Are you a good fit for this job?

Who – me? You’re asking me if I’m a good fit for your job?

Well gimme a minute. You know what I do, right? I’m a recruiter! Nearly every person who follows you is a recruiter, resume coach, PR firm, ATS guy or HR lady. This is one giant fishbowl of people who DO NOT do what your client needs. So why do you keep up the exercise?

Remember waaaaaaaayyyy back a few years ago before social media? Remember how you actually had to put together a presentation? You know – a list of features and benefits? A general summary of reasons your prospect MIGHT want to consider your opportunity? Remember when the goal was to connect with people who know the skills your client is looking for? Remember the phrase “Say what you need to say to people you need to say it to?”

Did that just go out the window? Is “sales” no longer in style? Has anybody (ANYBODY) replied to your job tweets? Ever? Really? (Don’t fib now – it’s just you and me talking here…..)

My guess is no. This is not your “Talent Community.” It’s a Social Media Mutual Admiration Society. We do not know anyone who does what you are looking for.

And by they way – before you go on and on about how careful you’ve been about your follow list…..I looked. There’s not a single (fill in the blank) on your list. Or at least in the last hundred of so people that are following you. They’re all guys and gals like me…..and you. It’s us here – not them!

If someone on your list just happens to be a…….C++ Embedded SW Eng in NYC….here’s an idea. Call them. Get to know them! Why just throw out a random tweet or FB update hoping it happens to cross their newsfeed at exactly the same moment in time their eyes are looking at the screen? I mean – you don’t think they’ve got you set up with your own Tweetdeck column, do you? Just hoping, PRAYING that some point in the near future you’ll randomly tweet “Are you a good fit for this job” in front of a list of buzzwords tailored just for them….do you?

So why are you still doing it? Does it make you feel better? Like – you’re really working here? Like – this is business?

Here’s a tip for you – it’s not. You’re wasting your time. “Are you a fit for this job?” is not business – it’s a joke.

Get it? You’ve been had.

Comment by C. B. Stalling!! on October 4, 2011 at 9:50am: Email is not dead....are you dumb....Do me a favor try not to look at your email for 2 hrs today bet you cant.

Comment by Andrew Hally on October 4, 2011 at 10:56am: I think Frank was being sarcastic...

Comment by Christopher Poreda on October 4, 2011 at 10:59am: Grow up everyone...there is not silver bullet. Use all the tools available to varying degrees depending upon your needs. Period!

Comment by Leslie Mason on October 4, 2011 at 11:41am: Jerry, I can see your point of view but that is exactly why we recruiters must work harder to build a "following". If you focus on the area that you recruit in, you will attract like minded people and potential candidates. Since I recruit for marketing and marketing analytics roles, that is the information I share on my social networks along with recruiting information that I feel is relevant and can help people. Intuit Careers has measured successes from our social media recruiting efforts and I personally have connected with many prospective candidates who have found me on twitter. I just reconnected with my very first twitter recruit from 2009 for one of my current openings. Because I continued to "follow" him socially, I knew all the great things he had accomplished since we had last met. He is now interviewing with one of my hiring managers. I'm not saying that social media will replace good, proven recruiting efforts, but it's a great tool for your tool belt if used properly.

Comment by Robin Eads on October 14, 2011 at 9:29am: Interesting. We are partnered with Jobs2Web and distribute jobs from their network to ours. We are seeing a 2.5% to as much as 7% application rate from tweets alone.