Rites of Passage at $100,000 to $1 Million+: Your Insider’s Lifetime Guide to Executive Job-Changing and Faster Career Progress in the 21st Century by John Lucht

Why We Like This Book:

The ONLY book on changing jobs you will ever need. As detailed and well-documented and -researched book as we know of. It is the equivalent of Effective Executive for job searches. May not be 100% applicable for college graduates, but is for everyone else. He says you should do your resume like we do, and no one else recommends this. Buy this book.

We hate to use the name headhunters rather than recruiters, because Mark never liked that term when it was applied to him. But it’s a pretty common nickname for a group that is playing an increasingly important role in career management today. The World is Flat has taught us that no job is safe (note even fast food order takers!). Companies are no longer taking responsibility for your career. Tom Peters believes in a Brand Called “You”. Your career and its transitions are IN YOUR HANDS. You can’t call yourself a smart manager if you don’t know how to create the right relationship with recruiters in your industry.

Over the next two shows, we’ll tell you EXACTLY how to handle it when a recruiter calls you. There’s a right way to do this, and over NINETY PERCENT of managers fail at miserably. It’s not hard, and we lay it all out here. We’ll tell you some basic things you need to know about recruiters, the guidelines for the first call, and the key questions to ask THEM. As well, we share how to actually address their specific request, and then how to maintain a relationship with them after the call if you care to.

Last week, we discussed some basic things you need to know about recruiters and specifically how to handle the first call from the recruiter. Today, we discuss the key questions to ask them, as well as how to address their specific request. Additionally, we discuss what you can do to maintain a good relationship with them going forward. Would it surprise you that it looks a lot like maintaining ANY relationship?

We’ve also included on the website an Executive Recruiter Cheat Sheet. Print this sheet out and keep it handy in your desk … it will help you remember how to handle that initial call (what to say, what to ask) and assist you in ensuring that the first call from the recruiter isn’t the LAST call. You’ll find the cheat sheet here.

Join in and discuss this topic in the discussion boards here.

In a previous cast, we talked about how many managers don’t understand the importance of taking recruiters’ calls, and walked through step by step (hey, this is Manager Tools) how to handle those calls. What to say, and what to learn, and how to proceed.

But there’s another side to the recruiting relationship, isn’t there? What if you want to contact a recruiter, without waiting for them to call you? Maybe you’re recognizing a change in opportunities where you are, or you want to move in a different direction, or perhaps it’s as simple as suddenly inheriting a terrible boss, and alarm bells are going off in your head.

How does one contact a recruiter? What are the basics to consider, and how does one approach them when you’re going to initiate contact? It’s easy if you do it step by step, the Manager Tools way!

Note: During the show, we mentioned we would post a couple of links to some recruiter resources. Hunt-Scanlon is a provider of information about the executive recruiting business - great resource for access to recruiters. Kennedy is a well known technology executive recruiting firm.

• Hunt-Scanlon Corporation
• The Kennedy Partnership