If you think it’s easy to find an executive recruiter on LinkedIn, you are partially correct. Finding an Executive Recruiter shouldn’t be a major challenge but the real question you should be asking yourself is, “Have I found the RIGHT executive recruiter to work with on LinkedIn?”
You probably know by now that LinkedIn has over 500 million users so it shouldn’t seem like a tall task to find any Executive Recruiter, but the fact remains that many people don’t often find the RIGHT Executive Recruiters when searching for a job.
This begs the question, “What does finding the RIGHT executive recruiter even mean?”
The right executive recruiter will have strong connections in your niche markets and career fields.
They will be able to identify specific opportunities within your markets, industry, materials, or specialization.
They will also be more likely to have relationships with key companies and, in the best case scenario, they will already have a relationship with your competitors.
There are some major steps you must take to find the RIGHT Executive Recruiter:
1. Identify and write down which markets, fields, or segments of business you want to work in
2. Identify and write down the types of roles you want as the next step in your career
3. Do a Boolean search on LinkedIn to find an Executive Recruiter that specializes in your field (more information below)
4. Send the Recruiter a 1st person connection invitation
5. In the connection invitation, send them a personalized note indicating WHY you want to connect with them, and WHAT your qualifications are
6. After they accept your connection, email them your full resume and call them to talk about your experience, your job search, and your parameters
The whole point of the Boolean search on LinkedIn is to find the RIGHT Executive Recruiter that specializes in the areas in which you want to find employment.
When you are doing a Boolean search, it’s important to use parentheses in the first and second part of your search for an Executive Recruiter.
In the 2nd part of your search, use the keywords, titles, market niche, and business words that relate to your search.
A good example would be:
(Recruiter OR Recruitment OR Recruiting OR Headhunter OR Executive Recruiter OR Staffing OR talent acquisition) AND (Market OR Business OR Niche OR Field OR Industry OR Materials OR Specialty)
In the example, you will see that the second group of words are categories, and these are just examples for you.
I would encourage you to write down the answers you put into number 1, of the major steps you must take to find the RIGHT Executive Recruiter.
Your search results should yield you Executive Recruiters who work more closely in your field of interest.
The key to the whole process is learning to search correctly and connect with the RIGHT Executive Recruiters in your niche.
Once you connect with them, don’t hesitate in building the relationship with them quickly. The more quickly you can build the relationship, the more quickly you’ll be able to find opportunities that match your experience and search parameters.
Good luck in your search!