Page 43 - James Caan - Get the Job you Really Want
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move to a new company they will typically move up in responsi-
bility and status and will get paid more.
Volatility provides opportunities: and your decision is
whether a) you use professional help, from recruitment agencies
and headhunters, to find your way through all the options, b) you
apply direct to companies, or c) you make yourself prominent,
visible and marketable in the digital marketplace.
My question to you is: Why not do all three, and exploit
every route available?
Your sole aim is to reach the person, the decision maker, who
is going to o≠er you the right job. In order to achieve that, use all
the options out there. The secret is to use them wisely.
There is no point in adopting a scattergun approach. Don’t
‘spray and pray’. That will simply be a waste of your precious
time and energies.
Building a relationship with agencies
How many headhunting and recruitment firms exist today
compared to ten or twenty years ago? I suspect the figure has
tripled. That proliferation reflects the fact that more people are
moving around, because recruitment agencies are targeting
people in a fast-moving, fluid environment. HR departments
within companies – understa≠ed and overloaded – need the help
of agencies and headhunters to source the best people available
for the job on o≠er at any given time.
As far as agencies are concerned, the key word for me is
‘specialist’. In the job market today, the recruitment industry has
become highly specialized. Thirty years ago it was a generalist
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