10 RECRUITER SECRETS EVERY EVERY JOB SEEKERS SHOULD KNOW

Here are 10 recruiter secrets you should have in mind:

1. Beat the machine

Perhaps you don’t realize that busy recruiters and hiring managers often utilize automated screening tools to analyze how closely your resume matches the job description at hand. In other words, they are checking automated keywords and if you fall within the desired matching percentage, you are called in for an interview. If the correlation is weak, then your resume may never be evaluated by a human being. So, to beat the machine, make sure to use proper keywords that perfectly describe your past positions in the industry or your industry per se. Use words that are more likely to correlate with job descriptions for the types of jobs you are interested in.

2. Become a recruiter for a second

Look at your resume from the perspective of a recruiter. What would you expect to see? What is your story? Hiring managers are not only seeing what you have done in your past jobs but they also inferring what you could potentially do in the position at hand. So, put yourself in the shoes of the recruiter for a second and make sure to extract the proper inferences for your resume. Formatting is important, but conveying the right message is crucial.

3. Dig in the company’s social accounts

When doing your homework and getting information about the company you are interested in landing a position, make sure to use social media properly as well. This means to dig into the company's social accounts and find out about their mission, values, corporate culture, beliefs, anything that may be useful to your application and interview. The hiring manager will be excited to see a high correlation between your resume and the company's values.

4. Keep your social accounts updated

Keeping all your social accounts aligned with your resume is extremely important because recruiters do check Facebook, LinkedIn and social media sites in general. If the resume your recruiter has says you’re a finance manager at company X, but your Facebook profile says unemployed, and your Twitter bio says financial analyst, chances are you won’t land the job and most likely any job at all. Recruiters will dispute your skill level and honesty should they encounter such discrepancies in your social accounts.

5. Quantify your resume

A great way to help your recruiter understand your skills and potential better is to quantify your accomplishments. For instance, explicitly state the size of budgets you controlled, the number of people you managed, the percent by which you reduced turnover and so on. Use dollar figures and percentages because they stand out of the resume and they leave an impression. It's up to you to make it a good one.

6. Address any red flags

If there is any red flag on your resume, tell your recruiter before they find out on their own. Being honest will be to your best interest as recruiters are actually trying to help you get hired. Don’t forget that recruiters work for companies and if the red flag comes out they will be asked about it, so it is best they know about it so that they are able to present in a positive way. Be forthcoming about potential gaps in your employment history or why you were let go from a company. It is helpful to your effort to land the job.

7. Make a recruiter keen on you

When a hiring manager decides to have an interview with you, it means your resume has intrigued them more than others and therefore, you stand a good chance to get hired. But, when getting to the point of the interview, you need to give the recruiter a reason to hire you over other candidates with similar resumes. Remember that finance is highly competitive and there are possible other resumes as strong as yours. So, help your recruiter to hire you.

8. Recruiters check on you

Recruiters are looking at everything you say and do and constantly evaluate the way you respond to their questions in order to decide whether you would be a good fit for the company. A good resume is the first step to land an interview, but to get the job you have to convince your recruiter that you have the right personality traits to get the job done. Remember that recruiters see many candidates on a daily basis and they are forced to make judgments quickly, so make sure to help them make the right one for you.

9. Build strong relationships

If you have made a contact with a particular recruiter, make this person your single point contact in the firm because this is the person you have a history with. Perhaps you have discussed with this particular recruiter several job opportunities in the finance industry and he/she is the one to know your resume, strengths, and weaknesses, what you are looking for and what is out there for you.

10. Follow Up

A few days after the interview, follow up. A recruiter may not contact you for a few weeks because they don’t have a particular position for you, but you the one who is looking for a job, so you are the one to contact them again. Contact your recruiter every week or every second week so they remember you and they place you in the right position when the opportunity comes up.