When applying to jobs in the competitive field of international development, it can be a challenge to stand out in a sea of candidates. HR and recruitment professionals are often the gatekeepers in the hiring process, leaving the fate of your application in their hands.
Some recruiters have a deep understanding of the role and what a hiring manager is looking for in candidates, while some have only a perfunctory idea. This isn’t always the fault of the recruiter, many hiring managers are bad at communicating what they need in a new hire and take an “I’ll know it when I see it” approach.
So knowing this, should a job seeker circumvent the formal hiring procedures and go straight to the hiring manager? That is what one Devex member asked me via Twitter.