For Jobseekers
Where are you in your job search?
We have relationships with jobseekers that range from those with extremely urgent needs to those that just want to keep in touch with what’s going on in the MR market. Wherever you fall on that continuum, we’ll customize our approach to fit your needs and adapt as required when your urgency changes. The vast majority of our network falls into the category of “we’ll keep our eyes open for you”. If you can give us a feel for what your next dream job looks like, we’ll keep watching for it and when we see something with potential we’ll toss it your way. At that point you can ask us to tell you more about it, or say “Thanks I’m doing fine”.
First Step
First, you have to get on our radar. It has to do with the fact that ‘You miss 100% of every shot you don’t take’… or something like that! To help us do this, the first step is a brief 5-min survey that we use with all candidates that gives us a snapshot of your skills and experience. Please click on the this link or on the Candidate Profile Survey button at the bottom of this section to get started.
Next Step- Resume
Resumes make the world go around, so please do forward your resume to us via this link:
Our philosophy on resumes:
First, don't waste time and money trying to get the most beautiful, compelling resume out there unless you intend to use the elephant gun approach and splatter your resume everywhere. With a recruiters' introduction, your resume will be noticed, and the employer will listen to the recruiter sing your praises rather than try to glean merit from your sleek resume design!
However- avoid the kiss of death: absolutely NO ERRORS in spelling or grammar.
Stay in touch
We periodically (2-3 / year) send out the "Market Research Careers State of the Union" update, tips on how to best work with recruiters, etc. It's a great reminder to keep us updated on any changes you might have made since the last time we were in touch.
Finally…
If you are ready for a change ‘yesterday’, let us know and we’ll set up a call to dig in to what excites you.
Or please read more below to help you get the most out of working with us.
Our Contact Us page
Why work with us (or any other recruiter)?
A recruiters’ job is to find top talent for long-term successful career placements- the classic win-win for candidate and employer. Recruiters do that by making sure you get noticed by the hiring decision-maker in the area of the company that needs you.
If you introduce yourself (via company website, Monster, etc.), chances are that you’ll end up one of thousands of resumes and cover letters on an overworked HR person’s desk who probably uses a bot to scan for keywords. If you don't have 'em all you're inevitably tossed aside. So please think twice before posting your resume or sending it to a company, because once your resume has been submitted to a company, a recruiter can’t help you there.
This all means that strong relationships and networks are essential to every recruiter. An ethical recruiter will be up front with you about whether they can help you with ABC company- and by definition no recruiter can help you with every company.
The fact is that recruiters find people for jobs, not jobs for people. It’s a worthy distinction. We earn our keep by finding talent for our clients. Occasionally a ‘rock star’ candidate comes along and we can truly market that person to our clients, but that is a rarity. More often we have a variety of opportunities that we are actively searching to fill for our clients- ranging somewhere from 10 -20 at a time.
If you fit one of these vacancies, great! If not, we keep you in mind as we network across the industry and we’ll give you a ring when we see a potential fit. The key there is that we need to stay up-to-date on your status and personal contact information. There's nothing more frustrating than finding your dream job for you but not being able to find you! You can come back to this site and update your information at any time via the survey link above, or better yet just give us a call!
How the recruiting process works:
Think of it as being on a date with your potential employer. Your recruiter rides along throughout the date to make sure that you don't have broccoli in your teeth or bad breath or worse. If the employer (or you) get a bad vibe that isn't necessarily the real 'you', the recruiter steps in to address and clarify the problem and see whether a solution can be worked out that preserves the win-win.
It also means that we may point out a bad fit when we see it too, because our clients' long-term satisfaction is our #1 job!
It is imperative that you manage the recruiting process intelligently. Ideally your recruiter(s) will coordinate things so that you have offers come through at the same time so you can make a well-informed decision.
Several pitfalls to watch for-
>> Never promise a recruiter that you will work with them exclusively. An ethical recruiter will be up front with you about whether they can help you with ABC company- and by definition no recruiter can help you with every company.
>> Always require your permission before a recruiter introduces you anywhere, and never allow more than one recruiter to introduce you to the same company. It makes the recruiter look stupid and it makes you look desperate.
>> Always keep your recruiter informed as to where you’ve been introduced and what the status is in each situation. If you’re nearing an offer with one company, the other potential employers need to know in case they can speed up the process to have offers coincide.
>> Never worry about ping-ing your recruiter. While we also sometimes are guilty of failing to respond quickly, we do our best, so be proactive!
For more on this topic, read our Musings page.