Author Byline: CareerAlley
Author Website: http://careeralley.com

Have you ever gotten a phone call from a recruiter or a company HR representative saying “I’m calling about the job you applied for online” and you can’t remember the specifics of the job? If you’ve been looking for a job for any length of time then you’ve probably applied to 15 or 20 (or more) jobs online. After awhile, the job descriptions all start to sound alike and you hit the “apply now” button knowing that you qualify but otherwise not paying much attention to the details. The good news is that many Job Boards and Company Career sites track and store jobs you’ve applied for in your profile. The difficult part is remembering which Job Board you used.

In addition to the basic tools you should have in your Job Marketing Campaign (Resume, Cover Letters, Thank You Letters, Elevator Speech, etc.), you should also have a Job Search Plan and ways to track your progress. Today’s article will provide some ideas and links to help you plan and track.

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Recruiters are people just like everyone.. with desires, hopes, and career issues of their own. They want to do a good job, build a reputation and earn money, and help candidates find the right job for them and make a difference in their lives.

But when they are sitting opposite that desk from you and drilling you with hard questions, they can seem like the enemy. They fact is that they are standing between you and the job you want, and, practically speaking, they are an obstacle to overcome.

Any candidate who has been to many interviews can find them baffling. Some are nice and some are not friendly at all. Who hasn’t left an interview with a recruiter wondering things like “Where did that odd question come from?”, “Does this person really understand the technical question she was putting forward and can she adequately evaluate my response?” , “Why hasn’t he called back when he said he was putting my candidacy forward to the hiring company?”

But however strange recruiter behavior might have seemed to you in the past, like it or not, they are a key element to your jobsearch success. You need them to reach your goal, and that means you need to understand what their job is about, what they are looking for and what they are not, what they like and dislike in a candidate, and what they need to succeed at their jobs. You can help them reach their goals, while they help you to reach yours. Many find that once they win over a recruiter’s heart, the desired job is suddenly much closer.. they will find that perfect role for you.