5 Mistakes You’re Making When Reaching out to Recruiters and Hiring Managers on LinkedIn… and How to Fix Them!

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picture of someone with cell phone looking at LinkedIn screen

You’re a candidate that is looking for a new opportunity and you’ve been told that you should reach out to recruiters or hiring managers on LinkedIn. Sounds simple enough right? Well, why is it that when you reach out, most recruiters don’t respond? Is it just that we’re all jerks (could be some of us, but not ALL, LOL!)?

LinkedIn is a great first step but it is often the critical step that can make or break all of your interactions in your job search.

As a recruiter, I’m on LinkedIn daily and it’s surprising how often I receive an InMail that reads, “Hello, how are you?” I’ll scroll up and down, thinking that perhaps I’ve missed something, but there is nothing else to the InMail.

Hopefully, if you are a job seeker, you are able to see the problem with this kind of outreach immediately. But if you don’t, this post will help you to be more effective in your outreach to recruiters and absolutely increase your response rate.

I’ve put together a list of the top 5 missteps you may be making when reaching out to a recruiter on LinkedIn and how to fix them! Let’s get into it!

1. You’re Not Clear About Why You’re Contacting The Recruiter

Let’s take a closer look at the example above. When someone sends an InMail that simply says “Hi” or “How are you today?” it is confusing at best. I don’t know why the person is contacting me, what they need, or more importantly, how I can help them.

Think about your job for a moment. How many emails do you get per day? How likely would you be to respond to someone (that you didn’t know) if they sent an email saying, “Hello, just wanted to see how you are doing today.” And, if we’re honest, you’re not contacting a recruiter to make sure that they are ok, right?

You are contacting a recruiter (usually) because you are looking for a job opportunity, and so, it is totally ok to be clear and upfront about why you are contacting them and what you need.

A Better Approach:

Yes, you can start with a greeting that says, “I hope you are well,” but then carry it through. Example, “Hi, I hope you are well. I saw that you are recruiting for Administrative Assistants, and I am looking for such a role.  I’ve attached my resume for your review. I would like a chance to set up some time to connect. If you are not the right person that I should speak with, please let me know who I might be able to contact. I hope to hear from you. Thank you.”

Notice that this answers all the who, what, why questions, and also provides an action item for the recruiter. You come across as a qualified and professional potential candidate, and now you’ve got the recruiter excited to chat with you.  SCORE!

are you hiring how to get hired jobs recruiters

2.  Asking, “Hey what jobs does your company have?”

I  receive this email several times a day and truthfully, it just comes across as lazy. Most major corporations have a career site, which will have ALL of their job listings displayed. If a candidate hasn’t taken the time to start there, it really begs the question of how much initiative can this person expect to display when in the role?

A Better Approach

You want to help the recruiter to help YOU. So, look at the career site of the company, and identify at least 3 roles that you feel fit your experience to a tee. THEN you can send an email to the recruiter with the positions you have identified, letting them know that you have applied and ask if you can possibly schedule a phone call to discuss. 

This small bit of leg-work before you send an InMail can go a long way in making a good impression, establishing yourself as a motivated professional, and helps the recruiter to know precisely where and how they need to take action on your behalf.

One more piece of advice on this, choose only two to three roles MAX. Do not send the recruiter 20 jobs that are listed on the web site and ask them to help you with all of those. Chances are you are not going to fit all 20 roles and it makes you look unfocused. Again, your main goal is to make a connection with the recruiter, show that you know what you are looking for and if there are more opportunities available that you are a fit for, the recruiter will be able to uncover that in a phone call.

Your goal in all of this is to get to the next step, a phone interview!

3. Not reading the recruiter’s bio:

Unfortunately, this can be the number one reason why you may be getting ignored. Many job experts will have templates that tell you how you should reach out to recruiters, but they often leave out one of the most important things to do BEFORE reaching out, which is to find out which types of roles the recruiter is trying to fill.

In the example in the picture, this recruiter states that they are hiring Technical Program Managers, so they are probably not going to respond if you are looking for a manufacturing role.

A Better Approach:

You’ll want to look for recruiters that state that they are recruiting in your particular job discipline, it will help you be more targeted in your job search and help you get connected to the right role + get interviews much quicker.

Where can you find this information? There are 3 places to check: The headline next to the recruiter’s name, in the ‘about’ section, or you scroll down into the recruiter’s experience, most recent job and it will usually have information like the example above.

Unfortunately, some recruiters are also guilty of not reading a candidate’s bio but that is a whole other post. But for now, let’s focus on you, the job seeker.

Before sending an InMail to a recruiter, look at their bio. A good recruiter will usually list the types of roles that they recruit for or the job disciplines they recruit in.  So, if their bio says that they are tech recruiters, please don’t email them saying “Hey, I’m looking for sales jobs in the area, can you help?”

