One of the most common question we get when we are headhunting candidates is “How did you get my contact?” Well, the information do come from somewhere and chances are these candidates have done something right to raise their exposure level despite them not knowing about it.

For the rest who are still waiting for that call from headhunters, here are the things you NEED to do to be on their radar.

1. Be prominent in online searches. Some very senior managers I spoke with do not even know what LinkedIN is all about. And monster.com? Do they sell monsters? These 2 (and all prominent job boards’ databases) are where you should be featured prominently. And creation of an account per se is not the end of it. You need to fill it up with content and keywords that you would want to be associated with when headhunters enter them into the search engine. And always contently update and refine your profile. No one will bother reading a profile that was last updated 2 years ago.
2. Connect to peers and industry influencers who will refer you. Social media has made it very easy to connect with peers, colleagues, friends and even enemies with a click of the button. In many instances, who you know is more important than the skill set you possess. And importantly a lot of companies are dangling huge carrots to encourage internal referrals. You win a job, they win a bonus.
3. Find the right headhunter. In the world of recruitment, our network is our most precious asset. No one can possibly the same level of penetration for every network segment. So if an engineer is knocking on the door of a pharmaceutical headhunter, you can break your knuckles and still won’t get a reply. Spend some time to clearly map out and understand the headhunter specialization and how that matches your objective.
4. Provide information related to your industry. Notice how some bloggers have millions of subscribers and some you just want to erase your memory from? We are attracted to certain blogs because the information is of value to us and it engages us to read on and read more. Start a career blog and twitter account to jot down your nuggets of knowledge to broadcast and thus positioning yourself as a domain expert.
5. Attend industry events and seminars. Seen the US Presidential election campaign? Both candidates are out and about speaking with people, carrying babies and taking pictures. You need to be out there to be seen and heard, even if you hate it. Between an armchair general and a soldier at the warfront, the latter is seen more credible while the former could not even be seen.