The best recruiters out there pride themselves on being able to find you, not the other way around. So what if they haven’t called yet? Instead of calling them and coming across as desperate, do your best to get on their radar by following these 7 tips.
1. Get Active on LinkedIn
Here’s a surprise: recruiters use LinkedIn more than emails. In fact, they probably click on the LinkedIn site about a hundred times per day minimum. So just by being on LinkedIn, you’ll be able to be found by recruiters. Make sure you use the right keywords on your profile, get active in Groups and Events and you’ll be targeted very quickly.
2. Get Active on Twitter
Recruiters love Twitter as they can spray out their new roles to the market. Finding job opportunities on Twitter is very swift and takes very little effort. Follow the recruiters you know have the positions you want, by searching for your skill + recruiter + your location. Start adding value to them by doing some retweeting of their tweets, help them out with potential referrals, etc. Before you know it, they will check out your online bio and see if you are keen on a new position as well. This requires you to have an employee-friendly Twitter profile, clearly stating what you do and a link to your online bio somewhere.
3. Write and get read
Everyone likes to write but very few get round to it and publish anything. With the advances of technology, it’s never been easier to reach out so embrace this to the fullest. You can write an article in your favorite industry periodical, a letter to the editor of the local newspaper, a post on your company blog, or your own blog. The key here is to write something that will get read by the right people (in this case recruiters). Ensure that you are credited with your name, title, and company at the end of your piece to make it easy for the recruiter to look you up.
4. Speak and get heard
Next time you go to an industry event, try to secure a speaking slot either as giving a speech or just participating in an open forum, whatever it takes to get listed in the event’s directory. Recruiters are known to sneak into these functions and to make contact with prolific people in the industry; public speaking is a brilliant way of being included on the hit list.
5. Get Referred
Being referred by an authority in your industry is a great endorsement for you. Even if you are not exactly what the recruiter is looking for, they will be interested in you have come recommended by somebody they respect. It’s easier than you think to get referred to as recruiters pester their candidates asking for referrals all the time. If you make it known to the right people that you are looking around, they will be very happy to tell the recruiter as it gives them future kudos. To make yourself seem more sought after, pretend that the referral was made without your knowledge and you “weren’t actively looking for a job, but will listen to what they have to offer”.
6. Online Resume
This is an optional one and not exactly a secret. Some would say don’t list yourself or upload your resume with online job sites like Monster, as you may come across as desperate. Others will say it’s the quickest way to get found. If you do it, be prepared to be bombarded with calls and emails from myriads of recruiters scouring online resources every day. To avoid irrelevant job offers, a good tip is to get the right keywords in your resume as it will be indexed and searched. And do activate the anonymous name and contact details setting allowing you to respond only to the relevant enquires.
7. Recruit Internally
Get yourself involved in internal recruitment at your company. You will be working with HR and they will introduce you to the recruitment partners they use. This is very sensitive for the search partner but if you send out the right signals, sooner or later the recruiter will probe you on your career. Sometimes they can actually help you directly; sometimes it will have to be more indirect (involving a 3rd party) due to legal implications. The point is that once one recruiter knows and rates you, they will be able to help you in one way or another. Recruiting internally is also very useful for understanding exactly how recruiters operate and how the HR hiring process works in general.
That’s it! You might also want to cast a glance at 5 Tricks Recruiters Use to Find You.
