Troll Headlines

Troll headlines irritate me beyond the point of being able to ignore them.

One that just sparked pages of heated responses and a series of punk ass responses from the poster was.

Social Recruiting: The Replacement for Cold Calling.

After pages and pages of recruiters taking issue with social media being a replacement for anything and multiple attempts by multiple irritated and some more gentle recruiters trying to point out that social media was.

A. Not a replacment for cold calls.

B. Only one of the things that we use.

C. He was being a lot absurd in making an erroneous sweeping statement.

D. As a person with no recruiting experience and only five months experience as a marketer for a recruiting firm he might not yet have the experience to make that kind of claim just yet.

E. It might be well advised for his own personal brand not to be a know it all jerk.

He drew himself up in righteous indignation and took the mature and intelligent approach to decide that if i made any further reference to his age or inexperience that he would delete any further posts.

I suggested to the boy wonder that my last post was no reference to his age and experience but making fun of my own dotage as well as making the point that all of us had been using his definition of social media in some form since the early 90's. He didn't like that either. In a serious attempt to offer him some advice i suggested to him that all of us started out thinking that we were going to set the world on fire and flew too close to the sun early on in our careers before we learned much and now laugh at some of the goofy stuff we did and the fools we made of ourselves with some of our outrageous great statements when we knew just enough to be dangerous and didn't yet have the sense to shut our mouths and give our ears a chance.

I further suggested to him that a very good editor had once told me if i stirred up a hornets nest to go back and read all my posts without reading what everybody else had written and most of all to pay close attention to the headline of my article as it set the tone for everything that followed. Most of all to never say never or always and not to put myself in a hole before i started digging. His passion was certainly notable but to go back and read all the responses that referred to a rookie, hiring a teenager because they knew everything, headlines that made people mention it made their teeth grind, the analogy of a 12 year old wearing the opposing team baseball cap in the home team city, etc. etc. Then give some thought to the possiblity that all of us are interested in new ideas so perhaps he might not have pissed off so many folks if he had given more thought to his headline. I suggested that acting like a defensive punk might not be the best way to be well received or to make his case.

I closed by letting him know that this was some serious advice from a seasoned old bitch who loved a good rumble.

He didn't like that either so simply said i had posted something else negative and wanted to keep all this on a positive note. So deleted my post and said so. Dumb kid.

Another poster just suggested to him for the 40th time that cold calling was part of our process as well as email, various sites ,social media etc.

The funny thing about all this is that after a Headline that says SOCIAL RECRUITING - REPLACMENT FOR COLD CALLING. He now postulates that he never suggested that any of the proven methods of recruiting should be done away with and social media is an aid to calling and doesn't understand why nobody can "get" what he is trying to say. Dear Boy Wonder look up the definition of the word replacement before you write another headline.

Here is his direct comment from his last post.

" But I mean the issue that I can't seem to make clear is that this post isnt about social recruiting replacing traditional recruiting but simply supplementing it"

Dear Boy Wonder. Write a memo to yourself. TRADITIONAL RECRUITING IS COLD CALLING, IF I WRITE A HEADLINE THAT SAYS "SOCIAL RECRUITING: REPLACMENT FOR COLD CALLING" MY POST IS ABOUT SOCIAL RECRUITING REPLACING TRADITIONAL RECRUITING TO ANYONE WHO HAS BEEN IN THE BUSINESS FOR MORE THAN FIVE MONTHS!

I love it when a baby Troll flys too close to the sun, writes a Troll headline, sets himself up for a fronal attack, starts deleting comments that he doesn't like in order to keep the discussion on a positive note. then does a 180 on what he meant in the first place. But really, he hasn't been around long enough to know what traditional recruiting is so..aw hell it's Christmas, i'll give him a break if he can manage to grow up a little bit.

Somehow it reminds me of Christmas's past :)

I am sending the baby troll a gift certificate for a class on how to laugh at himself, what to do when you posture too much and get your puppy nose slapped and what happens when you start deleting comments cuz "if you says one more thing bout' my age and experience i am gonna, boy i'm gonna show you, i'll by god rise up and delete your comments..so there.

We have probably all been there but most of us said oops when we stepped on the "stupid" land mine and took a big bite of the shit sandwich. I remember the first troll headline i ever wrote. Made such a jerk of myself that it had to get funny before i dug myself out of the hole. Let's hope that this one uses his "learners permit" and grows up wise enough to use his talent and passion in a more mature manner. It would be nice if we could just delete everything we didn't like...but that ain't recruiting. Unless of course one spends all their time on twitter hiding behind an avatar so their feelers don't get bopped in 140 characters and can just unfollow. That sort of makes me want to unswallow. Twitter this bear hugger, like i said, i was using social media before you could spell it.

