Making the Most Out of Recruiter Matching

Recruiter Matching
How to Make the Most Out of
Your Recruiter Matching
Campaign
866.755.9800 stephen@ittechexec.com 1
From the Tech Job Market Zoo to the Corporate Goo...
How to Protect What You’ve Built So Far.
Never heard of
Recruiter Matching?
For more info, check
out our “How to
Leverage Recruiters to
Build Your Career
Protection Pipeline”
presentation.
Let’s not just “wait and see” what happens; let’s
optimize what we’ve started.

(1) Gone through the Recruiter Matching process and had a list
of recruiters generated matching your specific parameters.
(1) Opted for the full-service option and had the full campaign
run and now you are starting to hear back from some of
the recruiters on your list.
OK, so you’ve either:
What you do
next is key!

In today’s market, we have to think beyond just one career
move at a time…even if you think the next one might be internal…
Not just to “get a job” this time but to build in a recruiter
pipeline for the next move as well.
We want to make sure that you use your recruiter
matching wisely.
You want to provide yourself with leverage.

Recruiters don’t work for you, BUT
If you understand how uncertain today’s job market
really is, you should be thinking more in terms of
“ongoing” career protection, at all times. And
recruiters are one way to build in that protection.
they can still play a vital role
in your career progression strategy.
By “uncertain,” I
don’t mean lack
of jobs. I mean,
well, uncertain.
Career moves
are happening
every 3 to 4
years. Even if
you beat the
odds, change is
very much part
of the market,
especially in
tech fields.
Of course, no one
career advancement
strategy is full-proof or
should be considered
the only approach.
Recruiters are just
one option, but if
handled with care,
potentially a very
good one.

For 2 years in a row, tech recruiters have reported “a
lack of skilled candidates as their greatest challenge and
social media as their greatest opportunity.”
(study by Bullhorn)
This should be good news for properly positioned
technical pros…

So now that you are equipped with the right
recruiters for you, let’s optimize what you have.

Step 1: Making the Most Out of Your Respondents.
If you opted to have just the list compiled without the
campaign, you will first need to go ahead and contact
the recruiters on your list.
Don’t get too concerned about the number of
responses. It’s quality we’re looking for here.

Here are the typical types of responses:
1. Automated “don’t call us; we’ll call you”
2. List of follow-up info or steps you should take
3. Genuine response about possible opportunity
4. Offer to stay in touch or chat some more
Ignore the first one for now; let’s just focus on
responses 2-4.

Here’s what to do BEFORE you respond:
In today’s social media world, the “power of connection”
has probably never been stronger.
So you want to try and maximize that by
putting social media to work for you.
Probably in a way
that is a bit different
from how you have
been using it.
But this is where
social tends to
be most useful.

Step 2: Look up your responding recruiters in
2 places.
1. Look them up in your college alumni database.
2. Look them up on LinkedIn.
For now, only do this with ones who’ve responded.
You may
sign up for
this
through
your
university.
We don’t need a lot
of responses; we
just need to make
the most of the
promising ones.

Looking them up gives you two options:
1. Possibility you are both alumni
2. Possibility you share LinkedIn connections
It might seem silly, but don’t underestimate the
significance of these two things as conversation starters.
Social media
fans, which
most recruiters
are, put a lot of
weight into the
idea of
connection.
And the alumni
connection has
long been a
strong one that
very few
people take
advantage of.

See this process in action:
“So I launched my recruiter matching campaign back in January. Right away I was concerned about the timing of it because it was just after the new year, and I
knew that things could be slow to get started.
At first, I received a lot of automated bounce backs. But I also received about 10 ‘real, live’ responses.
So before I responded, I did a little homework and was able to find some ways we were actually ‘connected.’ One recruiter went to the same college, two
others were connected with my 1st-level connections on LI, and another actually worked for the same company I did way back in the day.
Once I found that out, I responded to these fours recruiters first, and then I responded to the other six. In the end, I had much better engagement with those
four than the other six just by harnessing our connection. I landed interviews through two of the four.
I did get a good offer through one of them but decided to turn it down for something else I found out about through a colleague. However, I’ve maintained the
relationship I started with the two recruiters who landed me interviews, and one of them has already contacted me about another opportunity!
I plan to keep these discussions going moving forward as I like your idea of having that pipeline. Oh, and I also had other nonresponder recruiters contact me
over time. I did my homework again, and I’ve had a couple recruiters keep in touch since then.
I’m hoping that all of this means that next time I won’t need to pay so much attention to worthless job boards and can just keep focused on my peer and
recruiter networks.” (Glen T., Plant Manager, Nashville, TN)

Step 3: Respond to the alumni ones immediately.
Obviously, you might want to mention that you went to
such and such university in your correspondence.

Step 4: Now respond to the LI shared
connection ones.
It’s OK to mention that you noticed that you share some
connections on LI. It’s even better if you really know the
person you share the connection with.
Recruiters have
lots of
connections, many
of whom they
don’t really know.
That’s OK. Do this
anyway.
If a recruiter is both a fellow alumnus and shares LI connections
with you, then put him or her at the top of your list.

Why Am I Doing This?
I know. It feels weird. But it’s not as weird as it feels.
Again, it’s a conversation starter…
AND
It will help make the interaction less formulaic with the recruiter.
Of course, it still doesn’t mean the
recruiter will have a position for
you; the point is you are getting
beyond the form letter response.

Step 5: Provide the recruiter with the information
he or she requested in the response.
Don’t forget to pay attention to what was asked for and
to provide that in your response to the recruiter.
Don’t let too much time go by
in responding. Your research
can be done fairly quickly so
that you can respond in a
timely fashion.

