The Outlook Chronicles: Connecting With Recruiters on LinkedIn

So here's the set-up: without fail, I meet with students who, upon leaving my office, have a million more questions. Some of these questions they figure out on their own, some they e-mail to me for my two cents. Not surprisingly, I tend to see a lot of the same questions. So for those of you are asking yourselves those ground-breaking questions, like "should I text the hiring manager?," here are my answers to some frequently asked questions.  

Sometimes, my smart and talented friends e-mail me their job search questions, too.  This e-mail is adapted is from a question I received from one of those friends.

A student writes:

Hi Shimrit,

I have a question about contacting recruiters on LinkedIn. Sometimes, through connections, I see recruiters at places I want to work, or a specific recruiter’s name next to a job posted on LinkedIn. What's the best policy on contacting these folks? A lot of times you can only contact them by clicking the “Connect” button and sending a brief message. Is it cool to do that and say something to the effect of, "Hey, I applied for job X, I am very interested, and just wanted to see if the position was still available?" Also, there will sometimes be over 10 different recruiters (say at a place like Google) and it's hard to tell which one would be the best to contact. Is it worth just shooting a line to a random recruiter to ask which person would be the best to email about job X I found on the company website?

Thanks,
Corey 


And I answer:

Hi Corey,

LinkedIn is certainly an amazing tool (as my blog indicates, I’ve drank the LinkedIn kool-aid), but proper etiquette and best practices for using this behemoth of an online tool are at best confusing. Hopefully my attempt to answer your question will not be similarly confusing – though you can expect it to be long-winded. And, in the spirit of long-windedness (is that a word?), I’m going to preface my answer with a disclaimer: while I consider myself something of a LinkedIn aficionado, my expertise largely relates to using LinkedIn as a networking tool. I very infrequently deal with the "recruiter question” as I mostly counsel undergraduate students – whose best bet is to connect and network with employees at their target companies, rather than directly with human resources.

Of course, the same does not necessarily apply to you given your previous work experience and graduate degree in statistics. You, as opposed to recent college grad, have a much better likelihood of being courted by recruiters. So back to your question . . . almost. You keep referring to recruiters in your e-mail, but I actually think you may be talking about human resources professionals, or even hiring managers. These are not recruiters per se. Recruiters are generally third-party professionals, who are seeking to find excellent candidates for open positions at their client sites. They receive a commission based on whether they are able to fill a given role with their candidate, but are not internal to the firm. Human resources folks are in fact internal to the company (and are often viewed as the gatekeepers to getting past the resume screen). A company like Google might employ hundreds of human resources professionals (this is totally a guess), so your chances of connecting with the appropriate contact is pretty slim. To make matters even more confusing, these internal human resources people may in fact be called recruiters. The people internal to a company who may be doing the hiring might have titles ranging from recruiter, to talent acquisition manager, to human resources coordinator.

That being said, a polite e-mail, or connection request, shouldn’t hurt your chances of getting the job. But there’s a better approach! If you actually know someone at Google (check the alumni network), I’d start by connecting with that person first. Before just shooting off a random e-mail, I would in fact check with your company contact to see if they can make an introduction, or even better, direct you towards the hiring manager.

Now, for the part about seeing a “specific recruiter’s name next to a job posted on LinkedIn.” If that person is in fact in human resources, then they likely are responsible for the job. In this case, yes, you should contact them! If the job is still posted you can assume it is not filled (it costs money to post jobs on LinkedIn) and use this brief message to say something along the lines of “Dear ____, I have applied for this job of XXX through the online system, however if you have any additional questions about my candidacy feel free to review my LinkedIn profile or contact me at xxx-xxx-xxxx. Thanks for your consideration, Corey.”

Similarly, if the position is posted by an external recruiter, you should also definitely connect. In fact, you want to connect with them even if you’re not exactly a match for the posted role as many recruiters are continuously looking for candidates with a similar set of skills. I would write, “Dear ___, I am interested in learning more about this position, as well as other opportunities in the field of XXX, and would like to add you to my LinkedIn network. Best, Corey.” And if you’d like recruiters to contact you - and many recruiters use LinkedIn for this exact purpose – make sure your profile is entirely complete with strong keywords.

Lastly, you’re right in recognizing that it’s nearly impossible to message someone you aren’t connected with without asking them to connect. NEARLY! If you have a group in common with someone, you can message them without connecting first by following these (admittedly convoluted) steps. First, find out what group you have in common with them (or join a group they are in). Then go to that group’s page. Click the “member” tab at the top and earch for the person’s name. Hover over their name when it appears in the returned results, which will cause a button to appear to the right of the name that says “send message.” Click “send message” to e-mail the contact without ever actually connecting with them.

Good luck and happy job-hunting!

