Ways to Respond the Intro Call With a Recruiter

Compliments! Your curriculum vitae captured a recruiter’s attention. Take a moment to be real, to be high-five. You’ve done well. What is it now? You will probably be invited to take part in a phone interview-by phone, Skype, Google Hangout or in-person-with the HR person or recruiter who has just found you. It’s very important to wow this person, because if you fail, you won’t have the chance to blink the hiring manager with your crazy skills. As they say, your goose is going to be cooked. So how do you stack the odds in your favor and make sure you are sailing through this critical stage in the hiring process? By understanding the role of the recruiter, what he is looking for and what he can gain by finding the right candidate and then strategizing.

Show quickly that you cover the basics:

More often than not, HR people or recruiters will not look for nitty-gritty details about your technical skills. They try to see more if you meet the basic job requirements. That said, you should carefully study the job description or talk to people working in the department and then (before the interview) list the things that you think are the most important results for the role. Make sure you touch on your strengths during the conversation in these specific areas.

Show that you are really interested (assuming you are):

Recruiters love the role they are trying to fulfill when they realize that a candidate is a strong matching skill. Being a match for skills, however, means little if you give the impression that you are so interested in the company or role. If they take you to the next stage of the interview process, recruiters want to be confident that you’re enthusiastic and eager to learn more, not just waste time. And so, if you are reasonably interested in the opportunity, during the screening call, you have to make that immediately clear to the recruiter.

Exude an air of “Strong Culture Fit” :

companies that hire candidates for three things, not just one. “it must be a” yes, “whatever. But what typically clinches the candidate who ends up with the job is that she is also a “yes” to these questions: “We like her? “you have to show at an early stage that you are a strong cultural fit. Therefore, if you interview for a role in a company that you know little about, you should study the online presence of the organization-the company’s website, Facebook page, Twitter feed, you get the picture-and find out its brand personality, its tone.

Understand the role and stake of the recruiter in this process:

By understanding the recruiter’s role in the recruitment process, you will probably be better able to plan this first interview. That said, they want you to win when they call you. If you win, you want to sail through the screening call? They’re winning. And if they quickly fill this position, they can also move to a different position (and make more money).