What the new Devex recruiter search means for you

The global community of development professionals on Devex broke 700,000 members last week. We also unveiled a new and improved people search experience for our recruiter members to help them quickly identify top talent across the world.

If you aren’t a recruiter, you may not have noticed these changes. However, there are several reasons why they are still important for you as a job seeker.

Here are four new recruiter features on Devex, and what they mean for you.

1. CV availability.

When we ran data on how recruiters search for candidates on Devex, we were surprised how important having a CV uploaded to your profile is for them. To make your CV easier to access, we will show CV availability, and a direct link to your document, from the search results page.

Since recruiters prioritize candidates with a CV over those who do not, make sure you upload a recent version to your profile now.

Pro tip: Have a CV that focuses on your management expertise while another version highlights your technical expertise? Have both a shorter and longer version? Upload up to five versions of your CV to your profile. Also, give it an easy-to-understand name so recruiters know what to expect. (For example: ‘Monitoring and Evaluation CV’ or “Short-Form CV”).

2. Your professional headline is more important than ever.

Recruiters care more about what you can do than your name or what you look like. So instead of placing prominence on your name or photo in the search results, your headline will get top billing.

While you can certainly use your current job title and employer as your headline, if you don’t think this accurately describes who you are as a professional, consider using a descriptive sentence instead. Think of it as your brand positioning statement. A simple formula you can use is this two who’s and one what career and executive coach Shana Montesol Johnson advises in crafting an elevator pitch.

To update your headline, go to My Account, click on Update Profile and click edit on the Personal Information section.

3. Global development specific filters.

One of the reasons global development recruiters come to Devex to find top talent is they know we are a community of professionals with the specific experience they look for in their positions.

To help them more quickly identify these unique skills and experiences, we have added, and will continue to add, development-specific filters. You won’t need to answer any new questions or complete any new fields. Instead, we are doing the work for you, pulling out the relevant experience in your CV and profile that matters to recruiters. For example, if they need someone who has proven experience working in a conflict zone, we’ll be able to let them know you are a good candidate based on your assignments in Afghanistan. To help our system better match your experience, it is critical to have a well-completed profile and CV that pays attention to important keywords.

READ: 6 ways to make recruiters notice you on Devex

4. Sometimes recruiters want to know more.

Recruiters searching on Devex will soon be able to anonymously request that you update your profile or share a CV. We will let you know if a recruiter is interested in getting more information from you and share those details with the recruiter once you provide them.

Only recruiters with access to a Devex Recruitment Account from known and established development organizations will be able to access your CV and personal details, so you can feel secure in sharing your information and know it won’t end up in the wrong hands.

READ: 3 things to consider before posting your resume online

What questions do you have about the new People Search for recruiters? What features would you like to see us add next? Please leave your comments below.