Best, Shimrit

Practicing What I Preach

Last night A week and half ago I attended a networking event for the graduate program I completed in 2010. Alumni, faculty members, current and prospective students came together to hear Larry Bacow, former President of Tufts, speak about how some of the Boston area universities have weathered the financial crisis and then, following his talk, to network and mingle. The event reminded me, once again, how lucky I am to be a part of the fantastic community that is the Higher Education program at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. From Larry’s insightful remarks, to the questions of the audience, to the stories of my peers now working in various departments and organizations across higher education, I was blown away by this community. In an attempt to capture some of my own thoughts and reflections about last week’s event, I’m bulleting out some of my take-aways:

• I hate to put this as a take-away, given that I just mentioned this, but I was amazed at how talented, passionate, and engaged the Higher Education students at HGSE truly are.
• Students, take note: alumni networking events are not about food, but rather networking.
• Practice what you preach. I wanted to catch up with old friends and head straight to the buffet table, but instead I dedicated much of my time to speaking to those attendees in my field. In fact, I had a really great discussion with a fellow career services professional who I really admire. I’m looking forward to taking her up on her offer to grab a cup of coffee sometime this summer.
• Everyone should/is always thinking about moving their career forward. Case in point, I chose networking over food (I know, crazy!) Additionally, several of my colleagues were debating, speaking about next steps, and even more education. Two years ago I remember being at this event praying hoping that I’d have a job soon enough and be able to attend these types of event without consideration for my future. This year, the pressure may have been off, but I’m placing an ever increased value on the networking opportunities these types of events allow for.
• Someone reads my blog! Hi Samantha!

A "Real" Grad School Ad

I'm not saying that graduate school isn't the right step for some people (hey, I did it myself), but this video is not only hilarious, but in many ways sort of true. Also, it it wrong that this video made me miss both college and grad school.

Check out the video/social commentary on graduate school from the folks at College Humor.

"Taking Time Off"

The other day a colleague of mine pointed out an interesting trend – students referring to the years between college and graduate school as “time off.” As my colleague astutely claimed, “it’s not called ‘time off,’ it’s called work!” As a member of this generation, it’s not altogether surprising to me that I failed to recognize this absurd characterization of “life-after-college” on my own, but that didn’t stop me from sharing her outrage over the use of this terminology.

For one thing, “taking time off” insinuates that work is a privilege, even a vacation of sorts. Trust me, it’s not (and this is coming from someone who really does love her job). Additionally, it suggests that not only is there a finite end to “work,” but assumes that graduate school is a given (again, it’s not). Have other noticed this trend? What do you think about students referring to post-graduate work as “taking time off?”

On Waiting It Out

The recent article in the New York Times, “Generation Limbo: Waiting It Out,” makes my career counselor heart ache. Here are students who’ve invested so much time, energy and money into their degree, waiting for a chance to put it to professional use. But then my pragmatic side kicks in, and I want to kick these kids in the behind for waiting around for anything. Because, as many successful, employed people know, success doesn’t happen to you, it’s something you need to actively pursue. In other words, waiting is not an effective job search strategy!

Okay, so that was my first mini-rant. Now it’s time for part two. And it’s in response to this sentence in article, “After three years without an advertising job, she is now applying to graduate school to freshen up her résumé.”

Going to graduate school, especially when you’re unemployed, is, most often, not an effective job search strategy. If you’ve tried to get a job in marketing, yet been unsuccessful, don’t think that a graduate degree in marketing is going to fix all your problems and catapult your careers. While the job market may be better in two years, you’ll also be out tens (if not hundreds) of thousands of dollars, you’ll be more expensive, and you probably won’t have any more full-time relevant work experience than you did before you started the whole back to school thing. Gosh, I’m really starting to feel like Penelope Trunk here, which means it’s about time to wrap this post up.

Is the Master's the New Bachelor's Degree? Or, Should I Go To Graduate School?

A recent New York Times article titled The Master's As The New Bachelor's addresses a trend I've already noticed: the decision or desire to go straight into graduate school for lack of other options.  The comment from new graduate William Klein, “it’s pretty apparent that with the degree I have right now, there are not too many jobs I would want to commit to” seems to echo what I'm hearing from a lot of recent and soon to be grads making the decision to apply immediately to graduate school.  Several students have said to me, "When I look at the jobs I want, they all require a Master's degree, so that's why I'm going to get one first."  Yet the question beckons, will a Master's degree suffice?  It will not replace a lack of work experience, worldliness, and the knowledge of a field that only comes from interacting within it, outside the confines of ivy covered buildings.  I fear that these students, unwilling to settle for entry-level jobs, may opt instead for what they see as an alternative route to success (i.e. graduate school), a comfortable route they know well from their proven track record of 16 years of academic success.

Of course, to a large extent, the actual necessity of graduate school is industry specific.  To practice law, you need a law degree.  But, in higher education for instance, you're likely better off securing some experience, before attaining the Master's degree.  Additionally, the value of your degree may lie, not only in the program's reputation, but also in the practical skills you will learn as a result of engaging in its coursework.  Is their an internship component? A strong alumni network?  Without experience in the field prior to entering a graduate program, you will need a lot more guidance and practical skills than some of your more mature counterparts. 

Additionally, the decision to enter graduate school is one with serious financial implications, one which can be decided on that much more judiciously by spending some years in the field,  thereby allowing for increased maturity, as well as career exploration.  Had I entered graduate school immediately after college I'd still be working my way towards a PhD in history, a decision which I'd likely regret based on my own, learned, personal work place preferences and interests. I'm not saying that a Master's isn't the right route for some recent grads, but I definitely don't think it's the new Bachelor's Degree.  If anything, I think it's recent graduates expectations regarding their post-graduate job options that be what's shifting.