The pulse of Alexander Interactive

Ai is currently (and rather proudly, in this economy) hiring a few more hands for a busy spring season. We have several jobs posted and have heard from hundreds of people in the past few weeks. We’ve seen many good resumes and have a full slate of interviews this week.

Unfortunately, we’ve also heard from many people who are, to put it bluntly, doing it wrong. As our dear friend Loren has attested, few things about job placement are worse than misdirected or inappropriate contact. So I’ve made a short guide to getting one’s foot in the door properly–and what it takes to do it right. Here’s your 10-point plan for getting a job:

1. Read the job posting twice. If you’ve found a good job and are questioning whether you’re a good fit, sit on it. Leave your browser for an hour, then come back and read the want ad. The right jobs will become obvious. Those are the ones you should reply to.
2. Follow instructions. If the ad asks for a cover letter, write one. If it asks about foosball proficiency, as one of ours famously did, mention it. This is your first deliverable: get it right.
3. Do your homework. Googling a company takes minutes and gives you a huge advantage. More than once we’ve been swayed to interview a candidate based on a love of dogs and an appreciation of Jack. One guy even sent us a photo of his dog. (We met him, too.)
4. Customize. Write a cover letter that speaks to the position you’re replying to. A resume geared toward the position helps, too.
5. Don’t spray and pray. I have received any number of responses to our IA position–a targeted, talent-focused role–from IT executives, software developers and designers. This position is wrong for all of them. “Getting the resume in front of the hiring manager” doesn’t work, because I’m not filing good resumes away for future reference; I’m marking them as not doing #1 on this list.
6. Don’t be pushy. Related to #5. Why did I receive 11 calls from placement firms when our ad says, “No recruiters, please?” Because they all believe in the no-no above. Sorry, guys, but we made our preferences explicit, and all you’re doing is ignoring our request.
7. Be respectful. Showing up a few minutes early for an interview is a great first impression (and at Ai, it often means we’ll start early, too). If you’re running late or have to cancel, call us–we’re people too, and we understand. Standing us up or rolling in late is much worse.
8. Ask good questions. Everyone likes to feel like they’re interesting, and interviewers are no exception. Don’t you want to know more about our company? Our client types? What all those photos on the orange wall are for? Immerse yourself and show us you want in.
9. Be thankful. Not grateful, silly; just send a thank-you note. A few sentences in an email is plenty. Just let us know that you’re paying attention and you’re still interested. It’s not a decision-maker, but it adds to our overall impression.
10. Smile. Enough said.

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….)