According to a December 2009 survey from ExecuNet, a networking organization for recruiters and executives, 54 percent of executive recruiters expect a 19 percent rise in executive-search assignments during the first half of 2010. This is great news for executives in the midst of a job search.
However, this doesn’t mean that you don’t need to do any work. You need to take an active approach, doing everything you can to get recruited. How, you ask? Here are some great ways to get started.
Make Sure Your Resume is Stellar
Your first objective is to ensure that your resume is perfect – no typos, no grammatical errors or misspelled words. But even more, you want to make sure that your resume tells the story you want to tell. You want to show that you know how to bring in revenue for a company, that you can and have managed numerous workers and initiatives, and that you have brought in results that have propelled previous companies in new directions.
Brand Yourself Online
What’s the fastest way to run into a recruiter? Aside from having a lucky moment at a social function, your best bet is to be seen online. Recruiting online is very popular nowadays because it’s so comfortable for the recruiters. They don’t have to leave the office and can find out virtually everything they want to know about a potential candidate – that is, if you’ve posted it all on the Internet.
If you have yet to do this then now’s the time. Begin a blog, and update it regularly. Set up a profile on Linked In (a popular business networking website). Write guest blogs for any websites that will allow you to do so. Make sure your name is associated with your industry. Bottom line: branding yourself online is a major way to get noticed by recruiters.
Get Out and Socialize
Now that you know the fastest way to run into a recruiter nowadays, let’s look at the second: networking. Yes, face-to-face networking is the age-old format for getting your next job lead – and it’s still important. You may not actually meet a job recruiter at a social function, but you could very well run into someone that knows a recruiter that’s looking to hire.
Or better yet, you may run into the CEO of a company himself. Is there anything better than meeting the person in charge of all of a company’s major decisions?
Make Yourself Available
If you do find that a recruiter is tracking you down, it’s important to make yourself available. Get into the habit of checking your voicemail and email frequently, and answer your phone whenever you can. There are plenty of other candidates out there for the recruiters to connect with, so the last thing you want is to get passed over if one reaches out to you.
Since executive-level hiring is on the increase, this is the time to get out there and get yourself noticed. The more aggressive you are during your job search (branding yourself, networking on and offline and making yourself available), the greater your chances will be of getting your foot in the door of a great company that you can make history with.
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