How soon is too soon?
I'd love to know what recruiters want us to know about job searching during the pandemic. Because we, as job seekers, are one of the most important players. Are there any recruiters here? Any practical job hunt advice would be much appreciated!
Lynne Cogan
Career Coach for Realizing Professional Dreams
871
04/20/20 at 5:04PM UTC
Although I am not a recruiter, I would like to respond.
Do not depend on recruiters to solve your job-search challenges. One might, but do not count on it.
Recruiters can only help you if they have a job opening to fill and you are the very closest match to the requirements listed by the manager. They work with/for the employer and, therefore, that is where their loyalty is. It is not on finding you a job; it is on filling a job opening.
My job-search advice would be:
1) Find companies you want to work for/with. Research them. Know them. Understand their big picture--their challenges and goals. Care about their mission, vision, values, goals.
2) Determine how you can make a unique and exemplary contribution toward solving their problems, achieving their goals, and improving their bottom line.
3) Even if there is not a job opening, network within those organizations, have informational interviews, write to the likely hiring managers or CEOs, letting them know how you can be of service.
4) If you can prove that you can make or save the company considerably more than you will cost it, you are most likely to be brought on either as an employee or consultant/freelancer.
5) In this economy, be open to various compensation possibilities--ones that you can afford. That could mean taking part of your income on the back-end as commission, overrides or bonuses. (Stocks are possible but considerably more complicated and longer term.) If you are really good at what you do, this method of payment could result in your earning considerably more than a straight salary. However, you won't receive it until the employer receives its payment.
Lynne CoganCareer Coach for Realizing Professional Dreams
871
04/20/20 at 5:39PM UTC
I want to add: If you are interested in attracting recruiters, LinkedIn is a good resource.
1) Make sure you are showing yourself in the best light on your profile. That includes gearing it toward the kind of work you want to do.
2) Make sure to set it to let recruiters know that you are available.
3) You can send connection requests to recruiters. The trick is to keep the focus on them. How can you help them? Have you heard of any managers looking to find an excellent recruiter in a certain field, offer to make an introduction. Check out the recruiter's profile to see if you have any commonalities that you can mention.
When inviting a recruiter to connect, do not talk about you and how great you are. The closest you could come is to state that you applied for "X" job that they are working on. You wanted to check out their profile and discovered ________ about them, which you think is wonderful and explain. Always put it back to them and how you can be of service.
