How To Get A Job In The Chicago Area Using Recruiters
I am a professional recruiter with 30 years experience working with people and companies to bring them together. I work from a Chicago suburb. My local client companies pay my fees. I think I can offer you some help in locating a new position in the Chicago area using your local fee paid recruiters.
Usually recruiters work in one niche professional skill discipline. Some work electronic engineers, some work salespeople, some work PhD’s, accountants, etc. Other recruiters work a local geographical area in several disciplines focusing on client companies they meet with regularly. Regardless of the specialty they work, most recruiters are very interested in locating good local talent. People with degrees, skills, achievements, and ability to sell themselves are rare and coveted by our local clients.
If you fall into this group, recruiters will be happy to help you. You should seek out the local recruiters in your area. The goal is to find at least three recruiting firms or individuals in the Chicago area that work your specific discipline. I estimate that there are 3000 individual recruiters in the Chicagoland vicinity. No doubt some of them cover your skill set.
You can also be sure recruiters are working with just about every company or employer in the Chicago area. If you are interested in a specific company then one goal in this aspect of job hunting is to find the recruiters working with that company. One way to do that is to look at recruiter’s job listings to discover the company that the recruiter is working for by looking for product, marketplace or technology phrases. Then contact that recruiter and submit your resume regardless if you see a good match or not. Many openings are not currently listed because the job is confidential.
You should also contact the large recruiting firms with multiple offices in the Chicago area such as Sales Consultants, ADDECO and others that are listed in the yellow pages. In some of the Management Recruiters offices all the desks specialize in manufacturing or health care disciplines such as air conditioning or pediatric care. Call around until you find the office that handles your area of interest and the specific recruiter that works that desk.
Recruiters in recent years have banded together in virtual networks to increase their contacts and share jobs and candidates. Top Echelon Network is the largest of these. Seek out members of the networks and you will automatically be given exposure to hundreds of specialty recruiters.
So you have looked for recruiters handling your specialty and for recruiters working with your targeted companies. What else can you do? You can study the newspaper ads. I know this sounds old fashioned, but the ads can lead you to companies that are hiring and not using recruiters. Many firms will try the print ads first. You can reply directly which sometimes works. Sometimes it will land you in a huge pile of resumes but it is still worth doing.
You can compare the print ads with the recruiter’s ads on America’s Job Bank, Monster and Dice and attempt to find out who the hiring client is and if there is recruiter handling that firm. Most recruiters do not rewrite the material describing their jobs and they just use the canned information the company hands out. Pick a few lines of the job listing and do a Google search on the string. This can be helpful in locating recruiters working for major firms and other locations of postings.
Newspapers are valued in the Chicago area. Some are large such as the Tribune. Others are small such as the Courier group (Pioneer Press), Daily Herald and the Daily Southtown. Be sure to look at your local papers. You will be surprised by how many companies are using these resources. They use local papers because they don’t want people from across the country or world sending them resumes. They are only interested in local people from down the block. This also means they may be open to hiring a local person that is not a perfect fit but is available immediately without relocating costs.
If you have a specialty then you can assume there is a technical society or association group that is affiliated with your type of profession. From the American Society of Engineers to IEEE or ASQC or SAE these are groups you want to be a member of. You will find recruiters that are affiliated with these societies also. They advertise in the magazines and publications of the groups and on their web sites and are listed in the directories of the associations. Often there are local sections or chapter meetings you can attend. In my case I belong to several societies and I go to meetings, write for the publications and help members with free resume critiques. Seek these recruiters out, register with them and keep them informed of your career moves. They will call you when they need some help on a job. If you pass on a name or two the recruiter will remember that favor and will return to your resume when he needs a person with your skills.
