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Recruiter Tips & Tricks: starting your search
September 15, 2011
Introduction: Last week we introduced our new
Recruiter Tips & Tricks
series featuring lead engineering recruiter Jeff Moore. Jeff, who has over 10 years of recruiting experience, talked about how to
best prepare your resume
. This week he’ll give some insight into starting your job search.
You’ve got your resume done and it’s totally awesome but now you have to get started with the job search. First, don’t panic, you’ll be fine. Looking for a new job can be a fun and exciting time, especially if you are looking for your first job. Before you do anything, take a deep breath, and then let’s get this search started.
Here are a few quick tips that will serve you well in your search:
Figure out what you want to do
– You don’t need to have a crystal clear picture of what your career will be in 10 years but you do need to have a general idea of the type of work you want to do. For example, do you want a job in HR? Engineering? Sales? These things matter and will have a huge impact on your professional happiness. Figuring out what kind of work you want to do will allow you to target your search and find roles that will make you genuinely excited. Don’t think of this as a lifelong career decision, just enough clarity to get you started and heading toward career happiness.
Identify target companies
– Once you know what you want to do, you have to figure out where you want to do it. What industries do you like? Where do you want to live? What companies do you admire? Having a list of target companies will let you organize your search and help you increase the odds of finding a great gig at a great company.
Start networking
– Networking is the most important thing you can do during your job search. I won’t get into too much detail here (more on this in a future post) but most companies get a majority of hires from employee referrals. If you want to increase your odds of finding that great job, your best bet is having a friend, former colleague, classmate or someone you know refer you to the recruiting team directly. You still need to apply for jobs online but networking will produce better results.
Tap into your campus resources
– Every campus has a ton of resources to help you with your job search. Career services, the alumni office, affinity groups…you really can’t use these folks enough. They are there to help you find a job and they are a critical piece of your search. On campus resources can help you find roles to apply for online or via a job fair and also help your networking. We’ll talk much more about this in a later post but take some time to figure out what resources are available on campus…and use them.
Interview, interview, interview
– I’m a huge believer in talking to almost anyone about roles if they think you’re a fit for their organization. I had never even heard of “recruiting” before my first interview for a recruiting role and my career is profoundly different because I was willing to have the conversation. When starting your job search, my advice is to talk to anyone that wants to talk to you. This will accomplish two things that are really important: First, you’ll get comfortable interviewing and be able to refine your talking points. A great candidate is able to easily communicate their experience during the interview; very few of us can do this on the first try. I believe the cliché is “practice makes perfect.” Second, there are opportunities in the world that might be a perfect match for you that you’ve just never thought of, or even know exist. Taking time to speak with people at different companies about a multitude of roles will open your eyes to some amazing opportunities and start you down an exciting career path.
That’s it for this week. The fall hiring season is picking up, so get out there and find a great gig!
Posted by Jeff Moore, Lead Engineering Recruiter
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