There are two sides to filling a job opening. On the one side are candidates looking for a new job, and on the other are people looking for the perfect employee to fill their open position. The companies doing the recruiting often spend thousands to use executive recruiters, commonly known as "headhunters". While it might seem strange to pay a recruiter in an economy with such a huge candidate supply, there's good reason. Headhunters have proven their value by using tested networking strategies to identify the very best candidates. You can learn something from these recruiters about finding a job, as the same networking technique can be utilized in a very similar manner by job hunters with excellent results.

The Executive Recruiter Method

When a recruiter is contracted by a company, they begin the process by contacting people in the industry, or in similar positions in other industries, that they are hiring for. To do this, they will use a personal database of contacts, industry directories or professional association membership lists. These days, recruiters can also sort through networking sites such as Linked In® where millions of people have conveniently posted detailed resumes. The recruiter will call the people on the lists and ask the same question: do you know anyone interested in such and so job opportunity? They are seeking referrals from people that can put them in touch with qualified candidates that they may otherwise not find on their own. Then, recruiters contact the referred people and repeat the cycle explaining they are seeking a candidate for a particular job and ask for more referrals. Note that they always ask the same question: who do you know that may be interested in this job?

The goal of the process is to find the person that is interested in the job for him or herself. When that happens, the recruiter has hit pay dirt. The process now shifts to screening and vetting the identified candidate to see if they are worthy to bring to the hiring company.

Job Hunters: Learn From The Pros

The networking process used by executive recruiters can be reworked for job hunters with very positive results. By using the same personal database (or rolodex), industry directories or professional association membership lists any one can begin the same type of campaign. The twist is this: instead of asking potential candidates for job candidate referrals, job hunters ask contacts for referrals in companies that may have a job need or companies where they may want to work.

Do like the executive recruiters do. Did you notice how the recruiters did not ask if their referral wanted the job? They ask for more referrals. When they make the right call, the candidate will make themselves known.

Job hunters can use a similar process. Meet with contacts and describe your qualifications and the kind of job that you want. Ask for referrals. Your contact may not know of anyone with a job available but they know someone and that someone might be the connection to an opening. When the person with an opportunity meets you and hears your qualifications, they will bring up the opportunity to you - just as the right candidate did with the executive recruiter. Think not? The hiring manager is just as anxious to fill the job as you are to get it. When the right person presents him or herself the hiring manager will reveal the job.

Case Study

This very process has happened to me a few times in my career. The latest time was a few years ago. I got a call from an industry leader looking for someone with technology licensing experience in the industry, which I had. The recruiter asked if I knew anyone that may be interested. It must have been a frustrating search for her because when I told that I may be interested in hearing more about it, she responded with a "really!?" that was spoken with both surprise and relief.

Since then, I have turned the process around and helped candidates tailor and apply the executive recruiter method to their own successful job hunt.

Conclusion

The executive recruiting industry uses a proven technique for finding candidates for jobs. They have been so successful with the outcome that they continue to use it time and again and get paid handsomely at that. Why not take their technique and use it to match a job with a candidate - you?

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