It is now accepted and normal practice to use the services of a recruitment consultancy to help you with your job search. This is because keeping your career on track is a full time job in itself.

The role of the consultancy

By allowing professionals to handle your job search you can use your energy and time in doing your current job to the best of your ability.

A good recruitment consultancy knows the relevant marketplace well and can quickly assess your skills and match your aspirations to available opportunities. The services of a recruitment consultancy should be fast, effective and efficient. The relationship you have with your consultancy is a vital key in your future success and there are ways to make the relationship work for you.

How do you get off to the right start?

It simply doesn’t happen, does it? Recruitment agencies never advertise glamorous-sounding jobs that don’t actually exist just to top up their files with quality CVs, do they?

A consultancy would never offer applicants less attractive ‘real’ appointments instead, to make a fast buck. Deception simply doesn’t exist in the profession. Does it?

Let’s suppose for a moment that it does. That some unscrupulous agency saw fit to stray from the path of professionalism and ran a ‘phantom’ appointment ad. What would the legal consequences be?

The Advertising Standards Authority regulations are there to prevent anything ‘misleading’ appearing in a recruitment advertisement. For a start, the rules of confidentiality would be broken. Candidates who submit personal information to an agency marked ‘confidential’ do so on the strict understanding that the person on the receiving end will both respect their confidentiality and also be aware of, and uphold, the Data Protection Act.

With so many recruiters to choose from, it is vital that you consider your options carefully before making your choice. Fortunately, the most effective recruiters are easily identifiable by the distinctive features and benefits they offer.

Specialists

You should select an experienced recruiter who specializes in your designated field and who has an extensive and well-established network of client companies. A recruiter who appreciates your unique requirements and who is conversant with those of corresponding employers will be ideally placed to find you the right job and guide you through the process of securing it.

Company Information

The best recruiters will be able to provide you with valuable information about the company and the specific position you want, for example, the salary and benefits package on offer; the working environment; the company ethos; and the management’s personal preferences. They also know which companies are best to work for and which are best avoided.

Before you begin to market yourself successfully with potential employers, it is essential that you have a clear understanding of the product you are selling - YOU

Only then can you prepare an effective marketing strategy that will sell your job skills and abilities for your targeted position. This means accurately identifying your marketable skills and those sectors of the market to which they add most value.

Your marketing strategy will be most effective if it is targeted and focused toward a particular job market i.e. Computer Programmer, Sales Representative etc.

It is essential, therefore, that you first conduct a detailed assessment of your professional skills, personal strengths and past achievements in order to focus on a particular job market in which these are required.

The Aim of skills Assessment

Skills Assessment is a means of defining your strengths and weaknesses. It will help you:

Far too many jobseekers fail to truly make use of the numerous services recruitment consultants have to offer. There are a number of reasons why job applicants are attracted to a recruitment agency in the first place when looking for a new job, rather than going directly to employers or responding to adds in the press.

The right agency is not just there for placing the candidate in a job, but should also act as a career advisor, and a guide in matters such as salary expectations, promotional opportunities and the companies to watch out for in a particular market.

When job offers do come in, the recruitment consultant should be part of the negotiating process, ensuring that candidates not only get the role they want, but also the full package that they deserve; salary, benefits, share options, etc.
Recruitment consultants are supposed to be experts in their area and therefore job seekers should take advantage of this. The following are some hints for candidates on how to get the best out of recruitment consultants by building a relationship with them.

Once upon a time, head hunters were no more than common cannibals. Some people still view them that way, but executive recruiters are a vital link in a chain that keeps major enterprises functioning well.

The top positions at any organization dictate the fortunes of the company, the shareholders and the employees … and often the communities in which they are located. A good executive head hunter can ensure that new company executives have the skills required for the position and the challenges ahead. He can also ensure that the right executive is chosen, one whose style will flourish in the specific environment of that company.

However, modern executive recruiters face challenges to be effective. I caught up with Esther Barzel, co-owner of The Online Recruiter Directory.

Q: What are the main challenges of executive head hunters in today’s business climate?

5 tips to win over an executive head hunter or management recruiter
By David Leonhardt

Many job seekers find themselves overwhelmed with dread at the prospect of hunting down a new career position on their own. That’s why many people hope to hang their hats on the experience and connections of executive head hunters to do their hunting for them in their ongoing (never-ending?) quest for the ultimate trophy career.

In order to convince a reliable executive head hunter, a job seeker has to plan his attack. A well connected executive recruiter will not take on just any person in a suit. You have to build a solid foundation well in advance of making contact.

Just as you need hunting gear and supplies, to track down a deer or a moose, so, too, you need to be prepared to track down an executive recruiter. Here are five tips to successfully capture the prize – the services of an executive recruiter.

We had this article added recently and although its written from the recruiters point of view theres still some useful information within this article if you flip the content on its head. i.e. If you know where recruiters will be looking for tallented people you know where to make sure you get noticed.

Six Easy Search Tips to Get the Cream of the Crop

By David Leonhardt

An independent recruiter, recruiting agency or executive search firm is charged with tracking down excellent potential candidates for available job positions. Despite the fact that there are innumerable people seeking positions of employment in the 21st century, it often seems to a typical recruiting agency that qualified men and women are few and far between.

Here are six easy tips that recruiting services, staffing firms, or executive search firms should keep in mind when on the hunt for outstanding potential job candidates in the 21st century.