How To Attract Headhunters

One of the best ways to find a new job is to enlist the help of a headhunter. If you have the right experience for the role, recruiters would love to speak with you. Headhunters are financially incentivized—with a substantial commission paid by the hiring company—to get you placed in a new job.

With this in mind, you want to make it easy to be noticed and solicited for a new, exciting role. Job seekers should proactively signal to recruiters that they are open to a conversation and show that they possess the on-target skills, background and experience that a hiring manager requires.

Recruiters are like sharks—constantly swimming, never sleeping and always seeking out their prey. Similarly, headhunters intensely focus on finding potential applicants who meet all of the requirements and would likely get an offer. They want to secure a great, well-paying job for you, as it’s a mutually beneficial relationship—the candidate acquires their dream role and the recruiter gets a hefty commission.

How To Look Attractive To A Recruiter

The key thing you need to do is stand out. This is challenging for many people. They may have grown up being told that boasting wasn’t a polite thing to do in public, are shy, introverted or feel that their résumé should speak for itself. Despite these feelings of awkwardness or discomfort, you’ll need to think and act like a marketing professional or salesperson.

More than 800 million white-collar, knowledge workers have a LinkedIn profile, which is basically an enhanced, less structured résumé. Creating and continually updating your LinkedIn profile is one of the best ways to get noticed. There is a feature that you may activate that discreetly lets recruiters know you are open and receptive to opportunities.

When search agents source candidates, they use the keywords that are relevant to the job they’re looking to fill. For instance, a lawyer or accountant should list all of the specific functions they offer, so that potential customers could reach out for their services. It’s the same way with prospective job seekers. You need to make sure that your LinkedIn profile is updated and contains all of the appropriate language, keywords and information that the recruiter needs to clearly understand that you fit within the job requirements.

You shouldn’t think of LinkedIn as only a place to showcase your profile. The site has been changing. It’s become more dynamic—with less jargon and more real-person interactions. Videos, podcasts, resharing Tweets and TikTok memes have opened the door to taking some chances to be seen.

You don’t have to be creative or know the latest TikTok dances to shine. Send LinkedIn invitations to recruiters with a message of what you do and the roles you’re interested in hearing about. Also share a recent copy of your résumé, if it offers additional details that supplement the experiences listed on your LinkedIn profile.

Like other social media sites, it’s a challenge to break through the deluge of postings to get seen. To catch the attention of a recruiter, create a short video in which you talk about recent developments within your field. Regularly write LinkedIn posts or articles that address issues that people within your field are curious about. These actions will position you as a thought leader and draw the attention of recruiters.

Like and comment on the posts of people in your area of expertise, as it gains you more visibility. Try to post regularly. Over time, people in your sector will feel that they know you. They’ll likely share your name with a recruiter, as you’ve burnished a reputation as a well-known expert.

If your profile is lacking, you don’t have a photo or the content reflects that you put in a minimal effort, it will discourage recruiters from contacting you. They’ll feel that you’re not serious. They don’t have the time to unravel what you do and will move on to the next prospect.

Top-tier executive recruiters are great for helping companies with diversity and inclusion. An old recruiting adage states, ‘The best recruiters don’t look at people as black, white or brown—all they see is green.” This is a not-so-subtle dig at recruiters being money-motivated. The reality is that smart headhunters won’t discriminate—not just because it’s wrong, but rather they want to fight on the behalf of their candidate to get them a great, well-paying job that they’re happy with and also earn a placement fee in the process.

When A Headhunter Contacts You

Once you start gaining traction, recruiters will reach out to you. It’s always seen as good form to accept a call, video meeting, text or email from a search professional. This doesn’t cost you anything, except a few minutes of time.

If you aren’t currently interested, be polite and honestly tell the recruiter that you’re not interested right now. Let them know that you would like to keep the channel of communication open, just in case circumstances change.

If you’re not inclined to move, it’s worth having a brief conversation to learn from the recruiter the temperature of the job market, what firms are hiring, those in trouble, the compensation range for your type of job and other market intelligence.

Hesitant at first, after hearing the compensation ranges and amount of quality job openings, you may change your mind and want to casually look at select opportunities. If this happens, feel out the recruiter to see if they place people within your sector, as well as the caliber of companies they have as clients. Inquire about the pay ranges and corporate-title levels the search agent specializes in, so there are no misunderstandings that could waste a lot of time and energy.

Keep In Touch

Once you’ve established a relationship with a few select recruiters that you feel comfortable with, stay in touch. One way to keep up the professional relationship is to offer introductions. Recruiters love referrals. They generally prefer a personalized introduction from a trusted source rather than receiving a résumé from someone who didn’t come recommended. This gives the recruiter confidence that the networking relationship will yield a potential placement.

If you disappear from their radar, it’s harder to ask for a favor in the future. It’s a hot job market now, but things change. Having a close relationship with experienced recruiters can come in handy when—or if—things go awry.