Missed Opportunity

OK, so you've been out of work since May 2020 (Covid related no doubt) and have a banner on your profile picture on LI saying you are #opentowork. From your profile, it appears to you might have the qualifications I seek for a role with one of my clients....and it's a niche skill set. I reach out to you to connect and to send you the spec in the hope that it might be of interest to you. I expect that, since you are #opentowork, you will respond and at least have a look at the opportunity.

What happens? Five months later you accept my request and express an interest in learning more. Well, that role was filled four months ago!

As a recruiter, I read daily about how awful recruiters are. How we don't get back to candidates. How, after interviews, we still don't always respond. Shame on us.

But as a job seeker, let me enlighten you on a few things (or tips if you want to call them that):

1. You are in need of a new job for whatever reason (you hate your current job, you hate your current boss, you hate your current company, you want to do more, you want to be challenged, you want more money/perks, you were reorganized out, you were downsized out, you lost your job due to Covid--whatever). Jobs don't come to you, you go to them. Although, in hindsight, this job was coming to this particular applicant.
2. First look at your resume. Is it the best it can be? Is it clear and concise? Is it just a laundry list cut and pasted from your job spec or do you actually describe what you do and list your achievements. Do you highlight your accomplishments? Do you tell the screener your key competencies? Does the resume tell your story?
3. Next look at LinkedIn. Is your profile optimized? Do you have a good professional picture (not one with your boyfriend's hand on your shoulder). Does your headline list your key competencies or is it a duplicate of your last title? Are you using the 'About' section to tell the reader who you are and what you've done? Do you tell a story? Does it have a paragraph listing your key competencies/technical skills? Do you list your employers and roles in a clear chronological order? Do you have an overview of your accomplishments in those roles? Not a duplicate of your resume but an overview -- bulleted or in paragraph format. Are your volunteer or school activities in the right section and not making your relevant work experience too busy looking and confusing?
4. Next -- and here's the hard part. Think about your job search. Just as companies still 'post and pray' -- meaning posting a role and praying the perfect candidate will apply, 'sending and praying' is just as useless. Many companies post roles because they have to. The role may be filled already. The hiring manager may know who she wants to hire already. The role may not even exist -- just a way to gather resumes. The role may be put on hold. The role may change. The recruiter may not even look at all the submissions -- stopping after the first couple of hundred -- yes couple of hundred (I get upwards of 700 for an analyst search). How do you 'beat the system'? Use your network. Reach out to people with whom you've worked. Tap into people you know. Learn about their roles and their companies. Tell them about yourself (I did miss a step here....it's about understanding who you are and what you do. How to understand what you want to do next, but that's a an article in itself). LinkedIn is a great tool here.
5. What else is good? Know that recruiters will reach out to you if you have what they are looking for? How do they know you have what they seek? From your optimized profile. From you telling them who you are what you do. From you making it clear what your key skills are. When we conduct a LI search, we put in certain parameters (key words) and those candidates come before us in a list....the more optimized you are, the closer to the top you come. The better the profile, the more chance you have of getting that call.
6. What else is good? When a recruiter reaches out to you with a potential opportunity, respond. Learn about the role. Learn if it is for you. If not, at least you've made a connection with that recruiter who might have something else for you. How do you respond so quickly? Well, if you are in job search mode, you are on LI regularly (at least once daily). Looking at jobs posted. Making connections. Building your network. Liking and sharing posts. Putting up posts of your own showing you are a SME in something.

This candidate lost out on learning about an excellent opportunity. She missed the chance to learn about this role and for her to tell me more about herself and other opportunities I might have. I understand a candidate not looking for work not responding right away. We are all busy and LI may not be top of mind all the time. But, if you are looking a job, it should be open and in front of you nearly all the time -- except for maybe when you are conducting informational meetings or in an interview yourself.