▶ Reply to This

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Sandra McCartt on December 4, 2010 at 12:02pm

We is in fact Menchy Mark you little mumser you. :) I'll share a little story you will love.

Went to dinner last night with my granddaughter and her roommate. She is 27. The restaurant was a bit dark, the waitress was young, We ordered drinks, she asked Granddaughter and room mate for ID.s they produced them. I was busy trying to read the menu (it had little print - i hate that - there should be a law - we have wheelchair ramps-handicapped parking, why not a law requiring LARGE print for those of us who are a cat's whisker this side of 70). I digress..our waitress kept standing there looking at me. The thought ran through my mind that she had never seen an old gal squint at a menu. I looked up in all my imperial "the queen is not amused glory" and said, "yessss?"

Grandaughter, trying not to break out in hysterical laughter looked at me like she was talking to a senile senior citizen and said, "Mims, she wants to see your ID".

Now, i don't look anyplace close to my age ( i win a lot of bar bets that way) but it's been over a half century since i was old enough to drink. Grandaughter knows that one never knows what to expect from me so was round eyed in anticipation of what was gong to happen next.

I handed my DL to the cute little girl with a straight face. She looked, looked again, held it under the light and looked for the third time, turned pale, then red and started stammering something about how sorry she was as we all came apart in hysterical laughter. The manager hearing the noise came over to see what the problem was. The poor child was mortified, the manager apologized again.

I quit laughing, looked at everybody and said, "Would somebody please tell me why it is so effing funny that i look like i need to be carded." "This young lady obviously is a smart marketer, she just got herself a fifty dollar tip." Our dinner was comped, i tipped the kid 50.00, it will be the story that is told this holiday season to gales of laughter and if i ever have another date , well trust me, i will go to the same restaurant and ask for the same waitress and give her a wink.

Thanks for the intro to your followers on twitter yesterday Mench. It has been my experience that life is too short to get your rompers in knot over much of anything for very long. The last guy i dated i met when he slide into my car on the ice. I was so damn mad that i told him he could just drive 15 miles on the ice to feed my horses in the middle of a snow storm, he did, we ended up having dinner and laughing about the things people would do to meet someone.

Maybe woodle wumps here just wants some attention. After all for some folks negative strokes are better than no strokes at all.

I value our connection Mark. Happy Holidays, I am envious of those from the 12 tribes you guys get two holidays us mutts only get one. Maybe i should retrace my heritage but afraid it would end in a teepee.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Sandra McCartt on December 4, 2010 at 12:36pm

Leave it to Albright...i am still laughing. Only Jer would one up me on the coon story. The message is loud and clear Jer. Let's see if Senor smarty pants gets it.

Interestingly Jer and i have only spoken on the phone twice ,both times after a troll episode and very briefly, never done business together but the observation was made by Jer once that we must be twins sepertaed at birth. We have the same hard headed, no nonsense "shoot straight, keep your word, don't be a jerk, i'm just a little girl/guy from Texas/Indiana trying to get by in the harsh, cruel world, philosophy that includes watching out for small animals, small children and those who are in trouble. We even have the same company name - which probably came subconsciously or consiously from where we started in this business. Collectively over 55 years of thid stuff which is a bit more than 10 paychecks if we got paid twice a month for five months.

The only problem with us being twins seperated at birth is that i happen to be 25 years older than he is so if we are twins one of our mothers was a real doer of interesting deeds or his dad was a traveling salesman who sold snakeoil in the Texas panhandle in the early 40's as a teenager before he got to Indiana. Could be since we both like to fish for both things with glassy eyes,scales and people. May be an anaology there, naw, that's cold, funny but not true..in most cases.

There is an old saying in the Texas panhandle and probably in Indiana too since Jer has the "Coon LIne" stuff at hand. When somebody does something that causes a mess or things go to hell in a handbasket somebody can be counted on to say. "Well ...this is where the coon shit on the pump handle."

Now most of you are either not old enough or "rural" enough to understand just how bad that is since you probably never had to drag out on a cold morning to pump water for livestock only to discover coon poop on the pump handle. But trust me. It will irritate one far beyond waiting in line for security at Heathrow or misplacing one's tickets to the art fair at Harvard Square.

Talk about evolution. Did i ever think when i was knocking coon poop off a pump handle that i would be spending this much time debating with a dopey kid about the merits of social media. Uh, no but that's what happens when the coon shits on the pump handle.

