Stalking the Wily Hiring Manager: How to Use the Headhunters' Strategies in Your Next Job Search

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Stalking the Wily Hiring Manager: How to Use the Headhunters' Strategies in Your Next Job Search

Marysville, WA May 14, 2004 -- Stalking the Wily Hiring Manager: How to Use the Headhunters' Strategies in Your Next Job Search

Headhunters, more correctly known as executive search consultants or recruiters, know how to match people with jobs—it's their job. So, why not use some of the tactics they use for your own job search?

Relationships are the foundation of what makes a recruiter successful, says Frank Heasley, PhD, president and CEO of MedZilla.com, a leading Internet recruitment and professional community that serves biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, healthcare and science. "They network with their clients' and their contacts and find out which companies are looking for people and whether or not those companies would be interested in receiving resumes or help from recruiters."

The process starts by simply calling your friends and colleagues and talking to them. You wouldn't necessarily say you're looking for a job with their firm, but rather say you're looking for a job and ask if they know anyone that you should talk with, according to Dr. Heasley. "That's in a nutshell what recruiters do when they're looking for people and also when they're looking for assignments as recruiters."

Heasley was a recruiter before launching MedZilla. He got good at looking for jobs and enjoyed the hunt, he says. "If you enjoy looking for jobs, then you're half way to becoming a recruiter."

Being a headhunter: It's F.U.N.

Pam Lassiter, principal of Lassiter Consulting (www.lassiterconsulting.com) and author of The New Job Security, a book describing five strategies to take control of your career, says that the key to looking for a job as a headhunter would is in the acronym F.U.N.

"F" is for focus on specific companies. A search firm doesn't try to place employees in all available jobs—it, rather, targets its efforts. So, you should do the same, focusing on companies that are most likely to need your skills, according to Lassiter. "There will be a finite number in your geographic area. You can make a list of them. This doesn't have to be a perfect company to go on your list--it just has to be a company that might be of interest. You can share this list with other people to get connections. If you're waiting for help wanted ads, that puts you in a reactive position, so you're not focusing on companies that might fit."

"U" stands for understand relationships. Who would you need to meet at the companies on your list who might be in a position to hire you or might know other people? Headhunters have long-term relationships with companies, Lassiter says. "You might know that the VP of R&D will hire you if there is an opening or a need, but you don't know that person," she says.

The whole purpose is to get to the right person, she says. "HR can only help with jobs that they have approved and funded and budgeted but there are many opportunities that never go through HR. Other people in organizations might know about developing needs."

"N" is for needs—identifying companies' needs. With terrorism a lot of work has been generated for biotech and pharmaceutical firms. Think of the need for vaccinations alone, Lassiter says. Know who has gotten the contracts, the business, which companies are spinning off, which are acquiring other companies. There is a lot of hiring going on around those activities, she says. "HR might not have jobs on the job specs on their desks yet for some of these needs. If you can find the decision makers early, you will have less competition," Lassiter says. "You talk to them about how you can help them meet their needs. Link it to profitability and tell them how you're going to help them be more profitable, which they love. The more you can demonstrate how you're going to be profitable to a company, the more interested they'll become."

Recruiters do the same when they're marketing a candidate to a client firm: They talk about how that candidate might fit perfectly into what the companies' needs, like fitting a round peg into a round hole, she says.

Sometimes, recruiters and candidates might even create a need, Dr. Heasley says. "Candidates might be even better equipped than headhunters to create a need because they know the industry and its language," he says. "Recruiters who tend to be most successful in placing people in technical positions are those who have worked, themselves, in the individual fields."

Still, relationships are the bottom line to your success. "Headhunters work on relationships. They work on change, and they work on turnover. If you can be focused and understand relationships and identify needs early on, you're going to have opportunities before even the headhunters do. The objective of cutting out the headhunter is that you can get some of that money into your own salary if you negotiate wisely," Lassiter says.

About MedZilla.com
Established in mid 1994, MedZilla is the original web site to serve career and hiring needs for professionals and employers in biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, medicine, science and healthcare. MedZilla databases contain about 10,000 open positions, 13,000 resumes from candidates actively seeking new positions and 71,000 archived resumes.

Medzilla® is a Registered Trademark owned by Medzilla Inc. Copyright ©2004, MedZilla, Inc. Permission is granted to reproduce and distribute this text in its entirety, and if electronically, with a link to the URL www.medzilla.com. For permission to quote from or reproduce any portion of this message, please contact Michele Groutage, Director of Marketing and Development, MedZilla, Inc. Email: mgroutage@medzilla.com.




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