The recruiter-candidate relationship can be an incredible tool for IT professionals looking for ways to achieve their career goals. And finding the right IT talent for their clients’ needs can generate positive results for recruiters and their clients. To help both recruiters and candidates achieve their goals, they should adhere to a set of best practices.

Best Practices For Recruiters

Recruiters are both career agents to their candidates and solutions providers to their clients. To provide the best service to both, recruiters should keep the following in mind:

Communication is Key. Keeping in touch with candidates is essential to understanding their goals, current situation and availability. Plus, it helps to establish the relationship and earn the trust of IT professionals who might be leery from previous recruiter experiences. At MMI, our recruiters talk to candidates–whether on assignment or not–on a monthly basis. Each quarter, we meet our candidates for lunch to catch up and further build a personal relationship. Maybe you don’t have the time to go this far, but try to make the time–IT talent is your most important asset!

Understand the Real Goal. Your main goal as a recruiter is not placement of a candidate; it’s finding a situation that is mutually beneficial to both the client and the IT professional. Helping IT professionals find an opportunity that will help them achieve their personal goals is an incredibly rewarding part of this job. Before placing a candidate, take the time to ensure the position really is the best fit for both the client and candidate.

Consider Re-Hiring Candidates. Are you keeping in touch with previously placed candidates? Your relationship shouldn’t end after a successful placement or full-time employment. By regularly touching base with former candidates, you’ll be one of the first to know when they are considering going back into the job market. Stay in regular contact with your candidates, and you’re more likely to get a lucrative return on your investment of time.

Best Practices For Candidates

IT professionals have diverse sets of skills and backgrounds, with varying goals to match. The IT jobs forecast is strong, and your recruiter relationship can help you find the right candidate. Employing these best practices is essential to getting the most out of your recruiter relationship–and achieving your career goals:

Communication is Key. No, this isn’t a typo from above–communication is a two-way street! And it is a critical component of a successful relationship with your recruiter. Let us know about your expectations, goals and preferences. And if you have questions while on assignment, or at any stage of the process, reach out to us. Even with the smallest question.

Be Honest. Whether you have constructive criticism or you want to provide us with positive feedback, share what’s on your mind with us. When a recruiter at Mitchell Martin places you on assignment, your success and happiness are of the utmost importance to us. So, if you are unhappy in your current placement or your goals have changed, be honest with us. We don’t take it personally if you’re dissatisfied; sometimes it’s just not the right fit. Always be honest with your recruiter!

Be Specific. Whether it’s your salary, preferred type of position, or your training and background, be as specific as possible. Clearly define your career “wishlist” and give us detailed goals–we’ll help you achieve them. Understanding the specifics of your background and goals will help us find you career opportunities that are the right match. No detail is too minor–lay it on us; we want to help!

Looking for new ways to stand out to employers and find new IT career opportunities? Online job boards can be a great option, but you’ll be competing with hundreds (if not thousands) of other candidates for each job posting. So, how can you keep your resume at the top of the pile, and out of the recycle bin? Social media is a critical tool in your job search! An active social media presence can give you an extra edge in your career. The following six tips can help you stand out from the competition and take the next step in your career:

1. Be eclectic. Traditional job search methods are still effective, but partnered with various social media tools, they can help you truly stand out from the competition, and can help position you as the top-tier talent that you are! But, as with any new methods, be sure to avoid some critical social media job search mistakes.

2. Consider blogging. Are you an expert in your field? Prove it! Set aside a few hours each week to blog on topics that are relevant to your career goals. Demonstrating your knowledge and expertise can help you position yourself as a true leader in your field. And the SEO benefit of blogging on relevant topics can help drive traffic to your online profiles.

3. Get recognized. Setting up profiles on Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook is a very small step in the process. Once you’ve established your online presence, it’s time to get active and get recognized. On LinkedIn, participate in user groups on relevant discussion topics, share content that is relevant to your industry, and “like” and comment on other people’s posts.

4. Build your network. Creating and sharing content is essential, but it won’t get you far if you don’t have a relevant network! Take the time to identify former coworkers, clients, classmates, professors — any professional connections you have made. Then, seek them out on LinkedIn and Twitter. If you have a Facebook profile you use specifically for career purposes, consider “friending” them as well. Also, be sure to follow companies you admire (or would like to work for!) on all three main social networks. On Twitter, this can also help you build your own follower list (as Twitter courtesy often dictates users follow back anyone who follows them). You’ll not only gain access to more relevant industry content, many companies post job openings and other relevant information on their social sites.

5. Take advantage of tools. Programs like HootSuite, Twitterfeed and Sprout Social can help you connect across all major social media networks. They can also help you easily identify relevant job postings and discussions through things like hashtag searches (identifying relevant topics on Twitter). Many of these tools are available for free (with limited availability), or a small monthly fee. But they can enhance your social media presence, and provide you with an extra edge in your job search.

6. Consider branching out. Some of the latest social media trends don’t involve Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn. And while they may not be as time-tested as the core three, there can be considerable opportunity for you there. Pinterest offers a unique chance to broadcast your qualifications and expertise to an audience of more than 10 million users. Users sometimes “pin” their resumes, examples of their work, or also share relevant, visual content like infographics. Spending a short amount of time each week on Pinterest can help you stand out a bit more from the competition, and could give you the slight edge you need to land your next IT career opportunity.

• Overall experience with Mitchell Martin.
• Experience with our Recruiting department.
• On-boarding experience.
• Our Recruiters interaction after the onset of a client engagement.
• Response time with any issue was raised.
• Timely receipt of payroll.
• How willing would you be to recommend Mitchell Martin to a colleague or friend.

We are proud to communicate that over 70% of our staff responded to this survey and 98% of responders rated Mitchell Martin Good, Very Good or Excellent across all specified categories.  Also,  100% of responders would be willing to recommended Mitchell Martin to a colleague or friend.  Some of our consultants comments included:

• “Everybody who I dealt with very helpful, thank you”
• “It was a little rough start with the payroll side as the clients time reporting is not on the same schedule as MMI but I all worked out finally”
• “100 per cent satisfied”
• “My experience with MMI so far was only positive!”
• “I am glad to work with my Mitchell Martin Recruiter.  He has really helped me a lot to get into this contract position and I really appreciate all his help”

At the completion of these surveys we evaluate our business processes, looking for opportunities to improve our operations.  Special thanks to everyone who responded to this survey as well as the internal employees of Mitchell Martin that are providing an exceptional experience to our consulting staff.

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