Jerry Albright said:

Interesting side bar on the coon thing - I never thought I'd need something like this but decided to give it a shot. It was only $7.59 and so far I've got to say I'm impressed. When I was younger I would have never thought I needed it - but I've learned over the years to always try new stuff. If it works - great! If it doesn't - don't buy any more.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Sandra McCartt on December 4, 2010 at 12:56pm

Point well made CB,
The good news is that even in the twilight of my declining years, i can talk and type at the same time, smoke a cigarette, chew gum and giggle about the whole need for multi-tasking so i managed to fill that cotton pickin purple squirrel "Social Media works? Prove it", spot that i threw out there several weeks ago. Picked up a great new client thanks to a referral from another recruiter on this site , interviewed four or five PhD scientists , emailed back and forth with Tom Chuna multiple times about a doc that we are working on and a couple of geneticists that he brillantly managed to locate.

So i blew my theory to hell that this is squirrel season and nothing happens in my world in December so this year is different for me but still not as busy as i normally am. We all know that old people don't sleep so age and treachery gives us more time to play on the net than most normal people get.

Justin can only pray that next week will be busy cause now having filled the purple squirrel, i am some sort of hero and they want another one. Why me God, i could have failed and spent December baking cookies. (didn't come from social media by the way, even after all that and several folks trying, no twitter or facebook candidates a couple from linkedin that didn't fit. It was a referral from a job board candidate who didn't fit but knew somebody.)

Sometimes it's worth the sacrifice to save somebody from themselves. It's hard to watch somebody try to soar with the eagles when they have just shot themselves in the foot. I have the scars to prove it :)
C. B. Stallings said:

Sandra wonder how many more contacts you would have made if you made cold calls instead of replying to Jusin all those times lol

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Thomas Patrick Chuna on December 5, 2010 at 9:33am

Justin..really? "murder she wrote"? Dude.. talking about one's years of experience as a recruiter is fair game in relation to the topic at hand..quite germane in fact.. but the age related insults you keep throwing out there aren't cool.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Sandra McCartt on December 5, 2010 at 1:34pm

I think it's funny Tom but you are very correct that there are a bunch of folks who may not find it as amusing as i do. He is reacting to me busting his chops for being a puppy and doesn't know enough yet to know the difference. Here's a quote from the one comment Justin' has gotten on his new blog that one of his co-workers gave him in regard to his quest to change the image of the entire recruiting industry..a noble pursuit..obviously he didn't pay much attention.

Justin's co-worker: " First impressions are key and you never get them back. So next time you meet someone for the first time, regardless if it's in business or your personal life, think of your own brand and how it will be represented by the people you interact with. You may stand for one thing but if no one sees that in talking with you - your brand works out to be much different than you intend it to be. "

Justin is very new to social media. According to his own personal tweets ,a couple of months ago he was tweeting asking how to build his twitter followers. He has obviously worked hard on that one has a couple of thousand. He's written four blogs, has 153 linkedin connections and is a year out of college. (Albright has over 500 on linkedin and more twitter followers than Justin so if we are to compare success on the use of social media by counting coup based on followers, GROAN, Albright is a seasoned pro as opposed to our baby troll authority on social media.

The thing he seems to have missed about social media and the internet is that it's not like Vegas. What happens on the net doesn't go away. First impressions become lasting impressions. He has a disclaimer on his personal twitter account that his thoughts do not reflect those of his company.

News Flash kiddo if you are associated with a company your thoughts on social media and comments on blogs do in fact reflect on your company. Even Napoleon Dynamite figured that one out. Learn to dance with who brung you. Don't presuppose to suggest to people who have used social media for recruiting, given it a strong shot, utilize some of it and know that a lot of it is a time suck with little $ result have not used it properly.

And just for grins, go try and work a desk for oh, maybe 30 days before you start telling a bunch of experienced recruiters, who already use social media as it works for them , that it is "A" or "The" replacement for Cold Calling. Trying to market a product or an industry that you don't know anything about is a tough slog.

Ask Agatha, she solved a lot of crimes. :)

And for the record little buddy. A ton of us use Linkedin very effectively, we do differ in our take that Linkedin is like a great big job board as opposed to tweeting jobs or entertaining comments on twitter and facebook. Despite what you may think, Recruiting on Linkedin is not like shooting fish in a Barrel, posting jobs on linkedin groups produces great results and java developers are not the least bit interested in a recruiter joining their conversation unless he happens to know how to code. I oversee recruiting for petroleum engineers and get paid for it but i would be a little hesitant to go on a web site dedicated to petroleum engineering and tell them that i knew more about slant hole driling than they do and or that i had the replacement.