5 Ways to Stay in Touch with Recruiters Without Annoying Them
2013-10-24 13:12:58
1. Ask for intelligence
Don’t assume you know everything about the market. If your recruiter is competent, they’re not just going to be pitching for jobs, but also keeping in touch with employers about the long-term prospects for a particular sector or hiring strategies of individual firms.
“Recruiters should offer insight into where the current opportunities exist and perhaps offer additional market intelligence, news articles or reports to highlight which areas are currently hiring,” says Andy Dallas, director of Robert Half Financial Services.
2. Be available
Obviously, this depends on your position to some extent, but if you’re flexible (or unemployed), then a recruiter is more likely to think of you when an opportunity arises. Having a more long-term relationship – i.e., more than simply putting yourself forward for a single opportunity – will aid this.
3. Seek advice on what additional skills you might need
The fact is, you might know everything there is to know about your individual sector, but you may not be as clued up about what employers are asking for in the current climate. Skill-sets might be evolving, requiring tweaks to your expertise. A good recruiter should advise on this.
“If there are things that a candidate can improve on, then we work with them to identify practical steps to improve their performance next time – whether they need to adjust their interview technique or brush up on some technical skills,” says Geoff Fawcett, director, Hays Financial Markets.
4. Be sympathetic
You might think that a recruiter is there simply to service your needs, but at the moment they have their own concerns on the client side. It’s more common now for banks and financial services firms to pull roles, or suddenly revoke headcount that was previously signed off. Obviously, this can also be frustrating for the candidate, but placing blame purely on the shoulders of the recruiter won’t help your relationship.
“The proverbial elephant in the room is that sometimes recruiters don’t get any feedback, even after several rounds of interviews,” says David Leithead, Managing Director, Michael Page Financial Services. “Sometimes even the human resource liaison and the recruitment consultant aren’t even told the candidate is rejected.”
5. Stay regular
As a general guide, getting in touch with your recruiter once a month is frequent enough. They won’t appreciate a call every other day, particularly in a tepid job market. Obviously, neither will you.
