What should you know before you meet with a recruiter?

What should you know before you meet with a recruiter?

Meeting with a recruiter may be difficult for most of us. Even the brightest and the most confident candidates fear such a meeting due to the ambiguous nature of them. However, the meeting should be an informative, stress free experience!

It’s important to remember; recruiters are experts in the local employment market and therefore have the connections you need with local companies in order to secure that dream job. They are well-trained, committed professionals who can answer a lot of your questions.

Take a look at our top tips on what you should know before you meet with a recruiter!

1. Your meeting is a job interview

It may be a little more informal than a typical job interview but don’t let that fool you. You need to prepare for it like you would any other interview. Recruiters want to know what skills and experience you have in your chosen field so that they can pass it on to the local employers they are working with.

The recruiters want to find out all this information so that they can figure out if you match the desired requirements that the employer is willing to pay for.

You need to ensure you are ‘dressed to impress’, have hard copies of your up-to-date CV with you and you are prepared for following up questions throughout the meeting. You want to show the recruiter you are a dedicated professional who is fit for the job.

Remember, the recruiter’s job is to send the right man for the job thus, they will be looking at all aspects and your attire counts.

2. Know what you want

Pinning down exactly what you want helps the recruiter know how exactly they can best help you.

You need to find out what you like best and what you are good at. This should be a thoroughly researched activity which will help you to figure out what you want. The recruiter will without a doubt be sceptical about someone who is clueless.

It is also important to know where you can be flexible as it can expand the range of options available to you and increase the chances of your advisor being able to help you.

The types of things they would like to know may include things like salary, schedule, company culture, dress code and maximum commute range. Having a prioritised list of these types of things will help your recruiter find a job that matches as many of them as possible.

3. Understand yourself better

It’s vital to point out that you are more than what is stated on your CV. The whole idea of meeting with a recruiter is to tell them exactly ‘who you are’.

Work on your introduction technique, figure out how you’re going to lay out your qualities and how you’ll display your strengths. It’s important to be honest about yourself in the meeting. The idea is to let the recruiter know more about you than is on your CV.

4. Be prepared

Recruiters want to see that you are engaged in the meeting and taking notes is a good signal that you are listening to exactly what they are saying. Pack a pen and a notepad with you on the meeting day to ensure you make a great first impression and never miss a thing the recruiter says.

During the meeting it is especially important to clarify what the next steps of the recruitment process are. You need to make a note of what you need to do on your end to complete it.

It is better to have a few questions in mind about what you want to ask the recruiter before you leave. It is not a one way meeting, but a conversation which should benefit everyone in the process. If there are any clarifications needed, resolve them first thing in the meeting.

We hope this information sets you well on your way to having the most successful meeting possible. Don’t forget, it is your day and the better you prepare for it and understand what it’s about, the better results it will yield for you!

We hope your recruiter meeting lands you your ideal job.

Why not also take a look at our previous post on how to recruitment-proof your social media accounts, recruiters tend to check these sites first to gain a little insight into you before they meet with you in person.

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