I’ve been in several situations lately in which people have mentioned how persistent they’ve been in trying to connect with a recruiters and/or hiring managers while searching for a job.  As the number of phone call attempts they mentioned ranged from five to sixty-two (literally!), I shrieked at the thought of someone doing this to me.

As I probed further, I discovered that ALL OF THEM had someone in their past tell them they need to be persistent when searching for a job. True!  But as a seasoned recruiter and recruiting leader, let me set the record straight…

THERE IS A DISTINCT DIFFERENCE BETWEEN BEING PERSISTENT AND BEING AGGRESSIVE!!

Even in a slow economy, you will be hard-pressed to find a recruiter who is sitting around twiddling his/her thumbs.  If this is the case in today’s work environment, he/she is usually downsized so sitting around doesn’t last long.  With that said, please remember that recruiters handle an average of 15-40 open positions at one time.  This could also mean having to work with 15-40 hiring managers too.  Plus, like all professional positions today, they must juggle emails, voice mails, meetings, projects, boss’ requests, training, travel, etc. – sometimes all in one day!

Recruiters and hiring managers love when candidates express interest in a position and exercise great follow-up, but be careful not to overdo it.  When you contact them sooner than they’ve requested (e.g. we ask for two weeks to follow-up with you and you call in three days) or contact us obsessively, it places you in a bad light and may take you out of consideration.  Ouch!

Until next time….