Career Planning

When you decide to take your next career step, write out your personal and professional goals to see if they align. The following questions can help you clarify your objectives:

• Why are you in the field in which you are currently working?
• Are your talents and personality traits being fully utilized?
• Are continuing education and training high priorities where you work?

After you have answered these questions, take the following next steps:

• Career management. Take control of your life by taking positive steps to achieve your objectives.
• Support. Be sure that your family endorses your choices. You'll be able to move faster when an offer is tendered.
• Networking. Your career network should include friends, current and former colleagues, vendors, industry contacts, recruiters, teachers and classmates.
• Skills. Today's economic environment is constantly changing. Make sure your skills are up-to-date.

What to expect when planning with a Recruiter.

• Remember that a recruiter's role is dual in nature: to identify talent for our client company's specific needs and to identify appropriate long-term career opportunities for our candidates.
• When meeting with a recruiter, your goal should be to communicate as clearly as possible your career goals. It is important for the recruiter to know what you are looking for and what's important to you, so that if the right opportunity comes along he/she will know how to proceed. As the recruiter keeps his/her eyes open for opportunities, it is also important that you continually review the opportunities posted on our site and let the recruiter know of positions that you may have an interest in as well, just in case something is inadvertently overlooked.
• Use your professional recruiter as a part of your personal network. Recruiters often know of opportunities that are not posted on the web or printed in the newspaper. Many of our client companies turn to us for specific screening and matching rather than do any searching on their own.
• When selecting a recruiter, find one:
  - First, who works in your field of specialty
  - Second, who deals with the level and type of position you want
  - Third, who has a good reputation within your industry
  

Recruiter's expectations of candidates.

• Communicate, Communicate, and Communicate! Always keep us updated on your career status, industry changes, and so forth.
• A long-term relationship with a recruiter is very valuable. Sometimes he/she can assist you at one point in your career when perhaps that same recruiter was unable to do so at another. Remember that timing plays a critical role in any search process. Many of our recruiters have played a valuable role in assisting candidates with industry information, career counseling, and various other human resource related issues.
• Communicate occasional updates of your achievements, accomplishments, and increased responsibility.
• Send periodic resume updates.
• A good recruiter is typically very busy. While personal communication is always the best choice, for a quick response or to provide updates, email can be an excellent alternative.

Remember: Good career matches for our candidates are extremely important to us. The best way for a recruiter to get to know you after the initial in-depth personal interview is ongoing communication. It is a partnership!