To be found by the Personnel Consultant? Tips & tricks from the field

The desire for a career change is growing, a fresh environment, a new opportunity with corresponding potential and recognition sound tempting, and at the same time the pressure of discontent is not (yet) great enough for an active resignation. In other words, you would - regardless of an active application - at least take a look at an exciting open position.

The subject of a shortage of applicants on the job market is hard to ignore in the media. And an acquaintance or another colleague has even been contacted directly by a recruiter. That would be something! But how can I achieve that? How can I be discovered at all?

How does the "headhunter" work?

So what does it look like "on the other side", with the personnel consultant? How does the "headhunter" work when addressing good candidates?

We are happy to open our treasure chest a little and share a few tips with you. What sounds so tempting from the candidate's point of view is part of daily business from the HR consultant's point of view. Since there are often not enough suitable candidates to fill many positions, a so-called direct search, also called sourcing, is started. This means that the consultant specifically searches for potential candidates - for example, in professional social networks. And then you may receive a message in your mailbox or the phone may ring.

Interest at first sight

It doesn't have to be love, but what counts for us consultants is whether your profile can arouse our interest in just a few seconds.

We recruiters are only human, and we develop an eye for certain talents over time. This characteristic has not yet been taken over by a machine. What makes it so challenging is that in the direct approach we only have this one initial picture, reference to a few professional stations and possibly a short profile description. You have to decide in the first few moments: Does this person fit our requirements profile or not?  

So, what does it take to be found?

First and foremost, keep your resume (CV) and social media profiles up to date as it's the only way to get found faster. List from when to when you were in a position and be sure to update your position title right away as your history changes. If you're going to go to the trouble, and it's not always easy, to create a personal page like this, it should at least be complete and consistent with all your other profiles.

Compress the professional stages and evaluate what you need for your professional future. It is not always true that "the more the merrier", so weigh what is relevant, meaningful, and purposeful. Of course, it depends on whether you are a young professional or fresh out of university, in which case various summer internships will show your commitment, but if you already have a few stations on your resume, then you should focus on the relevant experiences.

What else can I do to be seen?

Use the opportunities offered by the platforms to indicate your professional interests, language skills and qualifications, for example, because this is the first important cornerstone for us consultants. Feel free to add private hobbies so that we can get a multi-faceted picture of you.

We also work with keywords, and the more applicable keywords you include in your profile, the more likely you are to appear in our search. Furthermore, you should use the offered functions such as #opentowork #openforoffers in the profile or even on the profile picture. Here again, keep the profile up to date and check your page and inbox again and again. Yes, there may be nothing happening for a long time, but then that one request comes along that could change your professional life, but you just haven't visited your profile in a while and a new professional challenge may have been lost as a result.  

There is also a clear rule for the profile picture: it is your profile with your professional experiences/interests/educations, therefore the profile picture should only depict you. Make sure your picture is of high quality, not pixelated, blurry or even in such a way that you can hardly be recognized because you are standing on the top of the Großglockner mountain. The temptation to make a bit of an impression with your profile picture may be great, but keep it simple and professional, at least on professional platforms.

A few more tips

Some platforms offer premium accounts that give you more features and better visibility. Some of these can be used for free for a few weeks or months and only then turn into a paid membership.  So should you be looking for a new challenge right now, a premium trial membership is definitely a "nice-to-have".

Network, cultivate your contacts and like/share reputable articles etc. See and be seen, that's the motto. Recruiters also work this way, because they look at company profiles, contacts, groups, click through and then maybe land exactly on your profile.

Last, and independent of social media: even a initiative application increases your visibility with us, because we can then find you directly in the database, even if you are not actively looking.

Well then, good luck and maybe see you soon!

 

Kimberley Tennant, Guest Author
Guest Author

Try not to be a successful person, but a valuable person.