CareerAlley

“Blue moon, you saw me standin’ alone Without a dream in my heart, without a love of my own” – Lorenz Hart, Richard Rodgers

“Once in a blue moon”. Is that how often you get interviews? I know that sometimes it feels like that. Everything you do in your job search is meant to get you “in the door” and recruiters can help open the door for you. Of course, once you’re in the door the rest is up to you.

So how important are recruiters if the just have a fraction of the open job requisitions? The percentage of jobs filled by informal connections (friends, family and social networks) ranges from 60% to 90% depending on the survey you happen to read (see JOB & CAREER NETWORKING by www.careerplaybook.com for some info). Whatever the percentage (and I personally think that recruiters have 20% – 25% of open job requisitions), recruiters can help get you into companies and in front of hiring managers in places where you may not have been able to do it on your own. That being said, you should probably spend at least 20% of your time building your list and contacting recruiters.

• How to Find a Recruiter – How do you go about finding a recruiter that will fit your needs? This site (SearchFirm.com) is one place you can start your look. On the main page, click “find” and the recruiter search screen comes up. You can put in any criteria (all or none) and the search engine will return a list of recruiters that match your request. The criteria includes: Specialty, firm type, where, name contains and more. This is a great site to add to your list, but remember, don’t spend more than 20% – 25% of your time on recruiter.

• Addison Search – This recruiter focuses on four industries: Finance & Accounting, Information Technology, Administrative and Healthcare. From their main page, you can click on one of the four industries. This takes you to a page that has jobs for that industry by city (middle of the page) with locations on the left. Below locations is a Job Hunting Tips area where you can get additional information on Resumes, Search Firms, Interview Tips and more. A very good point they make under “Search Firm Rules of the Road” is that you should keep track of where your resume is sent. Don’t let more than one search firm send your resume to the same place. This is not good for you and certainly won’t help with your relationships with the search firms.

• Tyler & Company – Tyler & Co is a Healthcare Executive Search Firm. Their site includes information for candidates as well as job search (Open Positions on right-hand side of the page). Clicking on “Contact Us” will take you to a page where you can either search for jobs or submit your resume.

• Street Advisor Group – This company provides both job placement and consulting services. Their home page has a listing of the latest job postings. Clicking on Job Seekers takes you to the advanced job search page. You can also submit your resume from this page. Street Advisor Group specialized in Wall Street placement.

• Stan Hamlet Associates – Stan Hamlet Associates specializes in placement for Accounting, Auditing, Tax, Finance and HR for Fortune 500 companies. Their main page has sample postings and the email addresses of their staff. Their areas of focus are also listed, clicking on these takes you to a dedicated search page/listing of jobs associated with that profession. Clicking on “Apply” on the left hand side of the page will take you to a page that allows you to apply for a specific job or submit your resume.

• Clark Davis Associates – Clark Davis focuses on job opportunities in the New York tri-state area with specialities in Accounting & Finance, Information Technology, Engineering & Chemistry, Clinical & Statistics and Human Resources. They have a career listings page which lists current opportunities by industry. You can sign up for job updates via email and clicking any of the industries under Career Listings also provides key contacts with their telephone numbers and email addresses. You can also upload your resume to their site.

• Wontawk – This firm specializes in information management across a broad range of career types and functions. Offering employment opportunities that are direct hire, temporary and temp to hire. There is background on each of their recruiters as well as a job guide and registration capability. Their contacts page provides names, telephone numbers and email addresses of their recruiters.

• Westport One – Westport One, located in Missouri (with job opportunities across the US), specializes in Financial Services, Engineering, Technical Sales and Banking. From their main page you can submit a resume, contact them or review their job opportunities. They have a resources page with links to Career Planning, Resumes, Interview tips,relocation tools and more. Clicking on job opportunities returned over 30 positions when I checked.

• Transearch International - “Your world partner in executive search” is their tag line, they have offices around the world and they cover a very broad range of industries and job functions. You can submit a resume, contact a specific office or search for a consultant in your country/city and contact them directly.

Good luck in your search.

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