4. Not understanding the difference between Corporate Recruiters and Agency Recruiters:

I have a podcast episode about this but basically,  if you are seeking contract roles or C2C, you will want to look for recruiters that work at agencies.

If you are looking for full-time positions, you will want to look for corporate recruiters. You can usually tell the difference when they list where they work. Also, please don’t try to convince the corporate recruiter to hire you for a contract role; we can’t unless our bio says that we specifically recruit for contract roles. Most corporate recruiters are only recruiting for full-time jobs.

A Better Approach:

So, how can you tell if a recruiter is recruiting for one company, or if they are working at an agency and recruiting for multiple companies? Take a look at their bio and see if they list a company (example, Microsoft, Facebook etc.) as their employer  OR if they list an agency  (such as Robert-Half) as their employer.

Looking at where they work will let you know the kind of options that you have. For example, if you are looking for a role anywhere in the world and you’d like to be submitted to multiple companies, your best bet is to work with an agency recruiter.

On the other hand, if your goal is to work at NIKE, specifically, full-time, reach out to a recruiter this is working at Nike. Keeping in mind that the recruiter at Nike can’t help you get a job at Panera Bread. It sounds obvious but some people (understandably) believe that recruiters always recruit for multiple companies and that is not always the case.

Also, make sure to scan to see if the recruiter’s bio also says “Recruiting for contract or C2C roles”.  That is usually a good indicator that they are agency recruiters, and perfect if you are looking for contract opportunities. Again, just a little bit of research on your part can go a long way in getting what you want, in a more effective manner.

5. Not double-checking your generic emails:

I get it, having a template is a time saver. But, when I see an email that says “Hi Bob..” and my name is Tara, it’s just off-putting and sends a bad impression. Again, it shows that you lack attention to detail (see number 1) and that you don’t care about where you are blasting your resume. Double-check to make sure that you have at least corrected the name on your template.

A Better Approach:

If you do happen to send an email with the wrong name, it’s not the end of the world. The best thing to do is to own it. Saying something like “Omg, Tara, whoops! I meant to send this email to you, my apologies” can go a long way and make the error a thing of the past. People make mistakes and usually a recruiter will understand if it’s called out and owned.

I hope that these small tips will help you to make your connections more effective and increase your response rate, getting you to your dream opportunity much faster! I have a free template that you can download that has some great InMail scripts that have worked on me when candidates have reached out. You can download them here!

I believe in you, now go get em!

Tara, your recruiter!

Feel free to connect with me, on Instagram and Twitter if you have questions and I might feature it here on the blog!

10 Job Search Mistakes You Don’t Know You’re Making

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As a job seeker, you may believe you are doing all the right things. You have a resume, you’ve posted it on all of the job boards, you’re on LinkedIn, you’ve let your friends and family know that you are looking for work, so why isn’t anyone calling?

It can be frustrating when this happens week after week, and for some, month after month. Well, I want to show you what you may be doing wrong from a recruiter’s perspective (click that link) and then help you fix it.

  1. Typo filled resume: Believe it or not, I’ve had some folks with great experience turned down by hiring managers because there are spelling errors in the resume. Spell check is your friend, but especially in the case of submitting your resume to employers. If you have 1 or 20 misspelled words, for some companies, that is enough reason to skip your resume. Employers view it like this, if you couldn’t be bothered to correct your spelling errors (when it’s so easy to do nowadays), then what type of employee will you be? They would rather not find out.
  1. Hard to read resume: This is another one that will lead to the recruiter hitting the reject button on your resume. Make sure your fonts are all the same, the size of font doesn’t require a magnifying glass, and that things are appropriately spaced, punctuated, and bullet-pointed. For great resume samples, click this link here.
  1. Graphics on your resume: In today’s world, the first time anyone will see your resume will usually be online, via the company ATS system. Graphics sometimes translate into crazy characters that do horrible things to the alignment of your resume. When recruiters see rows of crazy characters, they don’t try to find the actual words, they just hit ‘reject’ and move on to an easier to read resume.
  1. Inappropriate email addresses: I don’t care if this is your first job at Target or your 50th job at a fortune 500, please get a free email address that is professional. I can’t tell you how many times I have seen addresses like “Bigpeen694u@whatevermail.com”. Some recruiters may call you, and some will not – why take the chance?
  1. Resume does not match the job description: Your resume should come as close to the description of the job as possible. For example, if the opportunity is for an administrative assistant and your resume highlights your sales ability, you probably won’t get a callback. Recruiters and hiring managers are going to go with the most obvious match to the role. Make sure your resume is clear.
  1. You are applying to all the jobs on a company job board: Contrary to popular belief, a live person is sitting behind that applicant tracking system, and we can see if you’ve applied to 5 jobs or 30 jobs. The truth is, you are not going to be a fit for every role, so be more targeted in your applying. If you apply to an administrative assistant role and then a software developer role and then a store manager role, it makes you look unfocused and as if you don’t have a good grasp on your strengths and what you bring to the table.
  1. Unprofessional voice mails: True story: I called a candidate once who I’m guessing was in the middle of some type of crisis because her voice mail said, “Thank you for the call. I am making several changes in my life at the moment. If I do not call you back, YOU are one of those changes. And I mean YOU Jack” I don’t know who Jack is/was, but needless to say, it was a hilarious voice mail, but one that made her seem pessimistic and unprofessional. If she was willing to risk putting her business on a voice mail for strangers (during a job search), what type of energy would she bring to the office?
  1. Low Energy: Being professional does not mean being “cold”, nor do you have to sound like you work for a mortuary (unless, of course, that is the job). When you answer the phone, you should sound upbeat and enthusiastic without sounding spastic. The oldest trick in the book is to answer your phone with a smile on your face. People can hear a smile through the phone, and it makes the person that called want to continue the conversation.
  1. Missing or Incorrect Information: It is surprising how many resumes out there will have phone numbers that are no longer in service or email addresses that bounce back. Sometimes people will send resumes with no contact information whatsoever. Make sure that your resume gives us a way to contact you.
  1. Short Job History: If you’ve had seven jobs in the last seven months, that can look bad to employers. In today’s market, we understand that many folks are contracting and that some of those contracts may have shorter tenures. To combat negative perception, you will want to list (next to company name) that this job was a contract role. Clarifying your contract roles identifies you as someone who is trying to work and showcases your work history in a better light.

