From The Blog

When you find a recruiter you gel with it can be the beginning of a career-long relationship, a trusted partner you can turn to for professional advice at any stage of your career – even when you’re not actively looking for a new job.

It’s worth remembering that a lot of jobs don’t get advertised, because successful companies will often hire good people even when they’re not actively recruiting. Equally, you might be happy with your current job but be inspired by a new company. You’re much more likely be the first to hear about opportunities if you have a good relationship with a specialist recruiter.

Always remember that your recruiter is there to manage your reputation in a competitive market, and the better your relationship the better they can do their job.

• If you can, meet your recruiter in person.
• Build a rapport with your recruiter. They need to get to know and understand you in order to be able to give the best advice.
• Open and honest communication is critical if you are to form a long lasting partnership.
• Don’t work with more than two or three recruiters at a time. If one recruiter has lots of opportunities for you, consider working with them exclusively – it can make managing your application process much simpler.
• The right recruiter will make you feel at ease, demonstrate commitment to you and confidence in your abilities, and take the time to listen to you.
• Listen to their industry knowledge – few people are plugged in to your industry in the same way a recruiter is. They will likely have excellent knowledge of industry news and what it’s like to work in particular companies.
• Make recommendations – few people are plugged into your industry in the same way that you are, either, and any recruiter will appreciate hearing about good people.
• Be open and honest so that you can plan a genuinely strategic search together.
• The recruiter knows what their clients want, so be prepared to listen to their advice on your CV and interview technique.
• Ask for advice on interview technique. Your recruiter will know their clients well, so you can get specific advice about the people who will interview you, as well as just general tips.
• Be honest about who you have approached – there’s nothing worse for a recruiter than contacting a client, with whom they have a good relationship, on your behalf to find that your CV is already on file there – this damages your reputation too.
• Stay in touch. Be reliable. I suppose that’s quite good advice in general, but I promise you it’ll be especially appreciated by a recruiter!

Now that I’ve typed these tips out, they seem fairly obvious… but I promise, if you can stick to all of them, you’ll have a great relationship with a great recruiter and that could have a huge impact on your career.

More and more hiring managers will check out your social media profiles before they even invite you for an interview, so it’s essential to carry out an audit before you start applying for jobs. For obvious reasons, this is especially important in the media industry. It’s vital that you ensure a potential employer won’t see anything off-putting. It’s also critical that you prove you can use social media to good effect. The following should help you do both!

Do…

• Google yourself and put yourself in your future employer’s shoes. What would they think of you?
• Ensure you have an up to date LinkedIn profile that makes for interesting reading. Most employers, particularly in media, are put off by anyone who doesn’t have one, no matter how junior or senior they are. Include hobbies and/or charity work etc., to help you stand out from the crowd.
• Think about your privacy settings on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc. Balance this, though. You don’t necessarily have to use the strictest privacy settings. If you know you can manage your profiles effectively, you might find that they actually help you get your next move.
• Remember that other people can tag you on Facebook and Instagram so, if you decide to keep your profiles public, consider changing your settings. On both, there are options to review any posts you’re tagged in before they are posted to your profile. It’s also worth using the “hide inappropriate comments” function on Instagram.
• Make your posts interesting! They don’t have to be industry related (though a few of those would be a good idea), but they should show that you are well-rounded. Remember to check your spelling and grammar, too.
• Include images with your posts.
• Follow companies that are of interest to you. Be a fan and interact with them – where appropriate, as your current employer will see these interactions too!
• Join relevant groups and be an active member.
• Get recommendations from people who have worked with you and drip feed them onto LinkedIn (rather than suddenly getting ten new recommendations, which might look a little odd to your current employer). This will make you, and by extension, your current employer look good, too.
• Ensure you have a photo of yourself on LinkedIn and try to make sure you have that 500+ connections sign on your profile.
• Make use of hashtags on Twitter and Instagram. Think about what your future employer might search for. Use these for your own searches too.
• Check your current employer’s social media policy before posting/publishing anything that mentions them.

Don’t…

• Get too political or swear too much. If you want to be able to do these things, just create a separate profile on each channel which you use exclusively for your job search and turn your privacy settings to high on your personal profiles.
• Complain about your colleagues publicly – even after a really hard day at work!
• Use too many hashtags – no-one likes that!
• Post anything that you’d be embarrassed by in an interview.
• Publicly criticise any previous employers.
• Just lurk on Twitter. Get involved, be active, have conversations.
• Reference anything illegal – this might seem obvious but research shows that it’s not as rare amongst job seekers as you might think!
• Pass off other people’s research or opinions as your own. Always give people credit.

Lastly, don’t forget that nothing has replaced networking IRL! Attend events, meet people, go for interviews even if you’re not sure it’s the perfect job for you, make as many contacts as you can as you never know when you might end up working together.