Tip #3: “Responses Are Not Guaranteed”
In life, regardless of who is initiating contact, a response is not guaranteed. Some will say we must respond to everyone, but this can be unrealistic in a hot job market when 20-30 people contact us every day for weeks. Besides, recruiters often don’t respond to us, even when they initiated contact and we followed their response requirements to the letter. There is no double-standard here. Either we’re all required to response, or none of us are. It is the latter. They’ll be back later with another job whether we ever responded or not.
Tip #4: “Avoid the Phone at First”
Avoid getting on the phone with any recruiter until knowing details about the job and whether it’s a possibility to consider. Many will call about jobs in the wrong field, wrong state (planet?), and other misfires that make it a waste of time. Oddly, they often refuse to get off the phone with us even after we tell them this and that we need to go, insisting on chatting us up about what we’re looking for. That should’ve been obvious from our resume and profile, etc., so they haven’t done their homework.
Tip #5: “Networking is Overrated”
Seemingly everyone glowingly talks about the power of networking to find our next job. This may depend on industry, but this is overrated. The reality is that by being on job boards, our resume will slowly work its way into countless recruiting databases by hundreds of firms. When they have a position that even remotely fits our skills or locations (and often when it’s a total miss!), they’ll contact us. It’s their job. They cast a wide net. So if you hate networking, don’t force yourself. They’ll come to you anyway (if your resume is good). One reason for this is that the odds of someone you know personally having an appropriate job for you at the exact moment that you’re actually looking are not great. It’s mathematically unlikely.