As a recruiter, I can tell you that what I’m about to mention can not only help you get more and better job opportunities to consider, but can also of course lead to more job offers to consider.
Here are some traits that I love seeing in job searchers that I’m dealing with:
They have a great personality: Granted, not everyone is chatty and not everyone has the same personality but I love dealing with people who are happy to speak with me and show enthusiasm. I’m always worried when I speak with people who are monotone and sound uninterested when speaking with me because chances are they’ll act the same way in an interview and that’s not good.
They value my time: And as a result I value theirs, too. I hate when I’ve helped someone find a suitable job opportunity with a client, they apply for it, I help them prepare for interviews and then they go into the interview and do something stupid like show up late or arrive unprepared. Then when I tell them they aren’t getting invited back for a second interview or aren’t getting a job offer, their reaction isn’t one of disappointment and they don’t apologize for being late or not being prepared but instead basically say “well, go find me another job to apply for” as if I’m going to drop what I’m doing and go through this time-wasting process with them again.
They answer the questions without me having to ask: I love when I get an email from a person looking for a job and in the email they tell me why they want to leave their current position, the money they’re looking for, the locations they’ll consider working in and the type(s) of position they want. I like dealing with organized people who know what they want and tell me up front what they want.
They know what companies they’ve already applied to: I hate running a job past someone and being told by the person that they’ve never applied to the company before but within minutes of emailing the person’s resume over to the hiring manager, having the hiring manager tell me that they got this person’s resume the previous week from another recruiter or that the person applied directly themselves. Some job searchers are very unorganized and some are just bad liars. Upon being told that a company already has their resume, the bad liars usually (unconvincingly) tell me that they can’t remember applying to the company or they admit that they did apply but because they didn’t hear back from the company, they figured it would be ok if I sent their resume over, too.
They only enquire about jobs they are qualified for: Too many people apply for jobs that they aren’t qualified for. You can quickly eliminate yourself from a recruiter’s good books by constantly calling and/or emailing them regarding jobs that you aren’t qualified for. The good job candidates are ones who recognize that they aren’t qualified for a job – sometimes I need them to tell me if they have enough of certain skills to apply for a particular job – and the best job candidates are ones who recognize that they aren’t qualified for a job…and then they refer me to someone who is. Which leads us to the last point…
If I help them, they help me: The recruitment business is about relationships and meeting new people and there is nothing better you can do for a good recruiter than help them when they’ve helped you. Referring a good recruiter to friends and other people you know – whether they’re currently searching for a new job or not, whether they’re currently hiring staff or not – is the best thing you can do for a recruiter. Anytime you can give a recruiter a few names of people you know is a good thing. When I help someone find a job and ask them for a few referrals, when they tell me they’ll give me a few and never do, that leaves a bad taste in my mouth. When I help someone, I like when they at least try to return the favor.
