Always remember the cardinal rule of attracting an executive recruiter: They want to think you are happily employed. Let them think this, and let them think you must be wooed away. There are additional ways to impress the recruiter:
Be tight with your time when setting up an appointment.
Most executives are busy people, Very busy people. You should be no exception, even if you're dying to see a recruiter and quite sure you want the job they’re handling. Without being excessive, flash around your busy schedule a little bit before you settle on a time to meet. Say something like, "Tuesday's out, I'm in Atlanta that day. Wednesday morning I've got a big meeting scheduled in the office, and Wednesday night, I'm going to Washington. Friday, I'm in my office but booked solid. But wait a minute. Here's a break! How about Friday at 5:30?"
When you do meet with a recruiter, don't oversell yourself. There is a difference between an interview with a prospective employer and an interview with an executive recruiter, even though both are means to the same end.
With a prospective employer, you need to display energy and enthusiasm along with your qualifications. A recruiter, though, looks for something else: quiet self-confidence. Anxiety will hurt with a recruiter. So will eagerness, if it is perceived to be anxiety.
Let the recruiter sell you. Let them peruse your resume and ask about your achievements. When asked, don't act overly enthusiastic as you explain what you can do and have done. Resist the urge to launch into a full-scale sales pitch. Stop talking when you have explained something fully enough.
If you can mention another achievement that is related to the one you were asked about, say something such as: "There's something else you ought to know in connection with that." Avoid saying the kinds of things you would say in an interview with a prospective employer, such as: "What else can I tell you about myself?" "Are there any other things you would like to discuss?" or "I'd like to tell you what I consider to be my most important achievement." Let the recruiter probe. Especially at this initial interviewing stage, you still need to maintain the stance of a person who is happily employed elsewhere.
When discussing your references, if you had a bad experience with a former employer, be forthright about saying, "Frankly, I don't know what kind of references you will get from her about me. We had our differences, and we certainly had different approaches to managing. I learned a lot from her, but it was always a trying relationship. I do know that you will get good references from this person and this person." See what you have done? You have admitted to a problem, stated it in positive terms, and then directed his attention to something far more positive. This makes you look good.
Mention your favorite participant sport. This shows that you are competitive, and it shows that you are physically fit. In today's world, physical fitness counts for a lot. If you've got it, flaunt it. It will impress the recruiter; it will impress prospective employers.
Mention something you have read lately. This doesn't mean the latest spy novel or western that you read on the beach last summer. Mention an article in Fortune, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, or Time or Newsweek. Refer to a book you have read, preferably a business book, such as The Pursuit of Excellence, Corporate Cultures, or one of the books on how the Japanese are better managers than Americans are. This will balance out your comments about sports and show off your intellectual side.
You end the meeting. You be the one who has to get back to work or go to another meeting. This makes you look busy and powerful; and best of all, you look happily employed.
How Not to Impress a Headhunter
Don't waste their time. It's perfectly acceptable and even desirable for you to make time to talk to any good executive recruiter who contacts you. You should state that you're happy where you are and don't think you're seriously looking around. They will still want to see you and, at this stage, you should still see them. Let him interview you, get to know you, and even give you an evaluation of your worth in the marketplace. But if you still don't want to change jobs, end it here. Never let a recruiter send you out on interviews if you aren't serious about changing jobs.
Be honest with a recruiter about your limitations once they have described the job to you. As Duarte said, "If a company happens to be located in Rochester, New York, and you've got an invalid mother you can't leave in New York City, don't go on a fact-finding interview. You can't move. Put it up front. You hurt yourself with the recruiter if you don't. And you don't want to do that. The recruiter will never contact you again if you've led him on like that."
Don't use a recruiter to change careers. They like a sure thing. They are, in fact, paid to find a sure thing. As Millie McCoy noted: "Clients pay us to find a track record of success in their industry or in a more sophisticated industry than theirs. They don't pay us to take someone out of a mature industry and put him into a high-tech industry because the cultures are so different. If someone is going to transfer from one field to another, it is better to do this on their own and with their own contacts."
See the following articles for more information:
- How to Start on the Right Foot in Your New Job
- What Are the Sources to Find the Information You Need
- The Background of Application Process
- How to Network and Take an Information Interview
