Have you ever received a message by a recruiter about an anonymous job description, with instruction to follow up with them if you’re interested?

Have you ever spoken with a recruiter about said job, and they share the job like this?

• This is a _______ job. The company is _______.
• The reason the job is open is because _______.
• The big initiatives you’d be tackling are _______, _______ and _______.
• Compensation range is _______ with a bonus of __%. What do you think?

This is typical, but there exist two issues here:

1. The recruiter hasn’t gotten to know you first. They don’t know your general situation; what’s going well and what could be improved, when the time is right to make a career move. How do they know what your specific ‘tickers’ are?
2. They haven’t provided you with as much info about the opportunity as they could.

Compare this with the way 4SIGHT SEARCH engages with those who want to hear about our opportunities (both retained and contingent searches). Our first step is to get to know you for a few minutes: how you’re generally feeling about your career, how the idea of looking elsewhere is sitting with you, what would intrigue you as that ‘next move,’ what your timeline is, etc. Then…here’s how 4SIGHT shares the job opportunity with you:

• This is a _______ job. The company is _______.
• The reason the job is open is because _______.
• The big things you’ll be doing in the job are _______, _______ and _______.
• The manager for this job is _______, and I’ve gotten a good feel for them. They seem like a _______ and _______ type of manager. They do allow one remote day per week as well.
• The direct team you’d be on consists of _______, and there are _______, _______, and _______ other cross-functional areas with whom you’d be interfacing on a regular basis. The team is quite _______ in collaborative style, so we’re seeking someone who would fit that overall chemistry.
• Going back to the initiatives _______, _______ and _______ you’d be tackling…they’re pretty much at _______ with it so far. That gives you an idea of current infrastructure set up. I want to be transparent with you there.
• Software-wise, their department is on a 1 year contract with _______, but if you get in there and think there’s something better, they’re open to new ideas. Other platforms they use are _______, _______ and _______.
• Career growth could occur upwards in the form of an earned promotion to _______ and one more notch to _______. However, they could also rotate you laterally to _______ and _______ areas of marketing, so there’s multiple seats where you could go depending on where your interests lie.
• Compensation range is _______, and there’s a bonus of __% that has historically performed around ________.
• Now, since we’re on the phone, what questions do you have for me? I want to make sure you are well-informed about this, and I want to give you all the info I can so you can vet this out on your end…

Knowing all that information upfront is fantastic, no? How do we know all this? We stand committed to making strong matches and respecting your valuable time, and we stand firm on obtaining this information from our company clients. Through our process, everyone is well-informed, so everyone has a good idea of what they’re getting themselves into.

Your career and your time are precious. We encourage you to work with recruiters who respect it. Beware of firms – or even internal recruiters at companies – who just want to get you in the door more than get to know you.

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