Creative Ways to Get Noticed by Recruiters

When you are applying to jobs it can seem as if there isn’t a real person reading your application and you may never hear back from the companies. From the Recruiters standpoint, they may receive hundreds of resumes a day and your resume may just get lost in the shuffle. To feel more in control of the process and get in touch with a real person, this will require some creativity from you as the job applicant to get noticed. Below are a few ways to ensure you talk to a real person and get your resume to the correct person when looking for a new opportunity.

1. LinkedIn is Your New Best Friend

When you post a position as a Recruiter, you have the option to attach your personal LinkedIn profile to the job post or not. If you look at a job post, you will see the Recruiter’s profile is oftentimes linked to the LinkedIn job post below the job description. Go ahead and apply to the position first and then add the Recruiter as a contact. Once the Recruiter has accepted your connection, send them a message to the Recruiter and let them know that you applied to the job and attach your resume to make it easier for them. This extra step will show great initiative and the Recruiter can learn a little bit more about you by viewing your LinkedIn profile.

Getting noticed by Recruiters in the hiring process is all about taking that extra step to go above-any-beyond what every day “one-click apply” candidates typically do. If the Recruiter doesn’t attach their LinkedIn profile to the job posting this could be because they do not want hundreds of people messaging them about the job. You can still search for the company and people that work there with specific job titles and message the current employee to alert them that you have applied to the position at their company. Just because they don’t want hundreds of people messaging them, does not mean that a lot of applicants are going to take that extra step to reach out to the company first. Most Recruiters are going to look at your LinkedIn anyways, so might as well save them a lot of time searching through your resume and take some of the leg work out of the process.

2. Pick Up the Phone and Call

Oftentimes, companies will have their contact information on the website or you can search by department. If not, you can still call the receptionist and ask for the person in charge of recruiting and get transferred. Just let the Recruiter know that you applied to the job and ask if there is anything you can do to make the process easier for them. If this conversation goes well, ask when they are free to schedule a phone call to go over the position. In a way, when you are applying to jobs, it is really about selling yourself, and in sales, you want to ask questions that you already know the answer to. The Recruiter will hopefully reach out to you to set-up a time to talk, and you just saved them a lot of hassle by calling them first.

In this day-and-age, we can become highly dependent on technology and can forget the importance of making a personal connection. Recruiters are very comfortable talking on the phone and will not feel uncomfortable if you “cold call” them. Once again, they will probably see this as a good thing because you took the initiative to move the process forward without them having to do much. Especially if you are applying to a Sales position, taking this extra step will show the company that you are very comfortable with cold calling customers and starting a conversation with someone that you have never talked to before.

3. Mass Applying to Jobs

On the topic of mass applying to a position, it can be tempting to one-click apply to a variety of jobs in one day online, but if you are going to do this it is a good idea to keep track of the companies and positions that you applied to. A Recruiter might call you out of the blue to ask you why you applied to a particular job without telling you what the job title is and you will have to be prepared to answer these questions. If you apply to 20 positions a day and do not keep track of them all, then you might blank when the Recruiter calls you and it will be obvious that you are just applying to every job with a certain job title. Recruiters know that applicants are applying to many other companies, but at the same time, in order to be a memorable candidate, you want to make every company feel as if they are the only one you applied to. 

Now you are probably thinking that you could just send them to your voicemail, research the company, look over the job description, and call them back, but depending on the organization, they probably have already moved onto the next candidate and are setting up an interview with them. Recruiters know when you are just rehearsing answers that you have already given in other interviews, and even though many companies will ask the same question, it is important to do your research and cater your answer to each individual job description. Most likely, the Recruiter is going to ask you why you applied to XYZ position/company and if you have a rehearsed answer or one that is not very specific, this is going to look like you did not care enough to spend five minutes reading over the job description and company website.

4. Attend Networking Events

We have all heard it a million times that many people get a job is through their connections and who they know. This can be true for the most part, but it is also important to think about how to network in more of a tactful way. Myself included, and a lot of other Recruiters will attend networking events to look for their next great candidate. One great place to do this is either through the Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM) or your local Chamber of Commerce events. Since many Recruiters are in the Human Resources department, these meetings can be a great way to get in front of key decision-makers in these departments.

You do not have to be in the Human Resources field or have a membership to the organization to attend these events. Typically, the meeting will start with everyone going around to say what they do and who they work for. As a candidate, you can say that you are looking for your next great opportunity in XYZ field and came to the meeting to network with Hiring Managers. Often times you can even get a free ticket if you come as someone’s guest. Reach out to people in the Human Resources field on LinkedIn in your area, build a relationship, and see if you can attend a meeting with them as their guest. You can also lookup other networking events for Recruiters and meetings on topics relating to hiring in your area. From the candidate’s perspective, you might even feel that you connect with one company over another one more if you are able to meet them in person and ask them questions about what it is like to work there. Bring your business cards with you and have a QR code on the back that links to your LinkedIn page or resume download.    

