How to stand out to a recruiter

Searching for your next role can be time consuming, stressful, and full of uncertainty, so working with a recruiter in your search can help take a lot of the stress away and save you time. But in order to land your next job, you have to stand out from the crowd.

Recruiters have access to jobs across their sector and relationships with the clients they work with, as well as valuable industry knowledge. Recruiters are perfectly placed to help connect candidates (you) with the right employer.

But how can you stand out to a recruiter?

The most memorable candidates will have a positive attitude, confidence in their ability, skills, and knowledge. To help convey these attributes, we’ve come up with some tips…

Create a lasting first impression

Meeting a recruiter is just as important as when you meet a hiring manager or employer, so approach your first interaction, whether this be via email, phone or in person with honesty and confidence. Like all interviews, you will need to create a lasting first impression, dress appropriately, be articulate, understand the role or the role you are after, and be able to convey why you are the right fit for the position.

Be positive

Being positive doesn’t mean you have to sugar-coat everything. Instead, when discussing your previous experience, focus on the things you learned, even if there were challenges. Demonstrating a positive growth mindset is a great quality and a big green flag. It shows that you are mentally tough, giving the recruiter confidence that you will ace an interview.

Confidence

If you believe in yourself, the skills you have and your ability to succeed and grow within the role, you will communicate confidence subconsciously. Recruiters work with a variety of candidates and meeting someone who has confidence in themselves makes their job much easier when putting them forward for roles. Having knowledge of the company and its goals, can help you identify the skills and experience you have and why you will be a good fit, helping you focus on these in the interview.

But remember, there is a fine line between being confident in yourself and over-confident, which can turn any interviewer off. This may make you look arrogant, which isn’t a great candidate trait. If you’re unsure on how you’ll come across, try answering some basic interview questions out-loud to a friend and see what they think.

Accountability

In addition to confidence and positivity, take accountability. Try asking yourself: “Could I have done a better job?”, “How well did I do, and will this affect the outcome?”, and “If I could redo this experience what would I have done better?”. If you feel like you aced an interview shout about it, but on the other hand, if you didn’t do so well focus on the improvements you can make for next time.

Knowing yourself and being able to fully express who you are to a recruiter will ensure you are memorable, making them feel confident in putting you forward, aiding in you succeeding and being a great cultural fit for the company.