The 9 Best Job-Seeking Tips from Staffing Leaders

By Arnie Fertig


What is the most effective way to get a job?

Talent acquisition leaders from greater Boston health care organizations and recruiting agencies recently came together with career counselors, résumé writers and job hunter coaches at a forum hosted by the Association of Career Professionals-New England. They provided a potpourri of valuable insights and tips for you to consider:

1. Respect yourself. "I don't want to hire you unless you are proud of who you are," advises Bobby Tugbiyele, the talent management specialist at the Lowell Community Health Center.

If you appear to be hiding key facts about your background, including your age, you show yourself to be evasive. For example, if you have a gap in employment, are older than age 50 or have other special circumstances, don't try to cover it up. Rather than make a staffing person guess what is going on, convey your own story in the best possible terms. Otherwise, you can easily disqualify yourself.

2. Embrace LinkedIn. LinkedIn is crucial to the staffing efforts of independent recruiters like Robert McInturff, president of McInturff & Associates and Kathy Provost, managing director of Biomedical Search Consultants, as well as for Tugbiyele and Michael Cawley, senior manager of talent acquisition and organizational development at Tufts Health Plan. While each use social media in different ways and to varying degrees, all agreed that so far as the eye can see, LinkedIn is "the wave of the future" for sourcing strong candidates. They all use it to review candidate profiles at one point or another in the hiring process.

3. In-person networking never gets old. Employee referrals remain a primary source for good hires, and employees are compensated when they refer others who are then hired.

This has obvious implications for job seekers. Panelists all encouraged job seekers to find people whom they know in their target company through LinkedIn or other means, and network themselves into consideration.

4. Recruiters work for employers, not candidates. "No one needs [to pay a fee to] me to find just 'a person,'" says McInturff. "They look to me to find people in the top 15 percent of whatever, who they don't already have in their database."

While recruiters can make an impact on a person's career trajectory, they place only a small portion of people who are hired. Unless there is something stellar in your background, chances are you are not great recruiter bait.

5. Always maintain contact with key recruiters. "Whenever you are approached by a recruiter, take the call," Provost advises. Even when you aren't looking, it is wise to keep your network active.
Provost also says it's a big mistake to say "I'm always looking" or "I'm always open to new opportunities," even if you are open to being recruited. Rather than conveying that you're receptive to hearing about a new possibility, it gives the sense that you're open to being a job hopper, and are only looking at this present opportunity as a stepping-stone to the next one.

Tips 6-9 and the complete US News Article