Your average job seeker just doesn’t “get” what a recruiter does. This is apparent to anyone that’s ever heard a friend or relative complain about a recruiter “not finding them a job.” If you’re planning on working with recruiters or with a staffing firm, here are a few things to keep in mind.

Tips for Working with Recruiters

Recruiters don’t find people jobs: The average job seeker has it all mixed up – recruiters don’t go out and find jobs, recruiters find candidates. They match candidates with open positions given to them by their client companies. Recruiters are tasked with filling these job requisitions. If you’re planning on working with recruiters, understand that they are often looking for very specific types of candidates – don’t get offended if you don’t match.

Recruiters are part of the bigger picture: With this in mind, job seekers should embrace one or more recruiters as part of their overall job seeking strategy – not as an end-all solution. Professional networking, social media sites, and other job seeking channels should still be utilized to maximize individual job leads. Job seekers should recognize that recruiters can open additional doors for them and are inevitably part of the larger job market landscape.

Recruiters and job seekers need to work together: It’s all about teamwork. Job seekers should be honest about their credentials and in turn, recruiters will work hard to push their profile towards befitting opportunities. Be open and upfront about your current compensation and future expectations and recruiters will get the interviews rolling. If everything works out, the recruiter makes a placement and you get a new job – both sides win when there’s mutual respect and understanding.

All too often, job seekers throw themselves at recruiters and expect royal treatment. Candidates have a hard time accepting the fact that recruiters don’t work for them, but with them. Recruiters always have your best interests in mind (and they want you to get hired), but they can’t make individually tailored jobs appear out of thin air.

Seeing eye-to-eye with recruiters isn’t all that complicated when you use their services as one of many valuable resources in your job seeking toolbox. If you are looking for a job, make sure you pursue every avenue available to you – and that working with recruiters in the correct fashion is part of your job search strategy.

 Have you ever had one of those days, when you unable to focus on those tasks and results that were most important to you? Technology, although wonderful, has given others 24/7 access to you through voice mail, email, texting and cell phones.

 
Answering messages in your email inbox could wipe out precious prime  time by distracting you to address what’s most important to others. Your inbox is an easy organizing system for other people’s agendas – not necessarily yours!

 
Just think for a moment of how many emails you receive, even after being screened for junk or spam. It can often be easier to answer an email than make a prospecting call, but it is obvious which action will benefit you most.

 
Incoming calls can also have a negative impact on your ability to succeed. Your destiny should be controlled by your planned outgoing calls vs. the incoming calls. You have to ask yourself – who calls you most?  Each conversation, every molecule of free advice and any time spent will cost you a fortune in possible production and income.

 
Now let’s address solutions for your inbox and incoming calls

 
INBOX SOLUTIONS
Create and follow an email policy that you and your team establish. If you are not working a fast pace, high volume temp, clerical, call center or light industrial desk – there is no reason you need to answer emails as they arrive. Answer them three times throughout the day (early am, over lunch and at the end of the day). It’s amazing the amount of time this puts back in to your day to focus on your priorities.

 
Share your email processing information with your clients and candidates, so they don’t expect to receive an immediate response. It’s interesting that response time to emails keeps increasing, while response time to texting is almost immediate. This is obviously another way to communicate with candidates and clients – but you never want to abuse the privilege.

 
INCOMING CALL SOLUTIONS
The Staffing and Recruiting Profession places less than 5% of the candidates attracted to you, your website and firm. The other 95% should be provided with resources that give them something to do.  Help every candidate you speak with through either placing with a client or send them to www.patricecareerhelp.com where they can get a “live” person critiquing their resume, 50 free resume cards, free weekly seminars on different topifcs of finding a job, school information for retraining and much more.

It is important to have an agenda for each day of your job search so you can focus on the priorities most important to you.  You don’t want your email inbox to determine the level of results you will achieve each day.

Beware of your inbox!  It is often a simple organizing system for other people’s agendas.  It is easy to wake up and spend the first couple of hours each day answering or screening emails – but is that really allowing you to focus on priorities most important to you?

