiters know about different positions. They do not usually know about the same ones. This is particularly true with retained firms. By sending your resume out widely, you will be placed in many different confidential databases and be alerted of many different positions. If you send your resume to only a few, it may be that none you send to will be working with positions which fit you background and qualifications.
Do not think that you should limit yourself to contacting only recruiters that work in your region. Very few recruiters work only in their local area, most work all around the US or Canada and some internationally. If you really only want to remain in your area, you can specify that preference in your cover letter.
When you interact with executive recruiters, you are essentially interacting with an agent or representative of the employer. You should develop your relationship with the recruiter with the same integrity and professionalism that you would with the employer.
Tips for Your Job Search
Recruiters are an important resource in any management, professional or executive job search. Use a Recruiter Directory to locate the firms that specialize in your profession or industry. Research the generalist firms. Many firms only recruit for positions at or above a certain salary level, and you should consider this when deciding which firms to contact. Review recruiters just as you would evaluate a potential employer. Be sure their style is compatible with yours and that you feel comfortable trusting them. Investigate the material and resources available on each site for immediate use or for future reference.
Contacting and submitting your resume to the firms specializing in your occupation or industry should be a priority. Recruiters work for the employer. They can't help you if they don't have any suitable assignments but these are the firms most likely to have suitable positions now and in the future. Once your resume is in the database you will be considered for future opportunities. After you have contacted the specialists, contact the generalist firms. By sending your resume out widely, you will be placed in many different confidential databases and increase your chances of being contacted.
It is normally not worth the time and effort to contact recruiters that specialize in industries or occupations that do not match your background and qualifications. If your background is Accounting a recruiter specializing in Electrical Engineering is unlikely to help you now or in the future and your time is better spent on other activities.
Ethical recruiters will contact you before they share your resume with another recruiter or a client company. However, at the manager or executive level it is best to clearly state that any resume distribution requires your express approval.