Step 6: Now respond to those with no college or
LI connection.
If you look back at Glen’s story, you will see that he went a step
further and checked out the recruiter’s LI profile and noticed
that with one, they had both worked for the same company at
different times. So he harnessed that when responding.

Step 7: Make sure you
have a good calendar app.
Does this sound like a lot of work? Thinking the job boards are
easier? (Maybe, but much less effective, statistically speaking.)
BUT this is where long-term vision comes in. Don’t just think
about now and how fast this will work. Think about the next
search too. Just like you should nurture your peer network, you
need to do the same with your recruiter network.
Why? Because recruiters are “out of sight, out of mind” people.
Sure, they might contact you one day if something comes up
and they remember you. Or they might not.
You don’t need to become best friends. Just keep in touch from
time to time to let them know you are still out there.
Now let’s set up reminders to touch
base with these recruiters. Set up a 1-
week reminder if he or she does NOT
respond to your response.
If he or she does respond, then plan to
follow up every couple of weeks until
your job search has ended.
After that, schedule to follow up at
least once a quarter.
Job boards, even when they do work, are for “one-and-done” job searches. They are short-sighted in that they only address your
career here and now. That doesn’t make them worthless, but be careful not to fall into the trap of relying on them all because
setting up networking pipelines is a lot of work.
The best jobs come through peer networking followed by recruiter networking. Period. And these are things you can maintain to
build in career “protections” for later on. Job boards will never do that.

What about all those nonresponders?
Step 8: Now go back and research the nonresponders using your alumni database and LinkedIn.
Prioritize the recruiters based on these connections. Start
with the alumni ones first.
Contact them again; this time referencing the connection.
Recruiters are people
too…No, really, they
are! They like being
connected as much as
the next person.
A little bit of the right
preparation can go
along way!

Step 9: If you share a
LinkedIn connection…
If the recruiter responds and
begins corresponding with you that
way, give him or her a brief
description of what you are looking
for and ask to set up a time to talk.
This time try asking your shared
connection to make an Introduction on
your behalf through LinkedIn. By doing
so, you get around just email and have
a second point of contact through LI.
Most recruiters will be more willing to
speak with you on LI if given an
introduction.

Step 10: When this next set of recruiters starts to respond to you, set up
follow-up reminders in your calendar app like you did with the first group.
If a recruiter continues to not respond to you, that’s fine. You only want to spend time on those who are
responsive anyway…because they are the ones who are the most likely to have a need for someone with
your background at some point…if not today, maybe sometime in the future.
“I’ve had a 300% increase in recruiter attention on LI, and finally
for the right jobs.”
Tom H. (Network Engineer, Seattle, WA)

Did I Need Recruiter Matching
to Do All This?
Couldn’t I have just looked up recruiters on LinkedIn and done all this without the list and/or the
campaign?
ANSWER:
Yes. But if you think looking up basic info to respond to your “prematched” recruiters takes time;
just think about how much time it would take to filter the LinkedIn recruiters and determine
which ones were best suited for you.
Most professionals never build a recruiter pipeline unless maybe a
recruiter or two happens to contact them out of the blue...or they
try to contact recruiters but they don’t know how to “sort” or
“weed” through them. You’ve given yourself that leg up.

For more ideas on how to maximize recruiter matching, contact me,
Stephen Van Vreede:*
*We are pleased to now offer our “Job Search Retainer” solution that can be used in conjunction with Recruiter Matching to help assist our
members with optimizing this solution even more as well as with other aspects of their job search. We do reserve a limited number of
members at a time, so please indicate if you would like to discuss this more so that we can discuss timing and availability.
**If you are interested in having a Recruiter Matching campaign launched for you, this service is exclusive to ITtechExec members. We offer
this solution as part of our technical resume portfolio packages once a member’s messaging has been fully developed. We do not
recommend this service until an effective resume solution and optimized LinkedIn profile have been developed.
“I have a good set of recruiters that search for opportunities and supply
them at will.”
Mike K. (PMP Los Angeles, CA)

Silly me. I thought an MBA and hard work was my ticket…
(A Note from Stephen Van Vreede, Co-Founder of ITtechExec)
When I first started my career, generally I didn’t know anyone who actually paid
to have their resume (or résumé, for the purists among us) written, much less
for “career services.”
And at first, throughout most of the early part of my corporate life, I moved from
internal position to internal position without the need to invest in resume or
other career services, eventually landing a director-level role with a large GE
Capital, multi-site inbound call center serving the logistics industry.

But then the job market began to change, and job security was, well, less
secure.
So I decided to go back for my MBA and some certifications (sound familiar?),
which cost me thousands and thousands (and thousands) of dollars (just ask my
lovely bride who helped pay for them!).
It was a great experience, but after I graduated, the job market wasn’t much
better, competition for internal promotions was greater, and I wasn’t the
only one with an MBA.

That’s when I was introduced to resume design and career services.
I came to recognize that the time and resources I had already spent on my
career were worth protecting. The market was too uncertain and
changing too rapidly for me to continue to go it alone.
At this point, I had already invested in someone to handle my retirement,
another someone to do my taxes, and another someone to find me the
right home. It wasn’t such a stretch to think that my career mattered as
much, if not more, than these other things. After all, without it, then I
couldn’t afford the retirement or the house (and yes even the taxes).

I began to see where resume/career services could play an integral part…
in not only helping people to secure jobs but also in building in protections
to the careers we’ve all worked so hard to achieve.
As a result, my wife and I began our own firm in 2001, and we molded our
solutions to be more than just a resume-writing service.
We wanted to do better. We knew we could. And we do.
You can read more about our story at http://stephenvanvreede.com/.

To learn more about ITtechExec or our other solutions:
Check Us Out
Or call Stephen toll-free at 1-866-755-9800; email at stephen@ittechexec.com.

Making the Most Out of Recruiter Matching

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