Open your LinkedIn profile and make a good resume: the ‘headhunters’ are back

Have you ever been contacted by phone offering you a job position? or have you noticed that the so-called headhunter (scouts) look at his LinkedIn account? These are several of the ways in which companies specializing in the management of human talent They look for the employee profiles currently required by companies in Ecuador.

Characteristics that change according to the needs of the companies, according to representatives of these firms of headhunter. And every year they are more demanding.

These recruitment companies go through an arduous research process to find the right candidate. His task, at the start of the pandemic, lowered. This is because in the midst of the crisis, companies were no longer hiring people but firing them. In the months of March, April and May there were about 500,000 unemployed and in April 2021 they reached more than one million, according to data from the Ministry of Labor.

One million worker registrations suspended in Ecuador in thirteen months of the pandemic

With the vaccination process and the signs of reactivation, according to the specialists, the movement of the search for personnel recovered again. They are more focused on positions for sales, administration, marketing and technology.

Currently, a college degree is no longer enough to be an attractive staff. You need at least to have a master’s degree, know another language, have experience and soft skills.

“We are looking for profiles that have knowledge in transformation processes, digital issues, new methodologies, soft skills, leadership, business vision are still important,” he says. Daniel Barrero, President of the Human Group, one of the headhunter in the country with 14 years in the market.

This company, made up of a group of companies that collaborate with organizations and other institutions, they adhere to the required profile such as being bilingual, having years of experience and masters degrees.

Barrero says that Search comes from several fronts such as job vacancies on your website, on LinkedIn, or in the job market in general. In the latter, for example, it is preferred to explore the personnel who are already working and are offered a new opportunity.

Ecuadorians work between 31 and 37 hours a week; the decrease would be due to a reduction in working hours and type of work, experts say

“If I want a commercial manager with more than ten years in the mass consumer market, what we do is an investigation of commercial managers who are currently working in mass consumer companies. We do a profile survey, we reach that person and we present this new job challenge (for him to apply), it depends on whether it is attractive to him, “explains Barrero.

This inquiry, gathering of information and subsequent contact lasts between three and four weeks if it is local. When looking for international profiles it extends to six weeks.

For Danny del Valle, partner for Latin America of the Intelec Empresarial Corporation, that a person who is bilingual becomes more competitive.

That is why he recommends: “People who are in college should know that this is a first professional step. He should already be forced to put himself among his goals, to study a language and do a master’s degree so that they are competitive in the job market because then it will be difficult to get (a job) ”.

This company, which operates in Colombia, Ecuador and Peru, also uses LinkedIn as one of its sources, they consider it as a network of professionals. But it also has a database with 10,000 applicants, publishes ads and reviews other social networks.

Del Valle affirms that it is necessary that the potential candidate keep your LinkedIn social network impeccable, boost her to become attractive.

So also add that companies analyze a lot that a citizen is proactive, communicative, has the ability to solve problems and work as a team.

Faced with a competitive scenario, Kevin Pabó, general manager of Kepa Consultores, suggests to the citizen not only to concentrate on one characteristic of the profile but on all of them.

“A master’s degree does not work if you do not have the experience, a good level of communication, that you present yourself well, that you react well, that you know where you want to go.”

How to find a job in social networks and digital platforms in Ecuador?

Say what It is not correct for the candidate to express himself as he speaks with his friends, which must be formal and it is even important that he write well.

At Kepa Consultores they prepare three reports when they look for a profile: First, the profile agreed with the client and the strategy to use to fill that vacancy; second, they analyze the interested candidates, if the salaries are related, the experience and they are preselected; and third, they go to the interview and the finalists are delivered to the client.

The resume is another essential factor in this process. And those who apply with those requirements will make a difference.

Daniel Carabajó, coordinator of Portal Talento, advises that the resume should not be more than two pages and be ordered chronologically, updated, with an impeccable spelling, with a good description of functions, among other aspects.

“(The company) tells us the profile they are looking for and we, through our dissemination channels, begin to attract that talent. Then we proceed to validate everything that the company asks of us with pre-interviews and, depending on the service they hire, we get to do from psychotechnical tests or in-depth interviews, ”says Carabajó.

How to make an attractive resume?

He points out that profiles such as headquarters and technology are the most difficult to find. They manage categories such as junior, semi-senior and senior, that is, low, middle and high command. “Those are at the level of work experience, which usually resemble age as well,” he points out.

Barrero states that Following these recommendations makes the scout stand out.

“Up to 300, 400 resumes are received in a single selection process, the recruiter takes an average of 40 seconds (for each one). If the resume does not attract your attention, it will happen, but if in the first 20 seconds it catches my attention, that invites me to explore and read it carefully ”, he explains. (I)