Are you tired of getting hit up by so many recruiting agencies that don’t even understand your career goals and specialties in Cloud technologies?
If you are a Cloud or Data expert ready to get started on a new job search, you are about to be immersed in a market hotter than ever, because you are on demand!! Many opportunities will be open for you, but choose wisely your next steps in your career and that includes choosing the right recruiter to assist you along the way. But, with so many recruiters out there, how would you know which one is best suited for you?
Here are 5 tips to help you chose the right staffing partner:
- Establish your career goals.
Now that you are ready to find your next job, it’s time to sit down grab a pen or your laptop and establish the most important factors for your next career. Ask yourself, what would get you most excited to get out of bed in the morning? When you had ‘great days’ throughout your career, what were you doing? If you were your boss (at your current company) what would you change? What technologies you would like to continue developing your career? What is the type of culture you would like to be immersed in? What type of company do you want to work for; as there are big differences between a product and consulting company as an example. What type of boss do you perform best for, and what is the compensation want?
We highly recommend spending time thinking through what you truly want to do, and what type of organization you want to do it for. Hoping that will come to you during an interview process adds stress to an already stressful process (and everyone’s going to ask you this question).
2. Work with a recruiter that understand the technologies you use.
Recruiters have connections and access to decision makers you don’t. In fact, they are paid thousands of dollars to present ‘great’ candidates directly to them! But few recruiters will truly understand the technologies you use? This is actually a serious risk to you! If a recruiter doesn’t fully understand your environment, they won’t be able to represent you with the client properly, meaning that they won’t highlight your strengths, capabilities, and the impact of your work in their future projects, which reduces your odds of getting to talk to them. This is not even to mention that fact that you only want to consider companies that have the technology that aligns with your future plans.
Please, think twice before you proceed in talking to a recruiter that doesn’t specialized in your area of expertise.
3. Work with a recruiter that understands your career and culture goals.
Be sure you talk to someone that takes the time to get to know your career goals and culture preferences. Let’s say you get an offer and start working for your next company. Two weeks later, you begin to realize that the culture of the company is not what you expected. The projects start pile up and you are working more hours than you desired. The risk is that your employer doesn’t respect your boundaries and doesn’t effectively communicate to understand your frustration.
When applying to a job, you should be able to have a clear picture of the company you want to work for. Your recruiter should be able to give you options of open opportunities within different companies where you could be a fit. The best way to take advantage of this market is to talk to a couple different opportunities, but only those that align on your priorities.
4. Avoid going through long hiring processes.
This one is easy, nobody wants to waste their time. While you are interviewing you may still work for a company, therefore, your time is reduced. My advice is that you ask the recruiter upfront how long this process would take before you get to a decision.
In this way, you will have a better picture of your time commitment throughout the process and decide whether to continue or not.
5. Work with a staffing partner where you matter!
Most staffing companies have quotas and targets, so they do the following: Get a client > get a candidate > make a placement. The huge mistake of working in that way is that they don’t focus on a good match for the client or the candidates. In your case, this may mean that they will not care about you at all.
When you work with a staffing company, please consider working with someone where you matter. You should be heard about your career goals, your culture, your struggles, your passion, the direction you want to head and those things that will truly launch you out of bed in the morning. We all know the difference between asking questions and hearing the answers. A good staffing partner will make you feel heard, and the opportunities presented will reinforce that.
At Cirrus Group Consulting we are very long term focused, so creating alignment between great companies and candidates is mission #1. Our process prioritizes understanding you, what you need and what you are looking for. As experts in Cloud and Data technologies all our recruiters are certified, therefore we speak your language. Our clients trust us to send them great candidates and get quick feedback and efficient interview processes. We avoid having you go through a long selection process, usually, the first interview is with someone important on the team.
You are our priority, and you deserve the best!
