5 Tips To Smash that Intro Call with a Recruiter

As a job seeker, you may have come across a few recruitment agencies along your journey. Recruiters are a key tool in finding an opportunity that aligns with your own skills, values and goals.

When communicating with a recruiter, you may have the opportunity to interview with them so they can find out everything there is to know about your current skills, achievements and what you are looking for in your next venture. How on earth do you prepare for this? Is preparation even needed prior to scheduling that time slot with a recruiter? Yes it is.

Think of this appointment as your opportunity to get the recruiter up to scratch on everything you’ve been up to in your world of work! The more they know, the more they can help link you to the opportunity of your dreams.

Here’s some of our key tips to preparing for your initial interview with a recruiter:

• Update your resume. I mean, you are on the job market, and have probably begun your search for new opportunities already through LinkedIn Jobs or Seek. But make sure your CV accurately describes what you’ve been up to in your eCommerce career. Make sure your skills and experience is up to date and matches your LinkedIn profile too. Unsure of where to start? Check out our previous article here on our 3 focus areas for your eCommerce resume.

• Think about what’s next for you in your eCommerce career. Where do you want to take it? Are you jumping ship for a better salary, culture or brand? Maybe you’re looking to challenge yourself and learn new skills in the industry.

Have a good and hard think about this. This is your career goal for your next opportunity. Try to imagine yourself in the best work environment. What’s there? Who’s the brand? How many people? Is it a large or smaller team? Are you working from home or in the office? Jot down your thoughts of what environment and culture is important to you. And most importantly, how you want to grow in this new adventure!

• What are your long term goals? Don’t hate me for making you come up with an answer for this. But, where do you see yourself in the next 5 years? It’s definitely a painful question to answer for most of us… I mean, I don’t even know what I’m having for dinner tomorrow night, let alone what my career will be in a few years time!

Knowing where you want to be in the future, or maybe what you want to be can help to set you up on the right path to eventually end up there. Honestly, reach for the stars! You may want to be a CEO or have a start-up. Or maybe you want to manage a team of 10! Don’t be afraid of the future.

• Sell yourself. The recruiter you are working with is going to vet you for every opportunity they think you would be perfect for. They are your representative, so it’s important to sell yourself to them so they can help put you on the best career path.

Some key things to think about to help you explain why you are the best candidate ever… tell us about your top three achievements in your previous role, your skills and attributes, even what you love about the industry and are most passionate about. These will help us to really gauge your personality, work ethic and your interests and help us to match you with as many opportunities available.

• Don’t assume we know what you do. On many occasions, we have faced candidates who don’t go into detail about what they currently do in their roles. Tell us the nitty gritty. We want all the deets on everything you do on the daily. Every role is unique and will most likely have some differentiating tasks to your current role. So out of your best interest, the more we know, the better!

Once you have your CV, career goals, your achievements and your daily job duties sorted – you are well on your way to seeking that new adventure!