Looking for a new position can be a stressful and time-consuming process. In today's market, professionals seeking a new position may be surprised at the number of approaches they receive, and at how quickly their job search can seem to be progressing, only for everything to grind to a painful halt.
It doesn’t need to be this way though. You can empower yourself during your job search, and reduce your stress and the time it takes to find a new position, by keeping track of your applications, interviews, and contacts.
Another way to improve the effectiveness of your job search is by taking the time to communicate with the agencies that have your CV. This article discusses ways to organise yourself and how to keep the flow of information open with the recruitment agencies and in-house recruitment teams you are using.
Where to start
Before you start to look for a new position, whether this is by choice or by circumstance, it is important that you understand what it is you are looking for and what types of companies you want to target. This may be a straightforward decision, you may already have a clearly defined career growth strategy in place, but if your reason for looking for work has been forced upon you, be it lack of growth at your current employer, a change in direction for whatever reason, or possibly redundancy, then you will need to research the market and the options open to you and decide the best way to go about this job search.
There are a host of resources open to you to do this, be it word of mouth and general market knowledge, the press or other media, and now social media, with the likes of Twitter and LinkedIn playing a more important part almost daily.
It is also important that you present and market yourself correctly. A growing number of potential employers will have a look at your web presence, so it is important that any Facebook or Twitter presence you have is carefully managed with no derogatory references to you boss! Linkedin is also becoming a vital weapon in the search for employment. Ensure that your profile, if you have one, is fully up to date, matches your CV and that you are in any relevant groups to your industry.
Job Search Organisation Strategies
Organising your job search may seem complicated, but it is based on one simple idea - making sure all your job search information is kept in one place and that you understand where your application has progressed to with any particular agency or employer. The quickest way to organise your job search is to keep a folder dedicated to it and its progress. This folder can contain copies of your CV with a note as to which version was sent to which application, cover letters you have sent out, advertisements for specific positions you have applied for, cards of recruitment agency representatives who have your CV, and cards and notes from your interviews.
Working with Recruitment Agencies
Another part of organising your job search is working with recruitment agencies in a professional, courteous manner. Being clear, but discreet, with your different agencies helps them send your details to clients, without wasting your time or violating corporate confidentiality. When you're working with a recruitment agency, you usually have a contact at that agency that represents you. Your contact person should specialise in your skill area, and is the person at that agency best equipped to help you. If you want to get in touch with an agency, focus on your contact person. One way of working out which recruiters you should be working with is how and when they communicate with you. Be wary of a recruiter who never returns your call or emails; agency recruiters are busy people but they should always find the time to update you, however briefly, even if there is no update news to share with you.
Avoiding double representation
When you're working with multiple recruitment agencies, keeping yourself organised can help you avoid one of the worst breaches of job search etiquette; contacting the same employer twice, through two different recruiters, for the same position.
Always insist on an agency telling you who their client is that your details are being forwarded to. Don’t accept “major manufacturer in the Midlands”, ask them for a company name.
If one agency puts you forward for a position, you should not mention the position or company to another agency, UNLESS that other agency asks if you want to be put forward for the same position. When that happens, you should inform the second agency that you are already under consideration for that position. It would make a negative impression on the interviewing company if you knowingly allowed yourself to be put forward twice, and it has been for applications to be ended on the basis that the candidate is disorganised or unreliable .
Working with in-house recruitment teams
In the age of social media and mobile web sites it is increasingly likely that you will be alerted to a position directly with an employing company. This is more than likely to be via an in-house recruitment team rather that with a hiring manager directly, so a number of the same rules apply when working with these recruiters. There is however one main difference when working with these internal recruiters and that is dictated by the fact that they are representing one company; their job is to attract you to their company, so they will always have this agenda at heart. The upside of this should be that they understand their company culture better than any agency recruiter can. However they will not be in a position to offer you either a range of possible positions that may suit you, or to recommend one particular company based on an understanding of your own needs and career aspirations, as should be the case with an agency recruiter.