Reasons for working with a recruiter #5: You get advice on matching opportunities to your ideal career

10.15.2013

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Recruiters are not career counselors per se, but you can learn a lot from working with us. When we are doing our job right, we listen carefully to your career history and learn about where you’d like to go in the future.

Then we look at our portfolio of opportunities and discuss with you the ones that might work. During this process, we learn more about you, and you not only learn more about potential opportunities but also think about how what’s “out there” relates to your career.

As a result, good things can happen!  Including the following:

  • You learn about new jobs or even entirely different careers in which you can use your skills.
  • You gain a trusted advisor who can give you advice on timing your career moves or make you aware of great career moves that are not posted on the internet. For example, maybe you are ready for a higher position than planned to take on next. Or maybe a job is available that will allow you to lay the groundwork for your future dream job.
  • You can better choose among possibilities that fit your career right now by receiving additional information about them–unique, hard-to-get information.
  • You have another set of eyes and ears on the lookout for you able to work as your “agent” to alert you when that “right” opportunity comes to their attention.

The thing to keep in mind is that the personalized advice and information a recruiter can offer is not available to most people on a daily basis. Friends and colleagues may have some insights, and online articles can be helpful. A career counselor or outplacement specialist can be an important source of wisdom too. What’s different about a recruiter is that they are in the trenches every day. They can provide the insider’s viewpoint and market insight about the industries in which they specialize.

When you work with a good recruiter who wishes to build a relationship, it’s not just a matter of getting a job or not getting a job via him or her. The information exchange is extremely valuable in its own right.

Matt
The Key Corporate Services Blog Team

 

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