6 Ways to Turn Executive Recruiters into your Biggest Job Search Allies

6 Ways to Turn Executive Recruiters into your Biggest Job Search Allies 6 Ways to Turn Executive Recruiters into your Biggest Job Search Allies Executive recruiters can be one of your biggest assets in an executive job search if you know how to grab their attention.After years working as an Executive Recruiter, Im going to show you how to get noticed by top recruiters and how to choose the right recruiter to help you find your next leadership role.1. Get Their Attention on LinkedInLinkedIn is one of the best places to get seen by recruiters because they often search here when theyre actively looking for people to represent.However, theyre going to see 10 people per page in their search results, so its important to stand out.In your profile, use an up-to-date, professional photo and a descriptive headline to increase the number of clicks you receive.For your headline, dont just say Director or dezentral Director. Be mora specific and say Sales Director, Regional Sales Director, etc.Yo ull also want to use keywords in your profile to appear in more searches.Put keywords in your headline, your introduction, and your descriptions of your recent work.Additional keywords that you couldnt fit into those sections can be placed in your Skills section lower down on your profile. This is a great way to get more relevant keywords on your profile because LinkedIn allows up to 50 skills to be listed here, all of which count as search keywords for your profile.To find keywords, look at a couple job descriptions of positions youd like to be considered for. What keywords do they mention? To get more ideas for keywords, you can look at some of your colleagues or people who hold the type of jobs youre aiming to land.Jobscans LinkedIn Optimization helps to automate this process.2. Make Them Want to Contact YouOnce your profile is getting clicked and read, youll still need to optimize it further to get executive recruiters excited to contact you.There are a couple ways you can do th is.First, focus on specific accomplishments. Most people put responsibilities and duties on their LinkedIn profile (e.g. Managed a team of 10 Sales Associates). If you want to stand out, focus on tangible accomplishments. For example, you could say, leuchtdiode a team of 10 Sales Associates to achieve 178% of 2017 revenue goals.Use facts, figures, metrics and measurable results whenever you can.You can also get recommendations to make your profile stand out further. If you havent already, ask a couple of colleagues to write you a recommendation on LinkedIn.This is a lot more convincing and impressive than simply being endorsed for skills. Executive recruiters know it requires time and effort to write a recommendation for somebody, so this is evidence that youve built strong relationships in your career and are someone worth talking to.3. Be ProactiveIf you want executive recruiters to help you, dont be afraid to initiate contact with them.Do your own research and identify one or two recruiters in your city that seem to focus on your industry.Do a Google search for terms like, Executive recruiters in Boston, Sales recruiters in Philadelphia, Healthcare recruiters in San Diego, etc.You can do similar searches on LinkedIn, too.Practice your elevator pitch and approach recruiters with your story, what youre looking for in your job hunt, and why you thought it made sense to discuss partnering with them.Just like you wouldnt be very receptive to a conversation with a recruiter who knew nothing about your background, an executive recruiter is going to be a lot less receptive to you if they get the sense youre blindly reaching out to every recruiter you can find, without a specific reason.Show them youve done your research and understand the work they do, and explain why youre contacting them in particular. Thats how to get their attention.4. Work With a SpecialistNow youre ready to start having conversations with recruiters, but youll need to know how to choose the r ight ones to work with.As an executive, you need someone who knows your industry inside and out, and ideally, someone who focuses on executive or leadership roles.So when an executive recruiter calls you up, here are some questions you can ask them to get a better sense of the work they doHow long have you been working as a recruiter?What level of positions do you typically recruit for?How long have you been recruiting in this industry?Do you recruit in other industries too?Do you work directly with the hiring managers at the companies you represent?(The more direct of a connection they have, the more they can influence the process and help you get hired.)5. Quality, Not QuantityIf youre talking to 10 recruiters, you might think youre boosting the chance that you find a great job.However, by talking to too many recruiters, youll often scare the best ones off and reduce your odds of landing a top position.Most headhunters only get paid if you accept a position through them (the excep tion is if theyve been retained by the company). So, if a high-performing executive recruiter gets the sense that youre talking to every recruiter you can find, they know their chance of successfully placing you into a job are a lot lower, because youll be busy, distracted and difficult to partner closely with.All of this means theyll put a lot less effort into helping you.So while you might get 10 average recruiters putting in a bit of work for you, youll miss out on having the help of one or two top-tier recruiters who have the connections and influence to help you land a truly great job in your market.I recommend aiming to work with one or two recruiters in an executive job search. If one of them isnt delivering good opportunities, replace them and find another.6. Know What Youre Looking ForWhen you go into a conversation with an executive recruiter, be ready to articulate what youre looking for, or what would get you excited to take a new job.If you sound unsure, they may be afr aid to invest time and effort into helping you explore new opportunities.Sounding scattered or unsure what you want puts more work on their shoulders, and a lot more risk risk youll end up changing your mind, getting all the way to the end of a hiring process and declining a job offer, etc.Since most recruiters dont get paid unless they successfully place you into a job, part of their mindset revolves around limiting these risks.Think about this beforehand and be ready to explain what youre looking for next.If you follow these recommendations, youll get the attention of top executive recruiters in your job search.Biron Clark is a professional recruiter, job search coach, and founder of the blog CareerSidekick.com. As a recruiter he has partnered with Fortune 100 companies down to six-person tech startups while helping hundreds of job seekers advance their careers.