IT recruitment agencies like Crimson can play an important part in your job search strategy, particularly if you're having the right conversations with them.
This article shares some tips and tricks on how to work with IT recruiters to improve your chances of career progression.
Why build a relationship with an IT recruitment agency?
Uploading your CV to a IT jobs website is not enough. If you don’t put the energy into building a relationship with a recruiter, they’re not going to know you properly and they won’t understand your skill set well enough to feel confident about presenting your cv to their clients.
IT recruiters are constantly on the road conducting business development activities to build opportunities for you. So, they need to know about you, they need to trust you, and you need to be present in their minds, if you are to remain at the top of the shortlist when the right opportunity arrives.
Therefore, you need to be welcoming and respond to calls from recruiters. As Caroline Ceniza-Levine writes in Forbes: “Keeping track of unsolicited outreach by recruiters is also a good gauge of your career marketability”.
How can an IT recruiter help you?
In our experience, a lot of people that work in IT are shy and don’t enjoy networking with people they don’t know. IT recruitment consultants are constantly picking-up the phone and meeting with hiring managers to find out about opportunities for the candidates that they represent. They’re doing a lot of the difficult work on your behalf, they have very expansive networks, and they may have market insights from within your sector that you are unaware of.
How do I get the most out of my relationship with an IT recruiter?
The best way to develop your relationship with an IT recruitment consultant is to make it a two-way relationship. All the best relationships are built on collaborative partnerships. You can add value to the relationship you have with your recruiter by recommending candidates for other roles they may be looking to fill. Similarly, if you recommend a new employer to a recruiter, they’ll be friends with you for life.
Another way to get the most out of your relationship is to communicate regularly. Phone-up every few weeks for a chat to discuss changes in the market place and relevant vacancies. Don’t be pushy. Be friendly and create a dialogue that is beneficial to you both.
How to build a relationship with an IT recruitment agency?
The best way to make an initial connection with an agency is when they reach out to you. Take those unsolicited calls. Obviously, vet the caller to ensure they’re a good recruiter that knows what they’re talking about. Use these calls as a platform to start your relationship with reputable IT recruitment agencies.
In addition, another great way to meet recruiters is to get recommended by another candidate. As already mentioned, verbal recommendations are always worth their weight in gold so keep your professional contacts updated with your career situation.
If you’re passively looking for a new opportunity, Ceniza-Levine suggested “you need to be where recruiters look for candidates… LinkedIn, conferences, professional associations, publications.” Build professional networks around these platforms so you get recognised by a broad spectrum of your peers. The more of this you do, the more IT recruitment consultants you will meet.
Bringing it all together
At the very least, its always good to be on an IT recruitment agency’s radar in case they happen to be working on a search that fits your profile. However, the more you work on your relationships with IT recruiters and your peers within the industry, the more successful you will be in your IT jobs search.
Begin your relationship with Crimson’s IT recruitment team by submitting your CV to our website and visiting our current vacancies page.
Crimson is an IT consultancy, an IT solutions provider, an IT recruitment agency, and a Microsoft Gold Partner operating across the UK.
