There is a multitude of ways to approach executive recruiters of all levels. Firstly, it is important to understand more about how these recruiters work and to keep any expectations at a minimum to begin with. The key to this is to understand that executive recruiters are not necessarily there to help unemployed people find job openings, but to serve their clients on a fee basis by searching for candidates that are best suited and the most qualified for any given job.

Anyone in senior management or at the executive level should send in their resume to the best executive recruiters for inclusion into their varied databases. Each resume must be tailored to highlight a candidate's most vital skills while fitting it into a refined format that encompasses both a specific industry and a special job position. Before approaching an executive recruiter, it is vital to make sure that the position desired and the industries of interest are properly targeted by back up with solid qualifications, experience and skills, along with highlighted accomplishments.

Next, it is important to determine which executive recruiter specializes in the geographical location, function and area being searched for. These are vital in ensuring that a match is made with the right recruiter so as to avoid time wasting, money and effort. This is easily achievable by using varied library reference or online business databases or recruitment type directories. A list must be compiled of both exacting and related fits, and of those recruiters in both smaller and larger firms.

It is important to note that the listed potential recruiters should not be limited to big names. Focus needs to be placed on retainment recruiters versus mere headhunters which handle regular corporate work for repeat employers and have the ability to do searches regardless of whether they can match an employer with a candidate or not. Recruiters that do only contingency work tend to use less specific guidelines in their searches and may match clients to candidates based on limited criteria and may not have the ability to find that perfect match, wasting money and time. The advantage to a retainment recruiter over the contingency or headhunting one is that, though a headhunter does produce lots of successful job hires, the retainment one is prestigious and has much more credibility, and has proven their ability to match employers and potential candidates on a regular basis.

Then, when approaching potential executive recruiters, it is important to network with people who are already employed within that same industry and may have more familiarity with the best recruiters. They will also be very adept at giving recommendations and may also have been contacted at some point by these same recruiters for their potential recommendations. Therefore, it is definitely possible to utilize these contacts for recommending one as a potential candidate, making it much more likely that the recruiters will include one in their searches.

It is also important to ensure that, in regards to what one is able to do, that one is good at it. This is achievable not only by excelling in daily work, but by undertaking other assignments in order to better benefit the company one is currently with. By distinguishing oneself in the industry/market, it will make it that much easier to approach executive recruiters and ensure inclusion in any current or potential future search they may be doing.

Next, being as helpful as possible to any executive recruiter is vital, making sure that all their calls are promptly returned, discussing any positions of interest or those that one wishes to avoid, and making any referrals of people that one might consider to better qualified for the jobs they are offering. Simply by offering helpful information in the beginning of the contact with an executive recruiter can potentially ensure some potential job offers in the future.

Approaching executive recruiters can be done very easily with a tailored resume and doing extensive background research ahead of time about the executive recruiter (s) to be utilized. By giving out useful information as well as decent referrals, one can possibly find the best executive recruiters for future use.