Using Headhunters & Career Counselors: Everything You Need to Know Before Landing Your Dream Job

In Hollywood, one of the greatest honors for an actor is to be offered a job without having to audition for the role. However, this sort of job offer is not limited to just movies or television. In some situations, you may find yourself being recruited by another company for a position similar to your current one. That being said, a recruitment agency isn’t just a company filled with headhunters scouring the net for their next big employee. In fact, you can use a job recruitment service to your advantage—especially if you’re looking to land your dream job and have been coming up empty on your own. Here are some things to keep in mind when using a retained recruitment agency.

The first thing to remember when using a recruitment firm is that they aim to serve you and the company who is hiring. This means that your best interests and the business’ best interests are almost always in conversation. All of that being said, it’s worth noting that a retained search firm may pay a good deal of money in order to find the right fit for a job. This is particularly true when it comes to niche roles or positions that require a high level of experience or credentials. In these kinds of situations, a retained search firm may get paid more than a quarter of an employee’s annual compensation to find the right applicant for a job. They are putting their trust into a search firm to do the job right and do it thoroughly, so you can be sure that you will be properly briefed and prepped for each interview and understand the process fully if you enter into the pipeline.

What all of this means for you as a job applicant is that you can really benefit from having a recruiter on your side. A recruiter helps push for you if they think that you’re a good fit as they are incentivized to find a solid option for each job they are given. This means that when you have a recruiter helping you, you will be able to get your questions answered about a particular position much faster because they want you to land the job as much as you do. If you have specific skills in software or leadership, as well as the kind of resume that would make you a good fit for an executive position, you will likely thrive with a recruiter. Once you have made it in with a recruitment firm, you will continue to get potential job opportunities for as long as you say you are open to new work.

When it comes to landing your dream job, having someone else cull through the hundreds or thousands of job opportunities that you are qualified for can be a major boon. Rather than need to apply online for different positions and formulate a specific cover letter for each job, a recruiter can help open doors to specific positions or companies that fit your goals. In turn, it’s possible to take a more passive approach to your job search while actively working to beef up your resume day-to-day in your current job. Then, when the right opportunity comes by, you’ll be prepared and ready to tackle the interview process with aplomb.

As you may be able to tell, using a retained recruitment agency to help you find your dream job can be a win-win situation for you and the company you work for. Best of all, since you will already have been vetted by a recruitment agent, it’s less likely that there will be doubts about your performance when you arrive in your new dream job on the first day. Consider reaching out to a recruitment firm if you are interested in seeing what options may be available to you that you don’t currently have access to. You never know what big leap could result in having your dream career come true.