Following on from a post that you all loved a week or so ago, Wake Up. Kick Ass. Repeat. (find it here) I suddenly realised that it is all well and good writing about the common situations you may find yourself in at a new company however how on Earth do you land that dream job in the first place?! With hundreds of thousands of recruitment agencies around the world and even more people than that looking for a job, how do you cherry pick those agents who really are looking after you as a person and not just counting you as part of their monthly commission number? My very good friends at Matchstick Recruitment were lovely enough to agree to give all you workaholics a few tips and some insider knowledge on how to choose the right recruiter for you when the time comes to make that big leap…
You can’t choose your family…but can you choose your Recruitment Agency?
Job hunting, we all have to do it and quite frankly it’s hard work. From tidying up your CV to spending hours googling job titles and let’s not even talk about the 100+ applications already submitted for a role posted 3 hours ago! So maybe it’s time for a recruitment consultant to swoop in like a Fairy Godmother and make all your job hunting dreams come true! However, with so many agencies out there how do you know which ones are the right fit for you? Well we have come up with a few recruitment agency must haves to hopefully help you pick out the companies you want to be investing your time in and the ones who you might want to send packing at midnight.
A genuine interest…
You have to find the right person for the job as much as you have to find the right job for the right person. Agencies should have a genuine interest in the roles in which you want to be put forward for, listening to where you want to be in a few years’ time and offering relevant roles. The last thing you want to be doing is running around London heading into interview after interview for a small media company when really you want to be making your way into the city (through the sea of tailored suits) to work for a massive corporate firm where you want to progress to the top in a matter of years. Every candidate is different and is looking for different things so find the recruiters who will take you seriously when you tell them if you want corporate, creative… the list of questions is endless.
Realistic and helpful advice…
So you want to be an Astronaut but you’ve just finished working as a receptionist for a small media company and you are now frantically trying to pull any experience you might have had star gazing back in 2005, to make it valid for a role with NASA? That’s a bit extreme but we don’t want anyone’s time being wasted with unrealistic goals. That’s not saying you shouldn’t have them and won’t one day get to where you want to be but for now, recruiters spend hours talking about who would be right for ‘that’ job so take advantage of this and let them steer you in the right direction to help you get you where you want to be. They should want you to give you advice to help you on your way.
A friendly face…
Nobody wants to be a number on a database; a good agency will want to meet you face to face, in a friendly setting. This will give both you and your recruitment consultant a chance to get to know each other on personal level and to allow your consultant to match your personality to that of your potential new boss. Just be yourself, because there’s only one you, and let’s face it, you’re pretty great.
Encouragement…
From your cv tweaking to what to wear in an interview, agencies should not send you off into the wild world of interviews without preparing you first. If you have found the right agency then they will have made you feel comfortable right from the beginning. Giving you a little helping hand with what’s ahead, whether it’s a panel interview or a 1:1 with the HR manager who is rather scary, no good recruiter will want you to be fazed.
We hope these tips help you on your way to a very successful recruitment agency search. And if you get stuck… we are always here to help!
The Matchstick Team x
Telephone
020 7036 3700
Web
www.matchstick.co.uk
Email
info@matchstick.co.uk