By Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter
In this video, we look at some ways to evaluate the recruiters and headhunters you’ll run into during a search.
How to Know If Your Company is Planning Layoffs
Many people approach the job search like a game of chance. You hand your resume to a recruiter, wait for them to pull you up, and hope they don’t drop you back into the pile before you ever reach a hiring manager. Most of the time, you’re dealing with a basic screener.
These are recruiters who work off a rigid mental checklist, hunting for square pegs to jam into square holes without ever looking at the person behind the credentials. Relying on a fast-talking, desperate resume pusher is a liability. Their priority is a quick commission, and if the fit is wrong, your career is the one that pays for it six months later.
We need a better way to vet the person representing you. We can evaluate a recruiter’s effectiveness by looking at three specific traits—their character, their curiosity, and their technical competence. Ultimately, your career trajectory is directly linked to the caliber of the gatekeeper you choose to trust.
High-level headhunters project a calm, honest demeanor. They don’t sound desperate to fill a role, and they don’t treat your background like a sales pitch. They respect your time by being direct and concise.
You’ll notice they listen more than they talk, refusing to exaggerate about a client or play games with the details of a position. You can also spot a professional by the way they investigate you. While an amateur just wants a PDF resume, a pro will interview you extensively to understand how you actually move the needle for organizations.
They look for what the resume leaves out. They ask about your organizational impact, your influence on peers, and professional objectives you care about. If they don’t know something, they’ll say so
A good recruiter won’t make up answers—they’ll get answers for you. This level of investigation is the only way for them to determine if a role is actually a durable match for your skills and interests. Then there is the matter of competence.
A professional headhunter manages your expectations with a deep understanding of the current market. They walk you through the specific mechanics of the search. You should know exactly what to expect from the phone screens, the video calls, and the final in-person interviews before the first meeting even starts.
They also don’t apologize for the miss. If your background doesn’t fit with the client needs, a pro will tell you bluntly. They’ll point to the specific gap in experience that makes this particular role the wrong move.
Consider the final litmus test. Could this person write a detailed, highly targeted executive brief about you based on just one conversation? Competence is the ability to synthesize your raw history into a clear market asset that a hiring manager can actually use. While you’re vetting the recruiter, remember that the mirror works both ways.
The most elite headhunters are simultaneously evaluating you. Even the best recruiter cannot help a candidate who refuses to put in the effort. If you aren’t willing to reveal your personality, no amount of advocacy will land the job.
Many job hunters want a mommy or daddy recruiter to deliver a new career without doing any heavy lifting themselves. They recycle old resumes and hide their real selves, then complain when the process fails. To have a top-tier headhunter represent you, you have to be a high-effort partner.
You have to be transparent about your goals and your gaps. For more job search advice, books, and coaching, head over to jobsearch.community. Jeff Altman has more than 2,600 episodes of job search insights to help make this process much easier for you. A successful search requires both a world-class advocate and a candidate who is actually worthy of that advocacy.
The First Things to Do If You Are Laid Off
ABOUT JEFF ALTMAN, THE BIG GAME HUNTER
Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter is a coach who worked as a recruiter for what seems like one hundred years. He is hired to provide No BS Career Advice globally. That can involve job search, hiring staff, management, leadership, career transition and advice about resolving workplace issues. Schedule a discovery call at my website, www.TheBigGameHunter.us
He is the host of “No BS Job Search Advice Radio,” the #1 podcast in iTunes for job search with over 3000 episodes.
Website: www.TheBigGameHunter.us (schedule a paid coaching session, a free discovery call, or ask questions using my Trusted Adviser Services)
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/TheBigGameHunter
Courses: www.TheBigGameHunter.us/courses
Podcast episodes of No BS Job Search Advice Radio: Spotify
Twitter: http://twitter.com/jeffaltmancoach
Resume & LinkedIn Profile critiques www.TheBigGameHunter.us/critiques
How to Get More Interviews: Submit a Video with Your Resume
We grant permission for this post and others to be used on your website as long as a backlink is included to www.TheBigGameHunter.us and notice is provided that it is provided by Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter as an author or creator.
