Blogs - Margo Mclay

Margo's Tips for Dating a Recruiter

If you are approached by a recruiter, take it as a compliment! Take the time to build relationships with them just by returning their phone calls. Remember, you can turn that phone call into political capital for yourself down the road.

As a busy professional, we realise it can be tough to return phone calls from recruiters and spend time building that network because you're so bogged down with so many activities. But many more candidates have admitted me down the track, “I wish I had developed my network."

And conversely, before you call a recruiter, think about what you can offer them besides yourself as a candidate for a position. You can come to the conversation with an offer of some value other than your personal resume. For example, open up your personal network to the recruiter.

Ask the recruiter what searches they're working on and give them a few names of people in your personal network that might be a good fit. We love to hear from people who understand and look for a win-win, who go into the conversation thinking: "Not only do I want you to help me, but I'm going to help you."

One other thing: Always tell a recruiter you're working with where you're at in your job search - what other opportunities you're working on or considering. A tough way to begin a relationship with a recruiter is if they believe you're only so far along in the process of looking for a job and they're pushing you for an opportunity when suddenly you accept a different job offer.

Recruiters have long memories! It's best to be completely open with them. You'll use a recruiter more than once in your career and you want to make sure that relationship is more long term than short term.

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