Working with a Recruiter series.. Part One

I come from a country where the term recruiter conjures up images of a sleazy fly-by-night operative of someone who’s out to con you. Sadly there are still those who take advantage of people who don’t know any better and it makes my blood boil that these people tarnish a respectable profession and make things a lot harder for us headhunters who take pride in what we do.

I’m here for 2 reasons, one to show that not all recruiters are con-men, there are a lot of us who find pride with our chosen profession, and we do follow strict standards of morals and ethics when dealing with our candidates and clients. And my 2nd reason is to give some tips and advice on how to best navigate the chaos of a labour market, and how to choose the right person to lead the way for your benefit.

First part of this series is probably the best and most important advice that I can give anyone. Always find a recruiter that you feel most comfortable with. Someone you can trust and depend on to help you with your career.

You wouldn’t go to just any corner lawyer or banker to get advice on your legal issues or financial matters would you? I’d bet a million bucks that you go to that particular banker or lawyer because you’ve developed a relationship with them, they’re someone in your professional network that know you and in turn they’re someone you trust and you can turn to for advice.

Same thing with your recruiter, this should be a person that you can depend on to help you with your career. You need to be able to trust this person with your dreams, your goals and ambitions. This relationship is not a one time meet and greet and hope for the best. You need to take time to get to know each other and connect once in a while to give updates on what’s going on from your end.

Working as a recruiter for a number of years now, I’ve developed a lot of professional relationships within my network where I can call on people when I have a new position that comes my way because I’ve met them, I know what’s important for them and with their profiles I can make the best match.

It’s such a humbling experience to hear that I’ve helped someone find that right position for them in their career development, 99% of the time they’re the people that I’ve met, people I’ve created a relationship with and I took the time to know what they’re looking for and what motivates them. And like I said it works both ways, they’re the type of candidates who took the time to get to know my style of work and strategize on what’s right for them. Between a star candidate that I’ve met and some person that I talked to on the phone, I always, ALWAYS remember the people that I’ve met and prioritize them with any new opportunity that comes my way.

Go ahead, take 20 minutes of your time to go and meet a recruiter, find the right one that works for you and believe me, those 20 minutes will pay in dividends for years to come.

Ps. Don’t you pay your lawyer and doctor when you go to them for advice. You get advice from your recruiter for free and if you play your cards right

Change is here...

The US Elections are done.. Thank God!! I was getting over-saturated with politics. 2 years with 2 major elections in 2 countries is a lot and a long time to be too focused on something. But what a change, kudos to our neighbors down south for proving to the world that yes you can and most importantly to President Barack Obama, congratulations to you Mr. 44th, hopefully you’ll be able to bring those changes you promised.

Speaking of change… I’ve been contemplating about changes that can happen in my life, I had the weirdest of epiphanies last night. I’ll be 30 in 9 months and I feel like I haven’t lived to my fullest potential. I love my job, my life is great… but is that it? Is it about all work and no play at this point in my life? Why do I feel that there’s nothing to expect, I don’t have anything of substance to look forward to. Is that bad?

Whatever things that are going on in my life, I know that it will always originate from me, I guess that if I do need to do something, if I’m still looking for that something to look forward to, then maybe the change has to come from me..

Change is here, yes I can..

Book Review: Eunoia by Christian Bok

Eunoia is the shortest word in the English language that contains all 5 vowels and it means “beautiful thinking”. It’s also the title of what I think is a literary masterpiece of Christian Bok. He is Canada’s own experimental poet of univocalics. Each chapter is dedicated to a single vowel and all the words used in that chapter contains that dedicated vowel. In his own words, he mentions that his book shows that each vowel has its own personality and he delves into the personality of each letter. Here is an excerpt:

Chapter A

“Awkward grammar appalls a craftsman. A dada board as daft as Tzara damns stagnant art and scrawls an alpha (a slapdash arc and a backward zag) that mars all stanzas and jams all ballads (what a scandal).”

I’m not the biggest fan of poetry, my prose experience is limited to “that darling buds of May”, but I heard about this book when I was kidding around with my officemate about how a lot of books out now are either man-fiction or chick lit. He then told me about a book that in turn was recommended to him by his friends (classic workings of word-of-mouth) and he told me that it was an experience reading this book and its definitely worth every penny.

Admittedly I had low expectations about Eunoia, as much as the enthusiasm of my colleague was infectious, I couldn’t bring myself to get excited about a book with weird words dedicated to a single vowel.. well that is until I started reading the first page. It was brilliant, funny, thought provoking and all the characteristics I like in my favorite fiction books. What seemed like random words actually tells a story, and although it’s the kind of book that you do have to read a couple of times to really appreciate the cleverness of the writing, its an easy enough read that it doesn’t take that much of an effort to read again. I found myself chuckling on how witty the stories where concocted. And I’m in pure awe on the brilliance of the author.

My only rude awakening is that it put my own articulate knowledge or lack thereof front and centre when there were more than a couple of words I’ve never heard before and I constantly had to bring out the dictionary to find out what it meant.

So for fans of text twist, word whomp, for those who enjoy “artsy” book, or to book worms like me who are always game on reading a new genre at least once.. this is for you. I highly recommend it.

I give it 5 out of 5 stars..

“…Enfettered, these sentences repress free speech. The text deletes selected letters. We see the revered exegete reject metered verse: the sestet, the tercet – even les scenes elevees en grec. He rebels. He sets new precedents. He lets cleverness exceed decent levels. “