Just a reminder that you still need to lookout for yourself. Given the crysis and the fact that it’s a buyer’s market out there in the job hunting field, here’s 5 tips to follow when dealing with recruiters.

1. Be nice. It’s a general rule, but not everybody follows it. If you show off your people skills constantly, not just at the interview, your recruiter will have just one more incentive to promote you instead of that other guy.
2. Follow up. With huge number of candidates, there’s a high chance a recruiter will submit a bunch of resumes, hardly even remembering who you are. By following up you will stand out of the crowd.
3. Ask for references about the recruiter. You don’t want your resume to end up in a pile of “stuff from shitty recruiters” on the floor of the HR room. Most likely your former colleagues or your LinkedIn contacts know someone who knows this recruiter, so do your homework.
4. Keep track of what went where. It happens a lot when few recruiting companies get their hands on the same position that may sound slightly different presented by different recruiters. While recruiters may not be willing to disclose the name of the client, they may provide information on location and industry which should ring the bell if you have already submitted resume to something awful lot similar.
5. Custom-write every copy of resume you’re sending out. Make sure you use exact wording that is used in job requirement. Work with recruiter on tailoring your resume as close to the requirement as possible. Given the abundance of the work force, companies extensively use HR to weed out candidates that don’t perfectly fit. Since HR may not be entirely familiar with duties and responsibilities, they heavily rely on word-to-word resume to job description matching.

And always remember to network. It may not be your chance today but it will be your chance tomorrow if you play your cards right.