For Recruiters, it can become very tedious to look through applications on job boards and message candidates on LinkedIn. For the candidates, it can be frustrating when you never hear back from a company. These are just a few tips that you as a candidate can do to make the job search process into your own hands and have some control over your situation. With so many jobs available right now, it is important to come up with creative ways to apply to jobs and get your resume in front of the right people. Sitting in front of a computer and applying to jobs often times does not give you a good sense for what it is like to work for a particular company, but if you are able to meet Hiring Managers and Recruiters in-person, you might be able to get a better feel for what it would be like to work at a particular company. What creative tips do you use to get Recruiter’s attention?

4 Ways to Empower Your Job Application

With unemployment being so low right now, Recruiters are doing just about anything possible to attract and keep high performing individuals. At the same time, you don’t want to hire someone just to fill a spot. You want to hire someone who is going to last and help grow the business in whatever that means for the particular position. Regardless of where the market is standing, companies receive a lot of applications every day and they all start to look the same (and frankly boring) after a few. As a job applicant, you may be thinking that with unemployment being so low right now, that Recruiters need to sell you on the job.  

This is completely true and valid, but to get the Recruiter to want to call you and sell you on the position, they need to be impressed by your resume and what you bring to the table. Although I am new to the game, there are a few things that stick out to me that applicants do that get me excited to recruit them and sell them on a job.

There are so many little things that lead up o an interview and being able to score one can seem like a huge mountain to climb. But don’t despair, because there are a few steps you can take to ensure you score the interview and that you impress the recruiter. In order for us to sell you on a job, you need to first sell us on your skills and abilities.  

1. Put Metrics on Your Resume!!

I cannot express this enough. When you are talking about your day-to-day it is really helpful for a Recruiter to understand how you compare to the other applicants, so that we can base our hiring decisions on legally defensible decision making, rather than a popularity contest. If you are in a field where you required to meet quotas, such as sales, it is really helpful to put these quotas on your resume as well as by how much you (hopefully) exceeded your quotas, and your rankings within a team. 

It is great when people put that they were the top salesperson that year, but that doesn’t necessarily mean anything without some sort of evidence behind it. The recruiter also uses these numbers to understand if you will be able to meet the metrics and quotas that the hiring company has set forth. Most positions nowadays have some sort of metrics/quotas you are required to meet. For example, in Admin position you might know how many words per minute you can type, or how many phone calls you transfer a day. Even if your organization has some explicitly set out quotas that you need to meet, start keeping track of what you do every day, and the volume of those tasks you intake every day or every week.

2. An Accurate LinkedIn Presence

As good or bad as it may seem, we are in a day and age where technology is a big part of everything that we do. Before deciding to move forward with a candidate or not, many Recruiters will check out a candidate’s LinkedIn profile even if that’s not where they applied. If there are gaps in your resume, but you put this position on your LinkedIn, a Recruiter is automatically going to assume that you are hiding something. Check out my other article on why Recruiters are adept to assume the worst. 

On the flip side of that, if you are not active at all on LinkedIn, a Recruiter might assume that you do not have basic technology skills, or again that you are hiding something. It is a good idea to make sure that you are fairly active on LinkedIn and at least have all of your positions up-to-date. This helps Recruiters to visualize that you are a real person and not a robot. Unfortunately, robot and fake applications are a negative aspect of technology. If you are actively looking for a new opportunity, make sure you change that in your LinkedIn settings, so that Recruiters can find you when they do searches for qualified individuals. Your boss will not see that you are looking for an opportunity, and this lets Recruiters know you are seriously seeking a new opportunity and are passionate about making a career move.

3. Follow-up But Don’t Be Annoying

As someone in the professional world, you probably receive a lot of emails every day from people trying to sell you something. It is so annoying, right? Well, that is exactly how Recruiters feel when you call them every other day to check up on the status of your application. If the Recruiter, or person you interviewed with, says they will get back to you in 48 hours, you need to wait 48 hours before calling them. While we have already discussed why LinkedIn is a great tool, do no use it to message the Recruiters every day to check up on the status of your application.

In the same token, it is good to be persistent with your application. We look through so many applications a day and have so many unread messages on LinkedIn, that sometimes things can get lost in translation. If you have applied to a position on LinkedIn and haven’t heard from anyone for a week or so, this is a good time to reach out. If the Recruiter didn’t want you to talk to them, they wouldn’t indicate that they posted the position. Showing initiative for any position is a good skill to possess, but seeming desperate is not. If the Recruiter said they would call you back in 48 hours, and they have not, then this is a good time to take the initiative and be in charge of your career. Do not be afraid to just pick up the phone and call your point of contact on the phone (but don’t overdo it). There is a delicate balance that needs to be struck here, while also recognizing that there are a lot of moving parts, and you are not the only one in the running for a position.

