Looking for an executive recruiter (headhunter) for your executive job search?
It would be nice if all the recruiters who could place you in a position would just find and contact you, but it just doesn’t work that way. Recruiters do search LinkedIn and other sites for potential candidates, but if they don’t find you, your best chance of maximizing your executive job search options is to put yourself in front of them. But how do you find them? Here’s how:
- Ask colleagues, friends and other professionals in your field for names and contact info for recruiters they know.
- Find companies in your space with employees like you (similar background, experience, title, etc.) and find out from those people what recruiter placed them in that company, or who they would recommend for that field. (A great way to do this is to use LinkedIn or other online professional networks.)
- Call the associations in your industry (speak to the officers of the organization) and ask them if they know any recruiters who specialize in your industry. ‘
- Go to tradeshows or other important industry functions. Recruiters will often attend those functions so they can meet people. I love recruiting at tradeshows.
- If you know one recruiter in your field, ask them to refer you to others. They might, or they might not—it depends on their attitude and on the scope of their recruiting firm. But it never hurts to try.
- Run a Google search using keyword-specific terms:
Industry: What industry are you in? It could be aerospace, automotive, medical, healthcare, financial, social media, sporting events, hospitality, chemical, manufacturing, etc.
Function: What do you do? This might be sales, finance, marketing, engineering, project management, logistics, information technology, security, etc.
Recruiter: If using “recruiter” doesn’t show results, try “executive search”, “search firm”, or even “headhunter”.
This kind of search should give you great results. (For example: searching “medical, sales recruiter” will find PHC Consulting, my medical sales recruiting firm.)
- Look through online social networks like LinkedIn, Twitter, or Facebook. LinkedIn is a fantastic way to meet recruiters in your industry. I don’t know of any recruiter who wouldn’t have a presence on LinkedIn. Use LinkedIn’s search function (like Google) to find them, or join groups in your field and look for recruiters there and start online conversations.
- Search Recruiter Directories:
The Kennedy directory, www.kennedyinfo.com, is one of the most well-known directories, but you might find others that are useful.
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