If you’ve ever been approached by an executive recruiter with the lucrative offer of that elusive dream job, you’d be hard-pressed not to take the bait. After all, who in their right minds wouldn’t want that well-deserved big break? But if you’ve ever found higher education headhunters intimidating or downright impossible to figure out, here are eight things you ought to know about them.
These 8 tips should help you easily get through interviews so you have a better chance of landing the position you desire.
Pro Tips You Should Know to Impress Recruiters
1. First impressions are everything
If you think you can get away with a few bad impressions during an interview, think again. First impressions are everything, and if academic search firms even so much as find anything about you that’s off-putting, you can say goodbye to that potential job.
2. Recruiters will double-check your profile
Don’t think you can deceive higher education headhunters. Always apply transparency in every little thing you put on your resume or application since they double-check every bit of information you include there.
3. Fancy buzzwords don’t convince them in the least
If you’ve decided to be ‘savvy’ and include a lot of buzzwords in your resume hoping to impress them, don’t. One or two buzzwords are fine, but it isn’t what you put on your resume that matters, but what they observe during your interview. Authentic and palpable passion – not buzzwords – is what education search firms are looking for.
4. Proper references make all the difference
It isn’t just having references that are important; having the proper references is what counts. Go beyond basic information and emphasize your different strengths in various situations related to your desired position.
5. Social media can be a deal-breaker
If you’re fond of posting controversial or offensive thoughts on social media, or act like a very unsociable (read ‘nasty’) person on your Facebook page, chances are you won’t land your desired position. Academic search firms look for someone who can best represent the values their clientele uphold, and they’ll sometimes scour the depths of the web to find out the nitty-gritty about you.
6. You have the power to negotiate
If you ever felt like you had no choice regarding the salary a recruiter was offering and had to ‘settle’ for whatever was being offered – be more assertive. Try to negotiate for a higher rate. If education search firms like you enough to offer a quote, you won’t lose anything by negotiating. Not only will they take it as a sign of initiative, but you also have every right to demand payment that is equal to the talents you’ll bring to the academia.
7. If they take too long to call you back, move on
Higher education headhunters are always one step ahead of things, and often have a readied list of ‘ideal’ candidates aside from you. If they are taking forever to call you back for a job offer, chances are they’ve already given it to someone else and you were just the ‘plan B’.
8. Don’t get your hopes up
Anybody will feel elated after a job interview. But unless they show tell-tale signs of being interested in you, or they give you a contract to sign then and there, they probably already gave the job to a tenured professor. It is prudent to always have backup job offers on the line, so you always have a fallback in case one of them doesn’t pan out.
These eight tips are sure to help you up your game in the highly competitive and often unpredictable world of academic job hunting. Good luck!