4. Your Voicemail Matters

It is so important in today’s day and age that you have a voicemail box set-up, that sounds professional, and is not full. I cannot even tell you how many times I have moved on from a candidate if I am not able to leave a voicemail, or if their voicemail does not sound professional. If you have changed your status on LinkedIn to ‘actively searching’ or you are consistently applying to jobs, the Recruiter way be (hopefully) calling or emailing you to set-up an interview. Along those lines, if you are actively applying to jobs and you pick up the phone from a random number and there is a real person on the other line, be courteous before you find out that it is a telemarketer.  

I have also moved on from a candidate if they have curtly answered the phone or say, “sorry wrong number.” Either someone else is using your phone number on your resume, or you didn’t expect a recruiter to call you. Applying and getting a job is all about jumping through various hoops, and seeing how you present yourself over the phone is one of those hoops for many jobs that involve phone calls. Although introverts may hate talking on the phone, even IT jobs require you to speak eloquently over the phone. Finally, the phone number on your resume needs to be a real (and professional) number. I once called a candidate’s phone number, and it ended up being the Administrative Assistant and their current company (yikes!). The phone number you give needs to be yours, and it needs to be working.  

Knowing that you can do something to control the process and ensure that you impress a Recruiter can give you some peace of mind. Take your job application into your own hands and ensure that you nail that interview so we can sell you on our job and organization.  

It’s Not You, It’s Us (Kind Of)

The job search is a really tough place to be in, and I was in that position not too long ago myself. After I finished my Master’s degree, I interviewed and applied to jobs constantly for about two months, as if it was my full-time job. I did so many phone screens and video interviews that I couldn’t keep track anymore. Then, I got a second interview, and a third, and finally a job offer. It all seemed to fall into place. When I was the job seeker, I never understood why I wasn’t getting moved to the second round of interviews. I read the job descriptions over carefully, made sure to put the required skills on my resume, and consciously discussed how I was qualified based on the job description. Still, I never heard anything back from the Recruiters.

Now that I have been on the inside, I know that there is much more to the hiring process and job offers than just your qualifications. Some things that I never thought of before becoming a Recruiter. For example, the company may be required to post the job externally and interview, but all along they have a current employee in mind for a promotion. Secondly, one little sentence or word you said may have alerted the Recruiter. For example, if you will be working alone in the job and you said you like working in a team environment, this might mean the Recruiter is going to move forward with another candidate that said they prefer to work alone.

One of the main duties of a Recruiter is to be a lie detector and look at everything you say and pick it apart. If you have ever embellished in an interview and thought you sounded really good, but never got a callback, this might be why. A little untold secret, Recruiters know when your lying and they are going to assume the worst. It is literally our job to try and figure out if you are lying or not! If you are thinking about lying on your resume, or in an interview, think again. Recruiters are automatically going to think the worst. For example, rather than not putting your dates of employment at all, put the dates and also give a brief (bus appropriate!) explanation. If you took time off to raise your family, it is okay to put that on your resume. It is much easier to think the worst when all you have to go off of is a resume. Be forthcoming, but not so much that you tell your whole life story in the first two minutes.

Although I am not going to show all my cards, these are a few reasons why it might not be entirely your fault that you did not get a second interview. Have you ever walked away from an interview feeling amazing, but you never got a call back? Comment below with your stories- I want to know!

You’re Hired! Now What?

When many people think of recruiting, they might believe that Recruiters just call people all day and look through resumes. But there is so much more to Recruiting than just the actual duties of the job. I’ve been working at my first full-time Recruiting position for a a few months now and I was able to make my first few hires! It is so exciting to see all of my hard work paying off, especially because I work out of the same office as a majority of the individuals that I hire. But the bus does not stop at the offer stage. It is important to make sure that the new hire has everything, equipment-wise, that they need to be successful and feel like they are a full-fledged member of the team. There is paperwork, too, but if you are a Recruiter you know this is just a part of the job. Not that I am an expert in the onboarding world by any means, but below are a few things that I do to make the employee’s first few days memorable.

