Four tips on working with your recruiter to win the best interview

How many recruiters have you worked with over the years? None? Five? Twenty? We’d bet that the more recruiters you’ve worked with, the more wary you’ve become. Unfortunately, there are a number out there who give the rest of us a bad rap! At Tiger, we really do pride ourselves on a partnership approach – our goal is to work closely with candidates so as to match them to their dream roles.

Recruiting PA roles in London, for example, requires careful consideration of skills against job requirements, thinking about candidate competencies, the business’s culture fit and personalities of the team, not to mention alignment of long-term goals! The recruitment of one PA role alone can require a whole load of ball juggling, so it makes sense that to optimise results and secure the most promising interviews, a recruiter and candidate must work closely together. These are our tips on how to enhance the relationship with your recruiter… and secure great interviews.

Stay in touch and keep us updated

This is probably one of the most important pieces of advice we can give, as we do a huge amount of background work in the office when shortlisting candidates for roles; that said, the only way we can do this successfully is knowing your status. Keep us posted of your availability and where you’re up to in your job hunt, even if it’s just a weekly email update. If you update your CV, send it through to us to keep on file. If you’re no longer actively looking or have secured something, let us know.

Make a list of your dream companies

At the start of the job hunt, tell us honestly what your professional goals are and who you hope to work for. Part of our role involves proactively speaking to businesses about the great candidates we have on our books, even if they’re not actively recruiting for a role. If you have the right experience and we think you’d be a great fit, we’ll open the doors and introduce you to them.

Don’t back out of your commitments once you’ve agreed to be our candidate

If you’ve agreed to see this through, don’t toy with us if you’re not serious about the opportunities we’re working on together. Don’t make it a difficult to organise interview times, or change your salary expectations halfway through the process. One of our pet hates is working with candidates closely, negotiating job offers, then see them leveraging in an attempt to negotiate a pay rise from their current employer.

Work on your interview techniques

When was the last time you undertook training for your interview style? Wrote out interview questions and practised them with a friend? We strongly urge all our candidates – especially those inexperienced at interviewing – to practise their interview techniques at minimum with a friend, or ideally with a qualified trainer.

We want to secure you great interviews just as much as you! If it was up to us, we’d want to follow our candidates in their career growth throughout their working lives. Get in touch today to take the next step in your career now.

Author David Morel Tiger Recruitment Team