How to reduce your idle time during the job hunt, you know the period between starting the job search and actually landing your dream job offer. The key is knowledge, being an informed party in the recruitment cycle.

Let's forget recruitment for a second, as consumers most of us are already savvy individuals, just think back to when you last booked a hotel, or when you decided what gadgets to buy, a majority of us will browse for reviews before making that crucial decision. Recent report by the Competition & Markets Authority 2015 also supports this assumption, stating that 54% of the UK adult will read reviews before making a decision.

The motivation behind this relatively new concept of review-checking-before-acting is to avoid disappointment! As consumers we want to make sure the reality and our expectation are somewhat similar. I certainly want to avoid the hotel experience I had in Iceland where the hotel looked amazing on paper but the reality was far from amazing!

Shouldn't we bring this level of savviness into our approach towards job hunting, especially when the dream job hunt is going through a third party, i.e. a recruiter? After all this agency will be tasked to representing you to an array of companies, wouldn't you want to know how they performed with previous candidates?

Since launching Recfluence in January 2016, I have heard many grievances from candidates, with the number one complaint being “time wasted”. It seems that many candidates are being asked by recruiters to update their CV to fit the client's job description (which can take a few hours), but many candidates seem to never hear back again after sending their updated CV.

I understand your (you, the reader) time is precious so I will conclude on this quote, “time spent in reconnaissance is seldom wasted”. The trick to reducing your idle time during job hunt is by being informed of the recruiter you will work with; check their background to make sure you are happy with their performances before investing your time with them. Where can I check recruiter reviews I hear you ask? Well as part of the Recfluence team, I am duty bound to say Recfluence.com, however Glassdoors is also a good platform for carrying out due diligence on recruitment agencies.

Happy hunting!