With headhunting commonly used by organisations recruiting for senior positions, if you are hoping to be approached regarding a new opportunity there are a few simple steps you can take to improve your digital presence and increase your visibility.
Our recruitment manager for SearchHigher shares some tips on how you can increasing your chances of being headhunted.
What is the best way to increase your digital presence?
When searching for a candidate, one of the first places I look is LinkedIn. It is therefore very important that all the information posted is clear, up to date and reflects the sort of role you are looking for. On your profile, you need to be clear about simple things like your job title and the dates of employment. You do not need to write the exact date you started a role, but mentioning the month can be helpful to a headhunter trying to get an overall picture of your career history.
Another useful tool LinkedIn offers is privately signalling to recruiters that you are open to new opportunities. To enable this feature, you need to turn sharing “on” and complete some brief information about what type of roles you would be interested in. This information will not be displayed to recruiters at your company or affiliated companies, but by ensuring this is turned on, headhunters will know quickly that you would be interested in hearing from them.
LinkedIn is most effective if your profile is complete. Make sure you include any awards you have received and ask for recommendations. Including this information is a great way to stand out from the crowd and also add credence to the skills mentioned in your profile.
What advice would you offer to someone working on their CV?
Generally, the quicker the person reading your CV can understand the key points, the better. Recruiters do not want to spend ages trying to understand your skills and your employment history. It can be helpful to let a friend or family member see your CV and then check to see if they understood your key skills quickly.
It is also essential that your CV has a clear layout. For some roles, it can be beneficial to have a really creative layout but usually a simple order of qualifications and then employment history is easier to read quickly.
It can also be very easy to forget to include important information like the different systems and software you have experience using, so it may be worthwhile keeping a notepad by your desk at work where you can list everything you do on a daily basis.
Academics working in senior roles at Universities also sometimes forget to include information about their line management and mentoring responsibilities. These are great skills be included in your CV.
Do you have any tips for what to avoid?
Always make sure that you use a spellchecker for your online profiles and CV. Headhunters have to decide very quickly whether you are a suitable candidate and spelling mistakes will not make a good first impression.
If you are using multiple recruitment websites, make sure that the information is the same on each website. It can be very frustrating having to figure out which profile is the most up to date.
Implementing these practices and avoiding simple mistakes can help ensure headhunters spend longer reading your profile and consider you for new opportunities. By following these tips, you will be able to improve your online presence and therefore increase your chances of being headhunted.
