The biggest cause of placements going wrong, is people making assumptions.

Placing a candidate starts with building a relationship with that candidate and establishing ‘terms of engagement’, if you like. Usually, it is essential to develop a rapport and a tight co-operation to ensure the right match is made.

From a candidate point of view, working with a recruiter to find a new role should be painless. In fact it should make the process much smoother overall!

A good recruiter will coach candidates on how to extract the full value that a recruiter can offer.  This quick video is designed to help candidates do just that, but it is also a primer for recruiters on how to work with talent. Indeed if you wish to show this to every new person you interview… it can only help!

Watch video on YouTube

Be prepared. Not only the obvious things like résumé and references, but also prepare your thinking. What type of role is ideal? Who have you approached already? What are the three things you must have in your new role? What specific examples of your success can you point to? What challenges have you overcome? And prepare your questions too. Don’t leave your recruiter interview thinking, “I wish I had thought to ask that!”

Be transparent: Don’t inflate your achievements. Don’t say what you think the recruiter wants to hear. Be honest about your aspirations and your salary expectations. And make sure you share openly your real reasons you want to move jobs. The recruiter is your ally, your representative in a competitive field. And the recruiter needs accurate data to ensure you get noticed.

Be yourself. A good job match includes of course an accurate “cultural fit”. Your recruiter needs to know the ‘real you’. Then she can make the perfect match. So avoid pretending to be what you are not. Sure, it’s an interview, so put your best foot forward, but let the real YOU shine too.

Note for North American readers. I believe the "candidate model" works differently in NA to what we are used to in the UK or Australia, for example. In NA you mostly identify, headhunt and approach talent to refer for specific roles. In other parts of the world, the candidate often approaches the recruiter, and the recruiter "manages"  their job search. This video has value for all cases I feel, but is possibly more relevant for the "outside US" model.

*******************************************************************************************************

Subscribe to The Savage Truth and ‘Like” our Facebook page to enure you get your recruiting brain-food fix.