When you are first looking for a job, any job, you will apply to recruitment agencies, respond to ads in the paper or put up in shop windows, and rely on word of mouth to hear about suitable opportunities. However, as you grow and learn valuable skills, this all-embracing anything-goes job hunt falls away in favour of a slower, more discerning job hunt, fairly often for the types of positions that are never really advertised. But these jobs exist and fall vacant from time to time – how can you make sure you are on the radar of the people who will be looking to fill them? Let us take a look.
Search the Net
In today’s world, the internet is involved in almost every possible process, from paying bills to entertainment, and work is no different. Social media sites, especially the professional work-based LinkedIn, are ideal for quickly finding many connections in your industry. Search using your preferred career as a search term – with other keywords to reduce the number of hit, and hunt through the results to find recruiters and headhunters working in your field. Follow them on Twitter, sign up for mailing lists and even register yourself as a potential candidate to give yourself the best chance of being seen the next time they are looking to fill your dream position.
Chat to HR
Ask your current work’s HR who they would use to find personnel. Depending on the formality of your workplace, this may or may not be feasible, but you should be able to strike up a conversation, perhaps about a mythical classmate from your uni days, who is looking for a change and can they suggest a headhunting or recruiting agency. Most people are happy to talk about their work, and you might end up with some useful suggestions, such as using Eagle Headhunters, to take to your hypothetical friend. Obviously, play this one by ear and do not put your current position in jeopardy by letting them know you are looking elsewhere before you have another position to go to.
Ask Colleagues
Your colleagues are another useful source of information. You could engineer the conversation to how you heard about your position and ask how they found their jobs. If you get the conversational tone right, your colleagues will be happy to pass on details of their preferred headhunting agency and whether they were pursued by the company or if they pursued their dream job by themselves. Once again, you can use the hypothetical friend who is looking for work in your field, and do be wary of the office sneak who might easily be able to spot a leading question and jump to an unfortunately accurate conclusion, tattling on you to management and HR!
A final and very simple and honest way to find the top headhunter in your industry is to call as many agencies as you can find and ask them who specialises in your industry! If agencies cover your field they will invite you in for a chat, and if they do not work in your field they will be happy to let you know who does. After all, it does not cost them any work and it builds some goodwill with the other agency for the future.
Disclaimer: This article was written by a guest author.