Don't Hire the Town Crier! (Recruit With a Private Eye)

When it comes to recruiters... don't hire the town crier!

There's plenty of recruiters that can handle getting your job opening out into the global market. They post it on Indeed, CareerBuilder and LinkedIn. They post it on groups, they post it on their Facebook, they tell a friend to tell a friend to tell a friend...

Then what's next?

Hundreds of people start knocking on their doors.

Emails, phone calls, text messages, telegrams, and smoke signals all start pouring notifications onto their to-do list.

They were looking for a window salesman...

And now the town crier has the city of Atlanta begging for an interview.

So they've got to screen. Loads of screening. Constant phone calls and emails all day.

95% of the candidates aren't even close. They've got everyone from sandwich technicians to coal miners applying for the job - and they all want responses!

What's more likely here - the recruiter presenting the first applicable person and shutting down the search, or the recruiter screening everyone?

Are they defining your market and its competitors?
Are they reaching outwards to specific associates and companies?
Are they providing search results, documenting each interaction?
Are they providing a block of candidates, all well-qualified?

Of course not, they're trying to deal with the tsunami of people coming in through all of the advertising they're doing.

The town crier gets everyone's attention

A private eye gets the right people's attention

Attract the right candidates to your role. Think like a salesperson, identify your market, connect with them, and offer something of value or a solution to a problem.

Don't get bogged down in the processing of hundreds of resumes. Work with someone who knows how to properly identify and target your ideal candidate market.

Bring your search specificity to a whole new level.

Get a private eye in the market that is there to identify and target the right people.

Not a town crier that'll just scream it out to the world!

James Aiken is the founder of Legacy Search, a recruiting company for the building materials industry.