"So instead of getting into direct contact with the hiring director, you usually end up talking to some no-nothing recruiter who doesn't know jack about IT and think he or she is your only conduit to getting a decent position."
Speaking as a hiring director - I'm not a director bu I have hiring authority - I do not want you to talk directly to me. I do not have the time. Besides you should see the morons who can boot a computer and configure a NIC and think that qualifies them for an IT position. I have fired recruiters for failing to pre-screen applicants. I have fired recruiters for sending me resumes with grammatical errors. You should be glad to have a person who knows me and works with me on a regular basis as your advocate during the interview process. Most good recruiters will sit in on interviews if possible to get a feel for the style of the interviewer. Often they will conduct mock intervies to prepare a candidate for what to expect from a particular interviewer. The simple answer is a GOOD recruiter is your best and often only shot at getting hired by me.
I have gotten three of my last four jobs through headhunters (Some call the Temp. agencies or placement firms.) In all three cases they found my name on line at a job board. Now if you ask corporate america where they found me, they will report that a headhunter recruited me. If you ask me where I got the job, I will tell you I got it from the job board. Who is right? Both of us.
I would believe statistics that most americans are not very succesfull with the job boards. There is a real art to selling yourself. Most people are not good at doing it in person. Trying to do it through an impersonal medium like the inernet is even harder.
You have to understand what recruiters are looking for in your career field. Most recruiters do not browse job boards, they search them. If you do not have the right key words in your resume to bubble to the top, you will be lost in the middle of the list. Next you have to make sure that your resume sells you. In this new economy, it is an employers market. Meeting 80% of the qualifications does not work. You need 100% of the qualifications plus a little something extra to make you stand out.
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Speaking as a hiring director - I'm not a director bu I have hiring authority - I do not want you to talk directly to me. I do not have the time. Besides you should see the morons who can boot a computer and configure a NIC and think that qualifies them for an IT position. I have fired recruiters for failing to pre-screen applicants. I have fired recruiters for sending me resumes with grammatical errors. You should be glad to have a person who knows me and works with me on a regular basis as your advocate during the interview process. Most good recruiters will sit in on interviews if possible to get a feel for the style of the interviewer. Often they will conduct mock intervies to prepare a candidate for what to expect from a particular interviewer. The simple answer is a GOOD recruiter is your best and often only shot at getting hired by me.
I have gotten three of my last four jobs through headhunters (Some call the Temp. agencies or placement firms.) In all three cases they found my name on line at a job board. Now if you ask corporate america where they found me, they will report that a headhunter recruited me. If you ask me where I got the job, I will tell you I got it from the job board. Who is right? Both of us. I would believe statistics that most americans are not very succesfull with the job boards. There is a real art to selling yourself. Most people are not good at doing it in person. Trying to do it through an impersonal medium like the inernet is even harder. You have to understand what recruiters are looking for in your career field. Most recruiters do not browse job boards, they search them. If you do not have the right key words in your resume to bubble to the top, you will be lost in the middle of the list. Next you have to make sure that your resume sells you. In this new economy, it is an employers market. Meeting 80% of the qualifications does not work. You need 100% of the qualifications plus a little something extra to make you stand out.