Tip for the day #6 when applying for a job

In dealing with (in-house or external) recruiters + hiring managers:

• REMEMBER WHO you’ve talked to. Keep a running list, year after year, of the individuals and the companies where they work. Update it with new status and dates. You will only save yourself time and energy later and you'll have adoring (read: appreciative) fans on the recruiter side. (Clients will stop dealing with recruiters who send them candidates the clients already spoke to, so if you like your recruiter(s) don't risk their client relationships by making them look bad.)
  
• "We will keep you on file" from a potential employer doesn't mean you can't check in after 8-12 weeks. For freelance and full-time, timing is everything -- you may just pop up in someone's in-box right when they found out they need you! So check in with them once in a while -- not too much of course, and be respectful of hints or direction from people like "don't call us, we'll call you" -- but where you can, keep that relationship alive. (Now would be a good time to re-read TFTD #5!)
  
• *DON’T ARGUE when you get advice from recruiters. Instead be thankful they took the time to give you the feedback. Most won't. If you don't believe the advice, if you think you know better, take a poll. Ask a few more recruiters if they agree with the comments you received. Ask a former boss you know would be honest. Ask colleagues you commiserate with while hunting for a job. The point is, you are getting advice from someone who does this for a living and he/she probably has a good sense of what goes over well and what falls quickly out of consideration. Remember, no one gets paid NOT to get you a job, and no internal employee looks better for NOT finding the right candidates, so feedback is only ever meant to help you, be it from the employer or external recruiter.
• Don't just take my word for it - here's the link to a CD's blog where he addresses the many pitfalls of job hunting: www.thecreativeunderground.com/blog/