By Joey V. Price
Recently I participated on a panel of recruiters at a community job fair in the Washington DC metro area. One of the highlights of the night was a series of questions aimed at all of the job seekers in the room entitled “What Will the ‘Recruiter’ do?” The scenarios were ones that were all too common to us recruiters and HR professionals but the ironic thing was that some of the candidates had a few misconceptions on things we panelist came to a quick consensus about.
I’d like to share some of the scenarios presented, followed by the consensus opinion from the group and my advice in each situation.
1. What happens when my resume fails to show how my background specifically relates to a job requirement? What will the “Recruiter” do?
Next! Recruiters spend about fifteen seconds scanning resumes. What do we look for? Job fit. If you leave it up to a recruiter to extrapolate your experience and how it relates to the position, you will continuously find yourself on the outside looking in. Be sure that you have taken time to review the job description.
Do this: Carefully read job descriptions and be honest with your qualifications. Applying for positions that you do not qualify for will leave you habitually unemployed.
2. The “Recruiter” calls a candidate and their phone line rings busy, busy, busy, busy – they have no voicemail service and no answering machine, what will the “Recruiter” do?
More often than not, the recruiter is going to move to the next person. When there are candidates with similar qualifications it is a lot easier to justify passing on one candidate and chalking it up to an “unresponsive” candidate. The only time where a recruiter will play telephone tag with you is when present unique or enhanced skills that the recruiter is truly looking for or if the position needs to be filled as soon as possible and you are the best candidate of interest. Keep in mind that inactivity on your part can lead recruiters to believe you are no longer interested.
Do this: Create a voicemail recording with an upbeat voice and clear instructions on how you wish callers to leave their contact information. And by all means, please skip the Justin Bieber Ring Back tunes!
3. The “Recruiter” receives an email from someone with an address of SexySasha@mailbox.com, what will the “Recruiter” do?
First of all, we’d get a good laugh in with our buddies. In all seriousness, DO NOT send a resume to a recruiter from an email address that has too much… “character.” I encourage clients to make sure they send from an email address that clearly distinguishes their name and/or the position that they are applying for.
Do this: Create a separate email address just for applications and resumes. This not only helps you keep things organized but allows you to keep your personal and private life separate. If the email address listed on your resume matches your public Facebook or Twitter profile then you become searchable and that trip to Cancun now becomes exposed. A simple firstnamelastname@domain.com will suffice.
4. The “Recruiter” places an ad online or in the paper and specifically says “Please no calls about this position.” After you’ve submitted an application and gave it a few days or even weeks, you decide to call and “check the status of your application.” What will the “Recruiter” do?
I’ll give you a moment to answer. If your answer was “The recruiter will gladly drop everything that he or she was in the middle of to find your application and give you an update” then sadly, you are mistaken. More often than not, this can get you removed from consideration. Instructions are there for a reason. And think about it this way: if a recruiter wants to speak with you they will FIND you. While you may be anxious about the status of your application, you have to remember that there is a possibility that “S/he’s just not that into you.” It is the recruiter’s job to find the most qualified candidates for their company. If you do not receive a call just understand that perhaps your credentials were not presented in such a way to compel the recruiter to call. If you DO meet the qualifications for a job and do not get a phone call, try working with a career coach to help you pinpoint what might be holding you back. After all, we all need a little “push” at times.
Do this: Wait it out. It’s either going to happen or it isn’t. Not getting call backs? Focus on producing a more marketable product (resume) on the front end.
Joey V. Price is a Human Resources specialist, personal branding guru, and career search maven based in the Washington DC metro area. In 2010, Joey founded Push Consultant Group, LLC , a career search services firm focusing on resume, interview, and career search services. The purpose of Push is to provide direct and relevant job search knowledge straight from the best source for such information – an active Human Resources Professional. His Human Resources expertise has been featured in Inc. Magazine and Glassdoor.com. Joey’s passion for encouraging personal empowerment, analyzing organization development and culture, and embracing technology has led to goals of creating career workshops for college students and finding avant-garde ways to help job seekers find employment. To get in touch, follow him at @pushjobs on Twitter or send an email to info@pushconsultantgroup.com.