  1. Organizing a meeting with all of the current employees to introduce them to the new employee. Bringing donuts, coffee, or some incentive will help to ensure that all of the current employees show up to an early morning meeting to welcome the new hire.
  2. Talking up the new hire at this meeting and telling everyone all of the amazing things they have done to ensure that they are seen as a strong candidate by anyone that did not interview with. It makes the new hire feel special because when you are able to remember everything they told you in the interview and it let’s all the current employees understand that the new hire is qualified to succeed.
  3. Making sure that the new hire has all of the other paperwork to feel like they are a part of the team, such as timecard entry sheet, expense report documents, list of days that the office is closed, employee contact list, and any other documents that are specific to your organization.
  4. Even taking this a step further and organizing an event outside of work where the current employees can get to know the new hire in a neutral environment.

Introverted individuals are known for making people feel special because we can focus our conversations on one person and really listen with intention. This unique onboarding situation is a great time to hone in on this skill and make the new hire feel important for them to succeed and grow the business.

The onboarding process is the first time that the new hire is experiencing your company’s culture without the idea that they have to win you over. Now it is time to win over the employee and show them what it is genuinely like to work and be successful in your organization. Whatever culture means to you and your work environment, the new hire’s first few weeks are really an opportunity for everyone in the organization to make them feel welcomed. Especially when you are recruiting for a smaller business, there might not be a fancy orientation or training that all 50 new employees attend on their first day. At the same time, when you only have one person to focus on, you can make them feel exceptional and keep selling the job. Just because they signed your offer letter doesn’t mean that they aren’t thinking about all of the other offers that they were given, and you want to make sure they do not regret their decision. In this day and age with unemployment being so low, applicants really have the upper hand, and we have to keep in mind that the new hire chose to sign our offer letters for a specific reason, but most likely also had other offers to consider at the time.

Social Media (yikes) and Recruiting

What a weird world we are in where candidates base a large percentage of their opinions about a company based on their social media presence. About 4 months ago I was the person on the other side applying and interviewing for jobs. I was applying for jobs in a located where I had only lived for a few months and was not yet fully aware of which company would be the best fit for me. Before applying to a company, I decided to stalk them on social media. I was hoping this process would enlighten me on the different company’s core values, if they had fun at work, what did the people look like that worked there, and overall could fit in there.

While the company’s social media presence can tell a lot about what is going on internally, a company’s online presence is only a small portion of what it is genuinely like to work there. Today, the tried and true way to find out whether or not you are going to fit in with an organization is to see it in person. I cannot even tell you the number of times I thought a company’s social media looked amazing and made me want to jump at the opportunity to apply but when I interviewed in person, it was more often than not, completely different in the office.

Similar to when you are interviewing a candidate, the only real way to know if they are going to fit in with the company, is to meet them in-person. While I do a lot of video interviews and use video platforms as more of a convenience for myself and the candidate, phone and video interviews only capture a small portion of the actual person.

I recruit for sales positions and I have come to learn that experienced sales applicants are very good talking themselves up over the phone and online, but this can flip to the other side of the coin very quickly when I interview them in person. I am still working on my BS radar when it comes to recruiting sales candidates.

Am I Being Ghosted?

Let’s start off with some millennial dictionary time. Ghosted is a term used to describe a situation between you and your crush. Let’s say you are texting your crush and they just stop responding out of nowhere… poof, they are gone never to be heard or seen again. In Recruiting, as I have recently learned and experienced, this happens all the time. You will interview a candidate one or maybe two times, they seem like the perfect fit, you start getting excited about the prospect of them accepting an offer and you working with them. You might call them to remind them they have an interview, or that they need to complete some paperwork and they won’t answer the phone. You call again and still no answer. You start to think, ‘huh, that’s weird, they seemed really excited about the position.’ You wait a week or two and call them back just to be sure. Still no answer. Poof! They are gone, never to be heard or seen again. You wasted all that time interviewing and calling them, only to have it go to waste. Now you have to start all over again and hope the next candidate doesn’t do the same thing.

I have only been at this Recruiting thing a couple of months, and I cannot even begin to tell you how many times this has happened. You start to wonder, is it me? Did I do something wrong? Should I have followed up more? Should I have interviewed better?

In reality, there is nothing else that you can do except move on and take good notes. With the market the way it is right now and unemployment being so low, candidates know that they have the upper hand. If they think they can get better benefits or better pay somewhere else, they won’t waste their time with a company that cannot check all of their boxes. While I do still have a lot to learn, and I’m sure some of this fallout is due to my lack of experience, I also feel that it has something to do with how low unemployment is right now. All you can do is hope that when (and if) the market turns around that you kept good enough notes so that when the candidate comes crawling back you won’t be as eager to give them a second chance.

I also wonder if a culture of ghosting is becoming the norm. It seems as if people have become flakier than ever, especially in their social lives, and now in their professional lives too. I know a fake excuse when I see it because my introvert soul has perfected social excuses. I also believe that there is a difference between just being downright flaky and picking the better of two options, and being polite enough to tell a Recruiter (or a date) that it just isn’t a good fit.