Heed the Recruiter's Advice when Looking for a Job

I took a recruiting position with an IT Staffing Firm this Spring, 2006. In recap, my career started as a Network Engineer (1988) in the Financial Services industry. During this part of my career, I gained experience in vendor management, technology standards development & compliance, enterprise-wide technology planning & management, relationship management, and project management. I transitioned to IT Sales (2000) for software/web development projects and services such as on-demand computing, survey systems, supply chain management systems, and a variety of other business and financial consulting services.

What I've learned is that when a recruiter gives you advice about how to land a job, it might serve you well to follow that advice. On a daily basis, I see job hunters who simply refuse to spend extra effort to potentially land that next good employment opportunity. In many cases, these job hunters are guilty of the same behaviors I've also engaged in over the years (prior to becoming a recruiter myself)

The single-most important piece of advice I would give is that when you apply for a job and you know specifically what the employer is looking for (based on their posting or advertisement), customize your resume. Make it fit the job. Too many job hunters simply use one resume and expect the employers to make the job fit the resume. It's not going to happen. Employers review resumes looking for specific skills. Job hunters who have these skills and make their resume reflect this for this application stand a much stronger possibility of getting an employer's interest.

For the job hunter, I know this can be a frustrating process of having many many versions of their resume, but this is still a very good way of connecting with that potential employer.

Collins Denny
IT Recruiter
Leading Edge Systems
Richmond VA