These are some of the things that I have seen as a recruiter, and I hope that they help you to take another look at your resume and job search strategy as you approach this job market.

The top 7 ways to annoy your coworkers

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We all have those coworkers that, when we see them coming down the hall, we do what we can to avoid them. You know the ones, they pop up at our desk and linger when they see that we are busy, they love to gossip or they just plain make us uncomfortable. Luckily, everyone at work loves you. Right? Well, before you skip this article or email it to that coworker that you find annoying, read through this list just to make sure that you are not guilty of any of these offenses.

Here are the top 7 ways to be sure to annoy your coworkers:

  1. Be a drama queen – seriously, this is the most annoying trait a co-worker can have. If you burst into tears at every meeting, every criticism, or because you broke up with your boyfriend this week, your co-workers will avoid you. The office is no place for your dramatic antics. This includes slamming doors, yelling, throwing tantrums etc. If you have emotional problems like these, and you have benefits, please, seek the help of a psychologist and leave the drama at the Dr.’s office.
  1. Gossip about your Boss – Listen, there will be times when our bosses annoy us. It happens. It is ALWAYS bad form to gossip to your co-workers about your boss. Doing this will cancel any chances of establishing trust between yourself and your co-workers. Also, offices are small, so you can believe that it will make its way back to your boss.
  1. You gossip, all the time – “Did you see Jim and Tammy go to lunch together? Isn’t Tim married?” People believe if you talk about others, you will talk about them. Your reputation will spread as a gossip and you will notice that people will avoid you like the plague. Work is not the place to discuss other people’s personal business. It is bad form, and only your reputation will be tarnished in the process.
  1. Have loud personal phone calls in your cubicle – No one cares about your wart removal process, your husband’s annoying habits or your inside jokes with your girlfriend that only the two of you find funny. In a cubicle things can get loud – don’t contribute to the noise with an hour-long, personal phone call that everyone around you can hear. If you have a cell phone, use it. Go outside and make your call. Some people come to work, to actually work and your personal call is distracting, not to mention annoying.
  1. Have a live concert in your cubicle – You may love Taylor Swift’s newest song of heartbreak, but no one else wants to hear it blaring from speakers at your desk while they are trying to focus on getting that spreadsheet out in time for the afternoon meeting. If you must listen to some tunes while you work, bring some headphones. Your co-workers will thank you.
  1. Always talk about politics or religion – Again, this falls into the realm of personal business. It can make people uncomfortable if they feel that you are trying to convert them, or shove your beliefs down their throats. Politics and religion are topics that can easily become heated and taken personally – work is not the place for those discussions. Unless, of course you actually work in a political or religious capacity.
  1. Tell racist or otherwise offensive jokes – Your friends may find them funny, but there is a time and place for everything. Work is not the time or place for this type of humor. If you must tell a joke, let it be something light that everyone can find funny. Otherwise, save it for your (real) friends and not your coworkers.

If you are always committing the offenses above and you notice that your “friend” pool at work seems to grow smaller and smaller, or people cut their conversations short with you, you may want to try to knock off these habits pronto! If you are not guilty of any of the above, feel free to pass this article along to someone who is, anonymously of course.