Your Recruitment consultant: Your Brand Champion!

Think of your recruitment consultant as a brand manager, and their job is to carefully manage that brand. A great recruiter will always be aware of how their brand is perceived in their market. Developing strong relationships with corporate clients, and HR managers, is essential to the success of their brand’s image. Now, their product, YOU, is the packaged representation of their brand. So how you present yourself to them, from the quality of your CV, your communications skills, to your appearance and demeanour, will determine your marketability.

It’s therefore crucial that you work closely with your recruiter on managing your first impression, and second, and third, and fourth….. When competition is fierce, every detail becomes fair play, from your attire, your grammar, your people skills, to even how you respond to rejection.

Also fair play, is your online presence and even past employment experiences; so managing your past impressions are just as important. Your recruitment consultant will work with you to build your brand image; expect open discussions about everything from work references, to your Facebook profile. Even those with the right skills can be passed over due to even a minimal display of unprofessionalism, your recruiter will assist you every step of the way to ensure you present your truest, most attractive self.

Go forth and work with your recruiter, help them feel confident that representing you as a candidate will strengthen their brand. Recruiters have close relationships with hiring managers, they won’t burn bridges for a candidate who is unprepared, impolite, overly confident, and most importantly shows signs of dishonesty. Of course, getting the job is up to you, but your recruiter can guide you there, their role is to offer exceptional talent to the hiring company, work together and you will land that dream job.

Your recruiter is your champion, even if you are unsuccessful in securing a role. You will still be marketable to your recruiter if you demonstrate gracious appreciation for their efforts. So stay professional, courteous, and present yourself to your recruiter as you would to the hiring manager.

So before you apply to the next job make sure you know the top mistakes job applicants make:

1. Generalized application – don’t just send a CV, make it personal and tailored, and make sure you have the qualifications needed for the role.
2. Late to the interview – set an alarm, leave early, plan for parking and traffic, and if you are going to be inevitably late, call and notify the interviewer.
3. Inappropriate online presence – Google yourself, anything that pops up as “unprofessional”, from videos to Facebook posts, take that content down.
4. Your pants are on fire! Don’t lie on your resume, LinkedIn profile, or anywhere else. It will catch up with you.
5. No eye contact or intense eye contact. Both of these are creepy, either you come across as shady or unbalanced.

For more career advice, contact the team at Affinity. We offer free mock interviews, CV workshops and LinkedIn profile tutorials. (345) 943-2020