Five Things Recruiters Can Teach Job Seekers

By Lucy Harper

Savvy job seekers know that being on top of their game means being informed, interested and ready to present themselves as the best possible candidate for a company’s open position. How do they know this? Oftentimes, they learn it from recruiters. Increased use of social media and internet searches as part of the hiring and job-seeking process have made people on both sides of the recruiting desk more savvy than ever. In addition to helping candidates find the right position and companies find the right candidate, recruitment marketing also helps some job seekers learn how to get better at interviewing and landing the perfect job. Read on to learn about five things recruiters can (and should) teach job seekers that benefit everyone involved.
 

What Job Seekers Learn from Recruiters
 

1. Concise Communication. Recruiters are able to do their jobs best when they have the information they need to present a candidate to a company. Have you ever had a candidate you knew would be fantastic, but couldn’t present them due to a lack of information? Concise communication – the art of knowing what to say, what not to say and how to say things – can make all the difference between snagging the position and falling to the bottom of the resume file.
    
2. Positioning. The mere utterance of the word “positioning” can draw sighs of relief or eye rolls and shoulder shrugs from every recruiter. No one wants to work with or hire a candidate with a reputation of being difficult, especially when they’re the one pointing it out. Recruiters are in a prime spot to teach job seekers how to position themselves as a team player, forward-thinker or creative whiz, as desired by the hiring company.
    
3. Better Research. Isn’t it wonderful when you speak with a candidate who’s clearly done their homework on the companies they’re interested in or that you’ve presented to them? With the availability of information on the internet and through social media, there’s really no excuse for candidates to not be able to research. Yet promoting this concept is still a smart thing to do.
    
4. Proper Correspondence. Sometimes the tiniest details, or what’s perceived as a tiny detail, can make all the difference in being hired or not. Some of the most important details job seekers can learn from recruiters relate to correspondence etiquette. Candidates should have an email address that’s close to their name, rather than something cutesy or funny. Additionally, text correspondence should never be initiated by the candidate since it comes across as personal. But a written, emailed or faxed thank you note following an interview can be viewed in a positive light. Proper correspondence might be something that you take for granted as a recruiter, but the candidate might be unaware.
    
5. Effective Social Media Use. In today’s job search, smart use of social media can position a candidate to his or her advantage. Encourage candidates to have a complete LinkedIn profile with a professional photo. Facebook, Twitter and any other social media venues should be used with career in mind. As social media grows larger over the coming years, this will be a topic that recruiters and candidates need to discuss more often. Ultimately, a proactive, professional approach to social media use serves the candidate best when it comes to seeking a job.

A Reciprocal Relationship

As a recruiter, you might be wondering why it’s such a big deal that job seekers are learning from your recruiter marketing techniques. The answer is simple: a smarter, savvier job seeker will make the job of placing them much easier for you. Share with current and potential candidates through informative blog posts. Lead them to useful articles or websites with Twitter. As you communicate and network with companies and other recruiters, use what you learn to help job seekers become the best they can be. In the end, you’ll win as much as they do.

Lucy Harper is an experienced blogger passionate about social media and digital communications; she is part of the writing team at Touchpoint Digital, a specialist media and advertising agency.

Photo credit: Victor1558 / Foter / CC BY