How to Impress an Executive Recruiting Firm
It can be quite the challenge for company to find the best suited individual for a position. To resolve this issue, many companies turn to executive recruiting firms. Sometimes vernacularly called sales headhunters, these are professionals that know the qualities of a great executive recruit.
However, though a warm smile and a handshake can go a long way, it takes more than that to impress an executive recruiting firm. In fact, they’re looking beyond the typical assessments, like relevant skills, knowledge, aptitude, qualifications, education, or related job experience.
Executive recruiting firms want A-players, candidates with exceptional talent, and those kinds of people are rarely looking for work. Because of this fact, sending an unsolicited resume to an executive recruiting firm and/or cold-calling them is a huge mistake. They rarely, if ever, read those resumes, and the cold-call will just annoy and harass them.
So, how exactly does one introduce themselves and impress an executive recruiting firm?
According to Bloomberg Businessweek, the best way is to network–with an introduction “by a well-connected friend, colleague, industry opinion leader, alumni pal, or fellow association or club member who knows the headhunter personally.” The influence that a personal reference has, at any level, cannot be over-exaggerated.
However, the quality of this introduction, this message, rests entirely on the headhunter’s opinion of the connection, the messenger. This means that you need to be a good judge of character as well. If the only person you know who has a connection to a headhunter is a less-than-quality worker, you’re better off trying to find another way to make a proper introduction to the executive recruiting firm.
Impressing an executive recruiting firm can lead to a high-ranking, well-paying, comfortable position. The key is making the right introductions, and meeting the right people. If you have any questions about how to impress an executive recruiting firm, feel free to ask in the comments. Links like this.
