More on recruiters (say it fast)

Ai is currently hiring a user experience lead to add to its UXD resources. (We're hiring a freelance IA, too... email me if you know anyone for either position. But I digress.)

I have gotten an unsettling amount of recruiter contacts in the days since we posted the job ad. Most of them are polite enough, and I turn them down, politely. This is nothing new; Loren and I have a long history of frustration with muscle-in tactics.

But I occasionally get inquiries that just blow my mind. Consider this, which came to me via LinkedIn, which is usually a good place for targeted communication:

While Linked In is a great resource, it cannot give you access to the most elite talent in the Internet arena. We can. Our difference is that we aggressively call directly into your top competitors and leading firms in your field to source candidates who are among the top 10% in your industry.

Holy smokes! Here I am, trying to wisely use networking to extend the reach of my job ad. And I get a networking reply that suggests I use them to cold-call the competition until they unearth some good candidates.

Underneath the letter was some marketing copy, equally flabbergasting:

* Aggressive cold call recruiting.
Our recruiters make 150 or more calls per day. We directly call into your competitors to recruit the top 10% in North America.

The company promises quantity and quality! I was still working on the math behind that one as I read the last bullet:

* We work exclusively for you.
The candidates we recruit are exclusively yours, and we will never send someone we recruit on your behalf to any other company.

Somehow it's hard to believe that a recruiter with hard-nose tactics like these won't be sharing what little bits of successful entry it finds with every client it recruits.

I suppose there are employers out there who employ, and enjoy, these tactics. But I'm not on that list. (I wonder if I'm on the call list, though....)

The Unbearable Lameness of (Certain) Recruiters

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.