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Recruiters Tips & Secrets:

• If you don't know where you're going, we can't help you get there.

  It's amazing how many people come to us with have no idea about what they want in a career or next job. Recruiters are different from career counselors - and they don't have a lot of time to hold-hands with people who don't know where they're going. When dealing with a recruiter, be clear about your specific goals and objectives. And be honest about your strengths and weaknesses. They would far rather work with someone who has a clear vision and an understanding of what's required to get there than someone who is simply coasting waiting for an interesting job to 'pop-up'.

• Everyone wants to catalogue you - hijack the process and catalogue yourself.

  It's inevitable. People want to put you in a box. And recruiters want to define you as a potential product. They're paid by clients to find specific people with specific skill sets - so the easier they can define and catalogue you, the easier it is for them to reference you when they're looking for that skill-set. Nobody likes it but it's reality. Don't fight it. Instead, hijack the process and catalogue yourself for the recruiter. Be candid about your skills and package yourself as a product. If you are trying to make a career shift this is even more important.

• First impressions (& attention to detail) really do count.

  For any job that a recruiter is working on there are usually up to 500 people that might be initially appropriate. A recruiter's job is to review and remove all people who don't represent a fit with the opportunity and then distilling the remaining list down to the absolute best candidates. Every little detail counts - and a poorly prepared resume or cover letter can be all a recruiter needs to remove you from their 'consider' list.

• Always treat people with respect - it really is a small world.

  We occasionally run into people who treat us poorly. They may be rude on the phone or simply not show up for a meeting. Surprisingly it's often the younger, less experienced people who do this. That's ok, we know there are some recruiters out there who may have created a bad reputation for our industry. But we're not all bad - and these actions have a way of coming back on you. We recommend that you treat recruiters the way you'd want to be treated yourself. We like to be professional and we always try to operate with integrity. If at any time we are not (i.e. we call at an inappropriate time), please tell us. We'll work hard to correct the situation. We're in this business for the long term, and while a relationship with a recruiter won't always get you your next job, it's always a valuable relationship to have.

• Be patient. We will call you if we have the right opportunity for you.

  We know how frustrating it can be when someone doesn't return your calls. And we're sorry. It's not that we aren't sensitive to your frustration, it simply means that we've received more calls and emails than we can process - and because this is our business we have to prioritize our efforts against our most pressing client assignments. We certainly don't mind if you leave an email or voice-mail to stay 'top-of-mind', but if we don't have an appropriate opportunity we might not call you back right away. Once again, we're sorry. And we appreciate your patience.