You can’t pull up your Twitter feed, scroll through your favorite news web site, or listen to your favorite podcast or radio station during your commute without hearing the rumors swirling about the recession that may or may not be coming. You’re working too much, you want a new job, but you’re not sure if this is the right time to be looking. You’re already stressed, and the idea of adding a job search to your plate is beyond overwhelming. However, you can’t imagine another year being this stressed out. So how does working with a recruiter really make taking on a job search possible?
Find the right “click”
Not all recruiters are created equal. Just like your dream job could be a nightmare for another candidate, you have to find a recruiter you click with. That might not happen with the first recruiter you meet, and instead of giving up after your bad “first date,” go on another “recruiter date,” and see if it improves. Your up front time investment will pay dividends once you’re in the heat of the job search and interview process.
It’s important to “click” with your recruiter because they’re going to be the person who you can talk to when you’re weighing the pros and cons of a new role, getting ready for your first interview, and talking about the interview after the fact. If you feel like your recruiter understands you, is listening to you, and wants what’s best for you, you won’t have to spend hours trying to explain why you don’t think the role they’re presenting to you isn’t a fit, or why this new opportunity is almost perfect, except it’s 50 miles in the opposite direction from where you live.
Build a relationship of trust
When you click with your recruiter, not only do you feel like you can trust that they are looking under every rock to find you the right role, but you’re confident that they’re not wasting your time. They’re only calling you or emailing you with options that are genuine possibilities. Did we mention that means they’re doing a lot of the heavy lifting for you? You’re not chasing down leads on Indeed only to find out the position has been filled, and you’re not spending your lunch hour on LinkedIn to see if anything new has been posted.
Seventy percent of American workers are not actively engaged at work as reported by Forbes, and you don’t have to be one of them. Find a recruiter that you click with, let them take the stress of the job search off your shoulders, and don’t let gloom and doom rumors about a possible recession influence your decision to stay at a job you don’t love, with a stress level that sends your heart rate into the danger zone.
Of course your job search won’t be completely stress free, even if you have the perfectly matched recruiter to your personality, but isn’t the possibility of finding something new worth a spike of short term stress to avoid a long term job sentence?
Get referrals
Get referrals from friends and former colleagues on which recruiters they’ve enjoyed working with, and go on a “recruiter date.” Take a chance to hear about what open positions you might be missing out on in the Accounting and Finance industry, and you’ll potentially gain an advocate, negotiator, and career/ interview coach from just one “date.”