How to Help Recruiters See You as the Best Talent
Much like us, recruiters are busy. And though their business is to get you placed in a role you love, the average time a recruiter gets to spend reviewing a new resume is just six seconds. With such an incredibly limited time and opportunity for you to impress a prospective employer, it becomes that much more essential that you properly market yourself as you enter the job force. To help recruiters help you, you’ll need to prioritize resume design, consider developing a professional portfolio, understand your career ambitions, and expand your professional network.
Resume Design
If your resume format is even remotely confusing or features spelling errors, you will likely fall to the bottom of the pile, and if you do stand out, it will be for all the wrong reasons. Instead, ensure you’re doing the following:
- Use clear indentation and concise bulleting to highlight your major accomplishments.
- Have multiple reviewers proofread your resume for grammar, content and potentially confusing language. Remember that what may be clear to you may not necessarily be to others.
- Try to include at least one “stat” or quantitative value per previous position. These can add a bit more color and background to your past experience. It is pretty clear to a recruiter what you did based on the position title; now tell them HOW you did in that role by sharing your goals and successes.
Career Ambitions
When conducting a job search, it is important to think about where you see yourself in the next five years. If you are uncertain (which is common), connect with trusted role models and mentors from school, work or your personal life.
Furthermore, your biggest resource is likely your school’s career development office. Shockingly, nearly half of the students attending college never utilize their career centers even though they have a vast amount of resources, often still available after graduation. With a little research, you may find that your school partners with local companies to give you a better understanding of a job or industry before you commit. Resources like these will help you know which direction to head in with your career.
Network Expansion
Realtors always say “location, location, location.” The recruiter equivalent is “connections, connections, connections.”
You already know one of your biggest resources is your friends, family members and faculty. They can help with building your resume, provide more information and considerations around different careers and ultimately work towards your determined interests. You can reach out to them to learn about new openings, and they can put in a good word for you at their company.
Another networking tool to utilize is LinkedIn. More than 75 percent of the workforce is on LinkedIn, and both recruiters and managers often visit the website first when looking at potential team members.
In the end, a recruiter is trying to help both you and the company. So, they can advocate for you, clearly communicate what you have to offer and bring in other people to help you gain exposure and land the right job.
Leah Bleichner, Farmers Insurance
Josh Kaufmann, Farmers Insurance