How to get noticed and work with head-hunters

How to get noticed and work with head-hunters

As part of our partnership with EFAP, one of the top leading French communication school, Barbara Ozanon, Head of Europe at Hanson Search, was recently invited to chair a masterclass to their alumni on How to get noticed by head-hunters.

The profession of a headhunter has long been little known, as headhunters often work in confidentiality and therefore there is an element of mystery. During the masterclass, Barbara was able to demystify all this, provide real insights into the profession and let us get into the mind of a headhunter!

Barbara has summarised her masterclass below, providing insider tips to get noticed and how to best work with headhunters.

Keep your LinkedIn profile up to date

As the number one professional networking platform, I would recommend spending some time completing your LinkedIn profile. Your LinkedIn page is your showcase, it consists of an online curriculum vitae that will allow us to identify you.

Use their functionalities wisely:

• Fill in all categories to provide all the information about you, don’t forget your languages, certifications, publications, skills and if you’re open to relocate or not…
• Add a description for each of your work experience, be specific and concise.
• Us the About section to recap in a few words your career history and to add more information about your soft skills, your passion, and aspirations. It is recommended to use the first person singular to make it more personal.
• Where possible, write your profile in English, you will increase your chances to get noticed by international headhunters.
• Ask for recommendations from former colleagues or clients, they are appreciated of the hiring managers.

Keep in mind that the content on your profile will help us to both find you among thousands of other profiles and identify if the opportunity we are working on is relevant for you and can be of interest. Think strategically of your phrasing, use appropriate key words, and remember, the more accurate your profile is – the better you will appear in our searches.

Connect with us

Feel free to send LinkedIn connections to headhtunters or direct InMails with your contact details, a short description of your career history and in a few words of what you are looking for as your next career step. We might not have time to do an intro call with all the incoming enquiries we receive, but we’ll keep your information in our database, which will allow us to get in touch with you when we have the right opportunity for you. Note that our database is our first step when doing our searches, before going out on LinkedIn.

Reciprocally, I advise that you accept our connection requests. This will be a great way for your to be updated of our new opportunities and becoming a first connection will mean your profile will rank in priority in our searches.

Building a relation on trust and transparency

The basis of any lasting relationship. To bring you the best advice on your career evolution and only present you opportunities that are in line with your aspirations and ambitions, we are going to need transparency and trust.

Feel free to indulge yourself, and tell us about your background and what you love doing….we need to get to know you! The more information we have about you, your expertise, and your values, the better you will be able to tell your story and support your application to our clients. We know that you are not just a CV, you have a personality, beliefs, a life story, and it is this story that we will pass on to the client. Your story.

It is essential to be honest and transparent to create a strong relationship and make sure we are targeting the best opportunities for your professional growth.

Nurture your network

Networking is about sharing and strengthening business connections. As part of our search methodology is reaching out to our trusted network for recommendations of great profiles.

The power of network should never be under-estimated and can really help you advance your career, either to get identified to a headhunter or get recommendation of a trustworthy headhunter.

Contract Barbara for more information of about your next role here. You can discover more of our recruitment tips here.