Article Contributed By CareerAlley

Here is a test to find whether your mission on earth is finished: If you’re alive it isn’t.” – Richard Bach

I don’t know if this happens to you, but sometimes I get calls from recruiters asking if I know someone with specific job experience. Of course, the experience they just described sounds like a summary of my resume. So immediately I think “wait a minute, I know that person and that person is me”. Now I’m not a great believer in coincidences, and I’m not really as dumb as I look, so this recruiter is obviously fishing for ME. Now sometimes I just can’t help myself (actually, I usually can’t help myself), so of course I say to the recruiter “well maybe I would be interested in that position”. One thing leads to another and off we go. So, what is the point of this sad but true story? Recruiters are another great resource for your job search and while you just might get lucky and they find you, I would not place any hopes on that happening (even if it does happen to me every so often). Today’s post is the first in a series of posts revisiting the long list of Recruiters, Headhunters and the like.

Where to Find Recruiters:

  • How to Find a Recruiter – How do you go about finding a recruiter that will fit your needs? This site (SearchFirm.com) is one place you can start your look. On the main page, click “find” and the recruiter search screen comes up. You can put in any criteria (all or none) and the search engine will return a list of recruiters that match your request. The criteria includes: Specialty, firm type, where, name contains and more. This is a great site to add to your list, but remember, don’t spend more than 20% – 25% of your time on recruiter.
  • Online Recruiters Directory – This is a really neat site, offered by Online Recruiters Directory. There are a number of approaches you can take. Click Job Seeker from the tab at the top of the page, this will take you directly to the recruiters search box. Three steps – select your category (industry), job type (temp, perm, etc.) and state. Click “search recruiters” and you have your list with all of the contact information you need. You can also click the links on the right hand side of the page under “I am a Job Seeker”.
  • Find a Recruiter – From findarecruiter.com, provides another search engine for you. You can select from the featured recruiters on the left-center side of the page or the search box from the right hand side. Simply select you field of interest followed by the region and then click “go find a recruiter”. This will return a list of recruiters. Click on any recruiter for the contact information.
  • Recommended Recruiters – Another great site. The main page has a search box where you can enter keywords or location. You can also click the browse or advanced search at the bottom of the page. Clicking the browse button provides a page that allows you to browse by state, discipline and industry.

A Few Recruiters:

  • A-List Associates – This recruiting firm specializes in Executive Assistants and Administrative Support and are a New York City based firm. Their main page has tabs at the top for About Us, Why A-List?, Services, Positions and Contact Us. Click on the Positions link to view the open positions. Each position has a brief overview and you can apply fr the job directly from this page. If you don’t see a position that suits you, go to the Contact Us link and click. The Contact Us page has several contact options: phone, fax, snail mail and an online contact file (where you can attach your resume for upload).
  • Harris Rand – This is a retained executive search firm that specializes in public service organizations across the US. The main page has a comprehensive overview of the company with links on the left hand side of the page for Biographies, Client List (a good source of leads), Current Searches, Search Process and Associated Resources. Click on Current Searches to see current job opportunities. Click on any job to see the details. You can apply directly online. Contact info for the firm is located at the bottom of the Current Searches page.
  • Sinon Group – This search firm has two locations, one in NY and one in Connecticut. Their main page has a high level over view with office contact information. The left hand side of the page has links for About Us, Partners, Contact Us and Current Jobs. Click Current Jobs for a list of all open positions. You can click “detail” to see additional information on any job and you can apply from within the job description or from the summary jobs page. Click on Partners to contact the partners directly (bios and contact information is provided on this page).
  • Top Tier Financial – Specializing in Finance and Construction (according the their website), the main page has a company overview with tabs at the top for Candidates, Our People and Contact. The right hand side of the page has a link for the Construction part of the firm (which has similar links). No jobs are listed on the site, but click Contact for snail mail, phone, fax and email address.
    Roberts & Ryan – A simple home page, this firm recruits for a number of industries. There is a brief overview, followed by a few tabs – Who We are, Our Experience, Candidates and Contact Us. Click Candidates and then Learn More and Submit to email your resume. Click Contact Us for telephone, fax and snail mail information.

Two More Lists:

  • CareerAlley’s List of Recruiters – My (almost) comprehensive list of recruiters covered on CareerAlley. Click any of the recruiter names to link directly to their website.

Good luck in your search.

Article courtesy of the Recruiting Blogswap, a content exchange service sponsored by CollegeRecruiter.com, a leading site for college students looking for internships and recent graduates searching for entry level jobs and other career opportunities.