Now before I get too far into this, not all recruiters are bad, shifty, underhanded, manipulative and entirely quick-buck-oriented and self-serving (and several less polite things I can think of), but I am occasionally amazed at the snake oil quality that many bring to the table. Here's an email I got today:
Hello Loren,
This is XXX following up with you in regards to this exceptional candidate. I do feel strongly that he would be a great asset to your team at Alexander Interactive. Again, his key points are:
If you are interested in this engineer or top recruiting services, follow up with me at your earliest convenience. I know you would be very impressed with the level of service and candidates we provide to our clients.
Please feel free to refer to our website for more information and call me at the number below to discuss your technical hiring needs in detail.
Best,
XXX
So in no particular order:
- This is obviously a boilerplate letter - both from the hokey tone, and the fact that it says "key points are" without any actual key points listed.
- This also indicates that the recruiting individual didn't bother to check his letter, meaning that he isn't that interested in what I may actually want in a candidate.
- The subject line was "Surprised I haven't heard back as yet; do you have time today?" What? I'm shocked, shocked that I didn't drop everything to look at your candidate that I didn't ask for, that we've never spoken about, that you selected randomly from the stack of resumes in front of you and decided to push on me.
Recruiters, read this next part. Read it well:
- I only work with recruiters that bother to listen to what I want in a candidate.
- I never schedule interviews without looking at resumes first. Ever.
- If you don't hear back from me about a candidate, it means I'm not interested. Period.
- Recruiters that annoy me, by acting manipulatively, by trying to "trick" me into scheduling an interview, who try to mess with the other staff here in an attempt to get to me, who constantly call but never leave voice mails - these go onto a blacklist. The entire recruitment company, not the individual agent. There is no way off the blacklist.
Generally I find that recruiters subtract value from the equation. Besides making hires more expensive for us, they generally act as a kind of contrary indicator about candidates. Good developer candidates don't need recruiters - they go straight to Craigslist. On average (and yes there are exceptions) the value of candidates from Craigslist is head and shoulders above the value of candidates from recruiters.
So if you are a recruiter - be the exception to the rule. Listen to your clients or potential clients. Don't play games. Or don't "be surprised that you haven't heard back from me". I'm ignoring you.