Before you even open your computer, take time to identify your priorities for the day and what you need to do to be the most productive in your job search.  I’m not advising you to avoid your email, I’m just suggesting that you identify your top priorities first and answer your incoming mail no more than two to three times each day.

Sitting behind a computer is easier than attending a job fair           – but not as effective
Sitting behind a computer is easier than networking calls               – but not as effective
Sitting behind a computer is easier than informational interviews   - but not as effective
Sitting behind a computer is easier than direct marketing yourself  – but not as effective
Sitting behind a computer is easier than following up by phone      – but not as effective

There are many incredible resources within our Career Portal that we want you to utilize, but these activities must be in line with your top priorities.  You can work very hard on your job search without results.  It’s time to get selfish with your time and only complete actions that give you the best chance of scheduling interviews that could lead to a job offer.  Don’t allow your job search agenda to be controlled by anyone else but YOU!

FREE JOB SEEKER WEBINARS

You Can’t Sound Like Every Other Job Seeker
May 15th @ 11:00 am PST | 12:00 pm MST | 1:00 pm CST | 2:00 pm EST

When you are talking to hiring authorities, do you really differentiate yourself from other job seekers? Do you share facts that other job seekers can’t? During this session you will learn the following:

• How to identify your personal brand
• How to present your brand and differentiators to hiring authorities
• How to position yourself as the solution to problems

References Are Critical to Your Success
May 30th @ 12:00 pm PST | 1:00 pm MST | 2:00 pm CST | 3:00 pm EST

People like to buy on the approval of others. Your references, endorsements or testimonials can make the difference of you being rejected or obtaining a job offer. During this session we will address:

• How to effectively use References and/or testimonials
• How to obtain the greatest impact from endorsements
• What you can do to obtain more testimonials
• Why you should inform your references of your job search activities

*To register, login to our Career Portal and click on the WEBINAR Tab. Then click on the Event and register by clicking the Webinar registration link for each event listed.

We take our direction from you! If you have any ideas you would like to share with us, please contact us at support@careersupportnetwork.com 

Share your success stories to be shared on our Career Portal: support@careersupportnetwork.com 

To Your Successful Career Search,

Patrice & Associates Hospitality Recruiting

Aside from your job interview, the conversation in which you give notice is one of the most important ones you will have while working at a company. Learn how to do it well, and you’ll keep contacts open for future opportunities each time you move. Do it poorly, and you’ll burn bridges and condense your possibilities even as your work experience expands. Here are 3 good tips to consider:

Give the news face-to-face
Part of keeping doors open is showing respect for your soon-to-be former boss. So don’t just slip a resignation under his or her door or e-mail your two weeks’ notice to avoid confrontation. That’s like dumping someone by text message. Instead, schedule a meeting with your manager to tell them eye-to-eye you will be leaving. From there, a resignation letter is appropriate to make things formal. Have it ready for the meeting. Giving notice in person may be awkward, but it is essential to leaving on good terms.

Pave the way for your replacement
Even if you’re not training the person who takes your place, you want to make his or her transition as smooth as possible. Your old colleagues will appreciate that and remember it if you ever work together in the future. Plan for your absence as though you’re going on vacation. Create a how-to manual of your responsibilities and how you do them. Reach out to specific people on your team and key outside contacts/clients to see if they have any questions or would like to train with you before you leave. To address any issues after you leave you should leave your contact information.

Be as positive as possible
If you’re looking at your exit interview as a time to air your grievances and tell your HR manager why you hated your job, don’t. It’s too little, too late, and could cause your reputation damage — and you won’t be around to repair it. If you’re asked why you’re leaving, be objective, calm and professional in your explanation. You never know when the person asking the question will be in a place to help you advance your own career in the form of another, future opportunity or a reference. A good rule of thumb: Pretend your words will be replayed to every single co-worker and superior at the organization. Because they very well might be.