This article reveals some secrets headhunters won’t share with you. By revealing and understanding these secrets, you can refine your job search tactics. Furthermore, you will avoid common mistakes that prevent job seekers from receiving headhunters’ attention.
Why should you know the secrets headhunters won’t share with you?
We have been in this business for ages and we believe that our life will be much better if job seekers know these secrets. In fact, we spend most of our time telling job seekers about things we do not do, instead of focusing on what we should do. Besides, job seekers are frequently frustrated and angry due to what they perceive as lack of customer service by headhunters. Before you proceed to read this article you should know that the customers for headhunters are the employers, not the job seekers.
What a Headhunter Actually Does
Firms hire headhunters to identify talents and to locate professionals who meet specific job requirements. Naturally, as headhunters charge employers fees on their services, they are expected to meet the employers’ best interest. In other words, headhunters do not work for job seekers but for employers.
The Biggest Mistake Jobseekers Make While Approaching Headhunters
First of all, jobseekers should not, under any circumstances, initiate the contact with headhunters. To be precise, you should always wait for headhunters to find you and approach you. If you find the above statement hard to swallow, try reaching out to a headhunter and tell them that you are looking for a job. Then, observe their reaction and register the outcome.
Headhunters are always on the hunt for persons with skills, experience, talents and potentials. They have what it takes to find you if you have what they are looking for. However, when you make the first move and reveal your availability, they seem, most of the time, uninterested. Hence, this is the number one secret headhunters won’t share with you!
What Happens When You Approach a Headhunter Directly?
There is a slim chance that the headhunter is looking for a caliber similar to yours. However, this happens rarely. In most cases, the most classical response you would get is: send us your CV and we will see what we can do for you. Obviously, by experience, you know where your CV will land.
But, I’m in Desperate Need for a Job….
Time to reveal the second secret headhunters won’t share with you. Neither headhunters nor anybody on earth likes to dealt with desperate people. This is the harsh truth that you have to accept. Despite what persons with good intentions try to promote about helping those in need, headhunters work for the interest of their clients. As a matter of fact, it is totally ethical and logical to seek your clients’ best interest.
So, never ever approach a headhunter to reveal your objective to find a job. Nor should you attempt to explain your motives behind that such as to feed your family or clear your debt. Unsurprisingly, everyone on this planet has the exact same goal.
Do not just haphazardly spin your CV around and through a copy of your CV at every headhunter out there. It seldom works and it annoys the hell out of headhunters.
What should I do then?!
The answer is simple; keep yourself within headhunters’ eyesight and wait for them to knock on your door. If they have a job that suits you, they will not hesitate to call you up. Here are some simple steps on how to do that:
- If you are on LinkedIn, polish and refine your profile to reveal your true capabilities
- When registering on job portals make some efforts while writing your CV and completing your profile
- When responding to vacancy ads, apply to the positions that matches your profile at least 60%
- If you hear of a job opening that suits you contact the headhunter and inquire on how to apply. This is the only time you can initiate contact with the headhunter.
Another secret headhunters won’t tell you
Headhunters really hate it when job seekers click “apply to this job” button they come across. Frankly, it never clicks. It puts an extra burden on them as well as yourself. Also, it signals to them that you are “desperate” or, even worse, not serious. Sometimes, you might be eliminated from any future opening that you might be fit for.
What else drives headhunters crazy?
Many headhunters do not have a proper job board and rather acquire and sort applications manually. By default, they get annoyed when you call them to say that you are looking for a job. You know what annoys them more? It is when they say they do not have anything for you at the moment and you say: keep my CV and consider for future openings. Unless, the headhunter uses a full-fledged job board they find it difficult to keep track of piles and piles of incoming resumes. They would rather post a fresh job ad for every new vacancy instead of digging through their existing database.
Remember who is paying. The employer pays the headhunter to get you across the line. The more professional head-hunter is making sure you’re the right fit and will answer all your questions. But there is still a lot of money at stake for the head-hunter. So that has to cloud any true objectivity. The fees they charge the client are enormous.
Now, after knowing the secrets headhunters won’t share with you, are you ready to modify your job search strategy?
