Youth Incorporated Magazine

ARE YOU LOOKING FOR JOBS BUT CAN’T FIND THE RIGHT ONE? DO YOU THINK YOUR ASPIRATIONS ARE GETTING THE BETTER OF YOU? DO YOU FEEL LIKE GIVING UP AND LIVING THE MONOTONOUS LIFE WHERE YOU THINK YOU’RE TOO GOOD FOR YOUR JOB? DHNASHA BHATT BRINGS YOU A GUIDE TO GETTING IT RIGHT

HEADHUNTERS AND JOB PORTALS ARE DIFFERENT!
A job hunting portal is an online job board that helps applicants find jobs and employers locate jobs. Examples of job portals include LinkedIn, Monster.com and Naukri.com, help you connect to employers and find a job on your own. A headhunter is an individual or company that will provide employment recruitment services. Basically, a headhunter will personally put you up for the right job at the right place and get the employer the best candidate for the job.

WHY DO YOU NEED A HEADHUNTER?
What people think about before even approaching a headhunting firm is, do I need one? Many of us feel that approaching an HR firm will cost us more; what we don’t realize is that headhunting firms are our way to get us a job that achieves us maximum effort and pay relationship.

HOW DO YOU APPLY TO A HUMAN RESOURCE FIRM?
No, you do not just send in your resume to some random firm who doesn’t even know who you are. What you do is research which headhunting company works for your field and where they are situated. In a country like India your choice of company can be in Delhi but their human resource wing or the company that handles their recruitment may work from Mumbai, so you have to do your research first.
Once you have found the right firm you can contact them and ask them for their application process. Many firms have information on their website for the jobs they are recruiting. Use the social platform, check your circles on LinkedIn and Facebook. There are always chances that the recruiter you’re targeting is around. If there is a personal contact, the chances of them ignoring your CV have marginally reduced.

GET YOURSELF OUT THERE
Get your name out there. Make yourself visible. Your name will then appear in the online schedule and will pop up in Internet searches. If you have good on-field experience then write letters or give interviews. In our country, it’s easy to approach an image specialist and get yourself to be known. Getting a good image automatically boosts your chances of bagging a good job.

MAKE THE RIGHT RESUME
Five seconds! Yes, that is the time the employer is going to take to scan through your resume. You have to make sure you’ve got it right. But how do you know you’ve nailed it? Here are some points.
Show your results: The hiring manager wants to know what you will contribute to the firm. You have to put your results out there, that you have proper statistics given in your resume. Even if you think your results aren’t good enough put it in there, you never know where the chords strike.
Keeping it short: Indians often feel the longer the better but you’re wrong, the resume should not surpass two pages. The company just wants to know what you’re currently doing and they don’t really care how much you scored in college. Don’t write an essay of your achievements write about your task management and working ability.
We love numbers: Statistics of your growth, task management and bottom line revenue automatically show you’re someone who is turning himself or herself more and more efficient and that you are ready to quantify your experience.
Confidence is key: A resume that starts with, “I do not have much experience but I would love to work for your company and learn more” translates into, “I have no idea what I am doing.” When you are applying for a job make sure you show you’re confident. You should keep your resume positive, and avoid words such as ‘no’ and ‘not’. Show your past experience and how much you are willing to work for the firm by a firmly worded resume.
Give your personal details: Put your contact information in your CV, at the start and at the end, and make sure it’s visible and direct. Don’t put in just your email; dish the phone number out, as in a country that is so quick and growing , you might get a direct call for an interview.

MISTAKES YOUR HEAD HUNTER MIGHT MAKE
You hired a professional to get you a perfect job but you landed up with a job just as your last; how did this happen? Yes, headhunters are humans too and it is possible that your headhunter will mix up your choices and you could land up in odd placements. How do you avoid that from happening?
Keep track: You cannot give your headhunter the money and resume and expect to get yourself a good job. You have to stay in touch with him and keep track on how long before your interview and when will you get yourself a clear job.
Give in your opinion: It’s you who will be working behind the desk at a new firm, so you have to give in your opinion to your headhunter as to what all you want in the firm you’re looking for, why you aren’t satisfied with the current job and even what type of income you’re looking at. You do not want history repeating itself just with a new face.
Do your own research: In today’s time you cannot live like a little lazy lump, you have to do your own research and find out your own options and tell your headhunter about them and if he can get you to work within your likes.

From the head hunter’s desk

IN CONVERSATION WITH VIJAY KARKARE, MD, CORNERSTONE INTERNATIONAL, WHO GIVES US A TAKE ON WHAT IT’S LIKE IN THE HEADHUNTING BUSINESS  IN CONTEMPORARY SOCIETY

Tell us a bit about yourself. When did you get into this industry?
After working for 12 years in Pharmaceutical industry covering Manufacturing, Projects and Corporate planning and three years in Management Consulting,  I was considered for a profit centre head in a reputed recruitment services company in 1996 and then never looked back for career alternatives.

How many years experience do you have? How has the industry changed over the years?
I have spent close to 20 years in Executive Search Industry.  My focus has gradually shifted to niche hiring for leadership positions, especially in last 11 years after launching operations of Cornerstone International Group in India.

For our readers who may want to get into this field, could you give us an insight into what a day of a recruiter in a recruiting firm is like?
We typically wear multiple hats during the day. It could be mapping the talent pool for a specific assignment, talking to potential  candidates regarding opportunity, doing face to face meetings or calls for assessment/determine fit, doing deep dive in a particular industry to understand dynamics, conducting salary negotiations, reference checks, following  up on  joining, or interacting with clients for new business or existing mandates.

Are there any myths about recruiting agencies that you’ d like to dispel?
We work on active mandates from clients and cannot help every active job seeker if we do not have matching opportunities. Also we are not in HR domain though we deal primarily with HR and senior management. For us this is a business to serve our client’s needs and help build careers. Without good understanding of various industry domains through reading and experience we cannot identify the right fit.

What is the scope of the human resource recruiting industry in the coming decades, especially in India?
It is huge and very strategic for building talent pipeline for any organisation, especially as businesses become highly competitive and environment is constantly changing at a rapid pace.

How can one become a recruiting manager? What are the skills required to be one?
Many of us who joined in early stage of the industry happened by chance and not much  planning. I am happy the younger generation is looking at this industry as a career option. Ideally if one has 3-5 years of industry experience in any domain he/she can look at this industry. Curiosity, good reading habits, general awareness, good communication and interpersonal skills, ability to learn are essential skills. We also look at people who are hungry to achieve and come up in life with hard work. This is not a 9-5 job.

What is your take on the competition levels for bagging a job today?
If one has right aptitude, communication skills, hunger and willingness to start at any available opportunity and learn on the job there is no competition.  Such people are bound to grow.

We hear many stories of how bogus recruiting firms get people to sign up, take their money, and then run away (or worse, take them abroad and then trap them in jobs that are nonexistent, especially those in low-rung jobs like labourers). What is your take on this? How does one trust recruiting agencies today?
There are always few black spots in any Industry. Anyone demanding money to get you a job should be avoided. We get paid by clients and if we take money from candidates we will compromise quality.

 

Volume 5 Issue 1