During a recent networking meeting, one of the attendees mentioned that he montitored the twitter hash tag #recruitcamp during the recruitcamp2010 conference here in Raleigh. Among the tweets he learned from, one mentioned that recruiters are only looking for ‘A’ candidates.
I was a little surprised by two things:
- The jobseekers at my networking meeting were surprised by the fact that recruiters were only looking for ‘A’ Candidates AND
- Some jobseekers didn’t know they needed to be an ‘A’ candidate.
Why you need to be an ‘A’ Candidate
Why not be an ‘A’ candidate?
When in transition, everything a job seeker does carries with it the weight that it could affect any or all of the following:
- Salary
- Insurance
- Retirement
- Title
- Level of responsibility
- Who your boss is
We’ve talked before about the purpose of a resume. What is it? That’s right, the purpose of a resume is to get you an interview. That’s it.
There is a side effect to submitting your resume. It is the initial counter-offer in your negotiation for this job (the first offer was the job description).
What does that mean?
A hiring manager looks at the resume a candidate submits and immediately has a feel for whether this person is an ‘A’ candidate or not. The hiring manager starts to get an idea of the work product this individual produces and with that, the individual’s worth to him.
Other than the resume, here are the things some hiring managers take into account in deciding one’s salary:
- Resume
- Interactions with company
- Social presence (is it professional and high-caliber?)
- Interview
- Presentation (how one speaks, dresses, etc.)
- Skills
- References (including back-channel references)
- Network
- Past performance
Each of these contributes to whether an individual is an ‘A’ candidate.
‘A’ Candidates get better pay, better benefits, and work in better environments.
‘A’ Candidates get better pay, better benefits, and work in better environments. Additionally, ‘A’ Candidates work with high-caliber counterparts, work with better bosses, and work for high-caliber leadership.
Excellence attracts excellence.
How to Become an ‘A’ Candidate
We get our cars detailed. Have you detailed your job seeking artifacts? Your social profile?
If not, as a Job Search Coach, that’s part of my job. Contact me now to detail your job seeking profile!
Once you’ve got your artifacts inline and polished…
Position Your Brand
What does that mean?
You are unique. What you provide companies is unique. No one else does her job quite like you do. Figure out what that unique perspective is and how it benefits a company and a hiring manager.
Then sell it.
Haven’t sold your brand before? Worried you’re selling the wrong thing? Not getting offers? Partner up with me on this, I can guide your effort.
Why Recruiters will only submit ‘A’ Candidates
We started this conversation by talking about the surprise some candidates have with recruiters only submitting ‘A’ Candidates. Why would a recruiting company only submit these people?
If you owned a company called “Tech Recruiting, Inc.” no one cares about the name of the company for a long time. That name has no reputation. You do. Your reputation carries the reputation of the company for years before the company name matters. As the identity of the company, what products do you want to back? Average ones? Below average quality products? No. You want the highest quality associated with your name and the name of your company, right?
So why should recruiters act any differently than you would?
75% of a recruiter’s business comes from reoccurring revenue streams. That means customers come back again and again. Do you think they continue to come back if you give them an inferior product? No.
A job seeker has to be an ‘A’ candidate
In the end, a job seeker has to be an ‘A’ candidate. If you don’t think you’re there yet, if recruiters aren’t calling you back, if HR representatives aren’t crawling all over themselves to hire you, email me today! Together we can get you where you need to go!
Paul,
It’s important to first define what an “A” candidate is. Is that based on skill sets, resumes etc. Though I agree with the “A” candidate idea, it’s important to remember that the “A” is not also the best fit. Most often they are the wrong fit. The right fit needs to assume a role within a team that suites well for the teams growth.
Often times this requires the candidates to ideally be a “B” candidate to compliment the varying personalities and strengths of the “A” candidate. That’s the genetic makeup of a team.
Smart organization educate hiring managers on how to build teams. This also covers how not to screen out a resume by looking at the resume and deciding immediately if it’s a fit or not. Jobseekers are not professional resume writers therefore the resumes are often bad, leave off assumed information and don’t meet the HM’s requirements.
Smart companies and recruiters recognize this and draw conclusions based on previous experience.
Just another thought. Very nice post.
Ryan