Can I tell you a secret?
If you meet a Recruiter during your networking activities, don’t waste your time talking to the wrong one. Although many people believe the contrary, there is no one size fits all when it comes to Recruiters. When I was Recruiting for Lanta Technology Group (way back in the day) I staffed startup companies, mostly Executive and Technical talent. (Good times.) As such, I was always on the hunt for new talent and new business, so I networked all the time. It was not uncommon to meet someone, introduce myself as a Recruiter and get tossed business cards and resumes like.. like… opportunity seeking Ninjas on a mission.
So many times I wanted to say (and have on several occasions) that I cannot help you, try talking to this other recruiter guy I know. When I did that however, I could see in their faces that they thought I was being rude and (honest) I was not. I worked in a particular niche and built my contacts there, so if someone handed me a resume for a School Teacher or a CPA, I had no leads. I wish back then that I could have directed people to FollowerWonk. It would have saved me a lot of time. You know what I mean? Hm… Maybe you don’t.
Followerwonk is a search engine for Twitter bios and it is soooo simple to use. All you have to do is add in your key terms like, um… recruiter and retail (assuming of course that you are looking for work in the retail industry), then click the “Search Twitter Bios” button.
Followerwonk will then search Twitter for people who have used the terms “recruiter” and “retail” in their descriptions.
You will no doubt notice that the words “recruiter” and “retail” are being highlighted. Let’s go a bit deeper and click on one of the links provided.
Well, lookee here! –> I am a recruiter in the retail industry based in Toronto – interested in learning from others and meeting retail superstars for our amazing stores!!
Try using Followerwonk to find recruiters in your niche and save yourself some time. Make sense? Hmm… Now that I think about it, it would not have mattered if Followerwonk was around during my Lanta days because Twitter had not been invented yet. Oh well, nevermind.
-Jim Stroud
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I do agree, oftentimes, your worst enemy is time. So every opportunity you spend talking to someone you can’t help you is a moment wasted not speaking to a recruiter that actually could help you. Nonetheless, wouldn’t you agree networking is always a good thing? Even if your recruiter can’t help you, he or she may be able to refer you to their co-worker that specializes in recruiting for the exact job you are looking for. You can’t ignore that possibility, can you?