Building relationships with recruitment consultants. They are the intermediaries. They are that vital link in the chain. They are potentially the job-fining catalyst. So, make an effort to get know them. In markets like these they are oversubscribed with candidates, and it is crucial that you go that extra mile to solidify relationships with them. Recruitment consultants literally have 100’s sometimes 1000’s of CV’s landing in their inbox every day. As you can imagine many of these CV’s will get lost in cyberspace. Granted, if you have an exemplary CV, with all the bells and whistles and more than enough work experience, then you may not have to worry your CV getting ‘lost’ or having to go that extra mile. The problem is that although we think that we have a great CV, that is not always the case. Therefore, as a rule of thumb if you out your CV out to recruiters, and you don’t receive a bunch of phone calls within the first two days, then that should be a sign that your CV is not amazing.

You then need to do the legwork. Your main aim should be to get your name/profile at the forefront of the recruiters mind.

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 So, here are my tips:

• Always make a follow-up phone call after emailing in your CV. Don’t tell the consultant too much over the phone. Instead arrange to go in and see them.

• When you go in, wear your best suit. Go in with confidence. After exchanging pleasantries, the consultant will most likely ask you a bit more about what is written on your CV – talk it up, but don’t lie. He or she will then also usually ask you what particular jobs you looking for. You should be fairly specific here, as this shows them that you are serious and committed to your chosen field.

• Now it’s your turn. Ask the consultant some questions and try to establish some common ground with the consultant. Take the conversation in a colloquial direction. Once again it is of paramount importance that they can quickly put a personality to your CV.  He/she may remember someone who mentioned that they have a cat named Oscar who can do handstands, but is likely to forget someone who said they studied English at Bristol.

• Follow up – Call them weekly to get updated on vacancies. This is really just a way for you to indicate to them that you are still looking for a job, and to give them an idea of how serious you are. Furthermore persistence can turn into pestering, which in this case can eventually prove beneficial, as sometimes the consultant does his/her best to find you something just to get you off his/her back!

 Hope these tips have helped!

There is of course another way of looking at this whole drawn out process. You need to objectively say: “If I go through x amount of rounds of interviews with this company and end up not getting the job, as a consolation what can I actually get out of it?”

 My answer would be contacts.

Yes good, solid contacts. View an interview as a great opportunity to extend your network. You may not get the job now but if found you got on with someone particularly well in the interview, get his or her business card and LinkedIn details, and keep in contact. This shows that you are proactive and flexible, and most importantly willing to go the extra mile – prime example of differentiation.

This exact scenario played out with me at a company in Canary Wharf, London. I went through three interview stages. The final stage involved interviewing with four people. I happened to get on well with one person in particular from HR, and got his business card. A week later I found out that I did not get the job. I phoned this person from HR to ask in a nice way why they had not chosen me, but most importantly re-affirmed my interest in working for the company, and told him the areas that were of interest to me. We kept in contact by email on a weekly basis, and 3 weeks later, he set me up for another job interview in a different department. I did not end up getting that job, but that is beside the point. The point is that by engaging people and making that extra effort, you create for yourself a greater probability of landing that job.

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