When you're starting out in your career, it's tempting to think that the best way to get a job is by networking. This much is actually true but the mistake is to think that the only way to do so is by getting a referral from a friend or family member who works for the company you want to work for. But believe it or not, there are plenty of other ways to get your foot in the door—and they don't require knowing anyone at all, at least not prior to your job search! We’ll talk about in this blog post how to approach the right people to get your new job!
Networking with recruiters to get your new job
One option is networking with recruiters. In today's job landscape, networking with recruiters is a must. Recruiters are the people who find talent for companies that are hiring; they scour the market looking for the right candidates and then match them up with open positions. They are the gatekeepers of job opportunities, so it's important to know how to work with them. If you're connected with the right kinds of recruiters, they can help open doors at many different companies.
How to approach a recruiter for the job you want?
You know, like when you're out with friends and you're all trying to figure out who's going to be the one to send the first message? It's kind of like that. Just with recruiters instead of hot singles at a bar. But it's not just about getting the recruiter's attention—you need to make sure that they're paying attention to your profile in the first place, so we've got some tips for that, too.
First things first: make sure your profile is up-to-date and complete. Check your pictures, your education information, and even those skills on your resume; if something needs updating or fixing, do it right away! And add any new experiences or certifications since you last updated your profile (even if they're "no big deal" kinds of things). A recruiter will want to see that you're staying active in your industry—and if they don't see that kind of activity on your profile, they might think you are not active on LinkedIn.
Know your recruiter: Who to network with?
The next step is to understand your audience. There’s not one type of recruiter. First, you need to identify the type of recruiter you're dealing with. There are mainly two types: internal recruiters (who work for the company you want to apply for) and external recruiters (who work for another company).
Reaching out to Internal Recruiters
Internal recruiters are the ones that are employed by or exclusively working for the company you are planning to apply. They know the position and the company the best as they are first-hand learners of the new openings and they experience the company culture. If you know that a specific internal recruiter is associated with a job - either because the contact details are shared or they share the position online with their names - it’s best to connect with them directly rather than simply applying to the job hoping that they’d see your amazing CV and call you immediately to schedule an interview.
Let’s face the reality, internal recruiters, especially in large corporates are often bombarded with CVs and applications everywhere. They are the ones most usually put “only the shortlisted applicants will be informed” kind of sentences at the end of their job descriptions. They are also the ones complaining when people send messages like “do you have positions for me” without even explaining their background or interests. The lesson learned from this is that if you want to reach out to the job poster or the recruiter behind the position internally, make sure you give them enough attractive information about your interest in the role and why you would be a good fit for it.
Connecting with External Recruiters
The other side of recruitment, if we combine different groups like contingency and retained agencies is the external recruiters. If you see an opening online mentioning “our client” in the job description it means that this is posted by a recruiter helping a company with their hiring process. External recruiters step into the hiring process of big multinational companies operating in different locations or hiring in big volumes. With their expertise in international hiring and thanks to their large database of job seeker profiles, recruitment agencies like Blu Selection are fast in filling those openings with the right hires.
If you would like to higher your chances of receiving multiple job opportunities the best way is networking with recruiters as they have openings for many different companies in various industries and seniority levels. In addition, external recruiters are more receptive to connecting with talents regardless of their fit for current openings. With their large portfolio, they are aware that even if they can’t help you with your job search at this moment, a new position in the following weeks might be the perfect match for you. They will most likely have a chat with you to get to know you better in order to find you the best job and the company culture. Last but not least, they might have a great influence on the hiring manager, so if you can impress them they’ll present you to the company in a way more impactful way than your direct application on the company career site. Connect with our team to see the wonders a recruitment agency can make!
Network with people in the same industry to land your new job
Another option is networking to get a job—but this isn't what you think! We're talking about using social media (like LinkedIn) to connect with people who work in industries related to yours and making connections with them. One of the people in your connections might be the reason you will land your new job in your dream company!
Grow your network and your personal branding on LinkedIn
Most LinkedIn users are likely to be connected to people within the same industry anyway which means if you decide to start your LinkedIn network from scratch today and sending a connection request to someone you don’t know personally won’t look suspicious. However, building a network by randomly sending connection requests won’t help you. Be precise on who you would like to follow to learn more about the industry as well as the people and companies in it and to showcase your skills and interests. Make sure you have something in common with your network so you can either share your opinion with them or engage with theirs. This will, over time, help you to be remembered with your title. In the end, on LinkedIn, it’s all about names and titles. So even if the objective you connect with people within the same industry is not to lead them to come to you with job openings, their reaction to one of your posts might be seen by a recruiter or they might refer you when you finally reach out to them for an opportunity in their company.
Let's get right to the other reason why you should grow your network: You want to be the person who gets a recruiter to slide into your dm. Networking is never one-sided. That means you don’t always have to be the one sending messages to recruiters. Having the right people in your connections will be important when you need to be seen by recruiters who are in the headhunting process. They might come to your profile by either a keyword search (that’s exactly why you should update your profile today) or because of a post or interaction made by you. After some effort you put into your network, others will start sending you the connection request and believe us, some will do to offer you a new opportunity!
All in all, you won’t be able to connect with everyone (literally, LinkedIn won’t allow it) but a connection of a connection on LinkedIn is as important as a connection! You don’t have to be an influencer to attract people, as long as you have consistent personal branding across your engagement within the platform and have the right network you will be noticed!
