Candidate question: Find a recruiter for an entry-level position

Photo credit: Matias Dutto

Q:

I am seeking my first full time job. I'm new to the whole headhunter/recruiter thing. Do you have any tips for how to go about this? I'm in Dallas, but I'm up for new places and adventures. Should I look for a national or regional recruiter?

My degree is in communications and I have two internships worth of PR experience at boutique and corporate agencies. Some of my work is on my blog.

A:

Since you are seeking employment in a specific industry sector, you should consider working with a recruiter who specializes in the communications industry. While there are several online directories, I find the best referrals come through experienced colleagues or professors who have some industry contacts.

It is important to understand though how a recruiter works. Search firms are contracted by the employer to find candidates who best fit an open requisition. This means a recruiter is not focusing solely on a candidate's job search. It's the other way around - the recruiter selects you as a candidate for the search. Contingency recruiters are only paid for their efforts when they successfully fill a position, so the first priority is their current work load and finding the best candidates for the job.

Keep your expectations reasonable when working with a recruiter. Recruiters will have positions you would never hear about through other channels and will be an extremely valuable resource and relationship for you to have throughout your career.  But realistically, the most your can expect is to get into their database and be considered for a matching position. You can secure your relationships more by taking their calls promptly, sharing information to help them recognize your talents, being cooperative, and representing their decision to put you forward well in an interview process.

You will find a mix of regional and national recruiters. Again, I think the most important criteria in selecting a firm to work with is its specialty area. I would look at both local and national firms.

By no means, especially this early in your career, should you base your entire job search strategy on one or two recruiter's leads. Unless the recruiter asks to represent you solely and that recruiter has taken quite a bit of time to understand you and your needs should you even consider it.

Companies and agencies usually come to my firm to introduce candidates with at least a year or two of relevant work experience (not including internships) and they invest in the relationship with a search firm to find candidates who have the exact experience they are looking for (from a competitor). At this point, you are looking for an entry-level job so a recruiter relationship should only be a small portion of your strategy.

Other relevant posts:

Recruiter relations: Help us help you

- Lindsay Olson

Seven things you need to know about recruiters - Collegerecruiter.com

Creative ways to land a job interview

Kynam Doan is looking for a job. Check out his blog, I Need An Interview, and you'll get the idea.

Kynam has a very creative approach to his job search - he has pledged to volunteer six hours of his time for  each interview he lands to a non-profit. The companies who interview him nominate a non-profit and then the readers of his blog will be voting for the top two.  Additionally, he will volunteer one minute of his time for each unique visitor to his blog.

It is an interesting idea to generate some buzz and give back to the community while honing his marketing skills.

A couple of key points for anyone considering an approach similar to Kynam's in their job search:

1. Make it easy for potential employers to see your qualifications. Kynam opted to not publish his resume. Instead he chose to tie in a link to his LinkedIn profile. I would add extended biography for those lazy clickers who come to the site. I imagine those extra keywords would also help for search results. Consider showcasing some of your work in a digital portfolio.

2. Be specific about what type of position you are seeking. You don't want to be come across as you will consider anything. You must show you have direction and focus. But be careful to not be so specific you rule out potential opportunities.

3. Treat everything in the campaign as a professional representation of you. If it is a blog, a video, or both, remember, it is your extended resume. Make sure everything you post is free of errors and represents you accurately and honestly.

What do you think of Kynam's approach?

Thanks to Matthew Kraft (@mkraft) for pointing me to Kynam's blog.

Kynam, best of luck to you in your job search - I'll be watching the outcome!

Interesting links: November 15-19

Interesting links so far this week. Enjoy!

Career

12 Ways Social Media Can Improve Your Career - Dave Fleet
Report: Millennials Will Route Around IT Departments - ReadWriteWeb
Job hunting Dos and Don'ts for public relations professionals - PR In Canada
Influential Marketing Blog: Is Social Media Becoming The New MBA?
Growing your Career: Do at GUT Check - Web Strategist
The Right and Wrong Time to Job Hop - Business Pundit

Business and social media

The Most Influential Women in Web 2.0 - Fast Company
The Top 10 Social Networks for Creative People - Lateral Action
Debunking the Social Media Barriers - TweetPR
Seth's Blog: Blah, blah, blah, blah... - Seth Godin
Elements of a Good LinkedIn Recommendation - Chris Brogan

Fun

Let me google that for you - Just for fun. Now you never have to tell you friends and colleagues to "just google it."
What Women Should Know About Men's Brains - Dumb Little Man - so true!
8 Tools to Help You Travel Forever and Live Rent Free - I'll be giving this some serious consideration
Love in the Time of Cholera movie download

Cell phone happy interviews

I despise cell phones. I've seemed to curb that addiction a few years ago and it was the best thing I've ever done for myself. If it's not the owner speaking unbearably loud, it's ringing at the most inopportune times. If it's not ringing with a horrific ring tone, the owner is responding to a text message in the middle of a dinner, a movie or while driving in his car. It's amazing we live in an era when cell phones are so commonplace, yet we haven't seemed to figure out cell phone etiquette.

Like this candidate who went on the job interview....true story.

Candidate goes for an interview with a PR agency. She showed up drenched, completing dismissing the idea of cleaning up quickly in the restroom before walking through her potential employer's door.

Now that's a little strange. First impression is everything, right? Maybe it was because when she showed up, she was still talking on her cellphone! Actually, yelling. Yelling at her spouse about picking up some paperwork and the kids.

If that wasn't an awkward enough start, it gets worse. She left her phone on and then answered it during her interview

, continuing to make her arrangements and argue in front of the hiring manager. I can only imagine it was some annoying ring tone.

Of course, she didn't get the job. Deal breaker.

Lessons Learned

50 First Dates movies
• Avoid the situation from happening completely. Leave the cell phone in the car. Or in a briefcase or purse - turned off.
• If the cell phone rings, don't answer it. It's the quickest way to get escorted out the door. Apologize, turn it off, and move on quickly.
• Check the weather before leaving for the office. Better yet, keep a small umbrella in the car or office - just in case.

And one extra tidbit: Put a professional message on the cell phone voicemail. Nothing is more annoying than listening to the new Radiohead song before leaving a message.

Photo by: Cayusa