And I should say a “retained” recruiter. Let’s talk about the difference between retained and contingency recruiters as they are two different animals. You want to zero in on retained recruiters. These are the folks who typically sit physically with the HR group at larger employers (e.g. Medtronics). They are paid a salary – sometimes a commision based on performance as well. They are often 1099 contractors who represent a certain function – in our case, medical or pharma sales.
Contingency recruiters: some people are going to shoot me for what I am about to say, but what do I care – I live 10 minutes from my MIL so I like to live life on the edge. Contingency recruiters are much like travel agents. Remember travel agents? They were a middle man between you and the airlines. Now travel agents are pretty much gone from the scene – likewise with contingency recruiters – employers see them as middlemen who are cutting into their profits.
So, with our focus on getting found by retained recruiters, how can we get their attention? Here are 2 Great New Ways.
1.) If you are submitting a resume for a posting at a major employer’s website, you will likely have your resume scanned into an HRIS system – this converts your Word document (which you probably sent by e-mail) into a digital form. So – in your cover letter – in the first bullet point of reasons that employer should consider you, write a 100% customized reason mentioning at least 3-5 very specific key words that are found in the job posting you now pursue. Why? Because some poor person in HR will be handed the job description by their boss and told to go find candidates in the HRIS system. (By the way, I’ve done consulting on buying these systems with 2 major employers, so, yes, I really am a geek). That poor person in HR (let’s give them the moniker of PPHR), will plug in key words like: ortho, neuro, cardio, medical devices; perhaps names of major customers the employer is targeting; and “always” will be seeking someone based on a geographic element.) So, here’s a head’s up: if you live in Granville, OH, mention “Granville, OH (greater Columbus)” in your address because no one will likely put in “Granville” as in an HRIS key word search.
2.) Scratch my back and I’ll . . . Imagine being a recruiter seeing resumes come in all day when suddenly one resume comes in via e-mail with the subject header: “Seeking your Ortho Sales Role in NYC; can also help you find candidates” Would the recruiter notice? Yup; and they do – we’ve tested this. Get a group of people you are not directly competing against, and have them in your portfolio of potential “star” candidates to provide to the recruiter. You will get noticed; follow up with a phone call to the recruiter, “Yes, I am that 1 person in the last 3000 e-mails you got who offered to actually do something for you.” The word ‘altruistic’ comes to mind here – but, this is actually just smart relationship building.
Happy hunting. And remember: if you follow the rules of today’s job search, you will be invisable. Time to break the rules.
This is a really great post; it’s given me a few things to ponder over. I will definitely keep an eye on this blog in the future. Nice work, keep it up!