How NOT to recruit someone.....

We all read a ton of articles about how to recruit people, where to find people blah blah blah. Right? I mean, it’s almost like information overload with regard to how to find great candidates. One thing I’m finding though, with all this talk of how to find people.....I’d like to focus on how NOT to recruit someone. Why? Well, l’m noticing all these great recruiting tools have made recruiters lazy. Rather than picking up the phone and having a conversation with potential candidates, we’ve gotten lazy and just use technology to blast out in the name of “networking”. The reality is, using social media or even email to just pummel your network with random information is probably doing more harm than good. So, with that, my few tips on how not to recruit someone........

1) Spam them - Spam is the worst, I mean really....send me an obvious spam recruiting email and it’s right to the trash for you. I got an email last week that was addressed to “Hi,”. My name is Jeff, if you really want to recruit me you should realize that a) I have a name and b) if you think I’ll forward this to folks in my network...you are dreaming.

2) Don’t spend any time doing research about the candidate - Why bother right? I mean, is it worth your time to understand who you are targeting? Um, yeah it is.... ugh! Again, I got an email (true story) asking me if I’d be interested in a “high paced role” perfect for someone with “1-2 years experience”. Um, yeah...thanks for that. I’ve been recruiting for a little more experience than you need. Thanks, delete.

3) Bait and Switch - This one is my favorite, the old bait and switch. Tell the person something they want to hear...get them on the hook and tell them something they don’t want to hear. Better yet, wait until you make them an offer and then spring the surprise. Candidates LOVE that move.

4) Don’t reply - Another personal favorite. Reach out, ask someone if they are interested in a job...and then don’t reply to their message if they get back to you. Sounds crazy but happens all the time. Doesn’t matter if you are actively recruiting someone or just trying to network. If you take the time to approach someone and they reply...um, take the time to have the conversation you initiated.

Ok that’s it, if you are recruiting or networking remember that the most successful people are thoughtful and responsive to EVERY person they contact. Networking and recruiting are about long term relationship building. Take your time and do it right.

You can find the original post at www.jeffreytmoore.com

Comment by Vaughn Rice on August 17, 2011 at 9:47pm: Jeff, the tools are ok if you use them properly, but you are right the best tool is your voice and using it to talk to a candidate or company. That is what really makes a recruiter, a recruiter.

Comment by Tim Spagnola on August 17, 2011 at 11:15pm: All about the Human Touch.....and #4 does happen all the time. I never got that one at all. Thanks Jeff for what should be a good reminder for folks.

Comment by jeffreytmoore on August 18, 2011 at 7:51am: Thanks for the comments guys...it always blows my mind when we recruiters forget the little things.

BTW Tim isn't "Human Touch" a Springsteen song?

Comment by Tim Spagnola on August 18, 2011 at 7:58am: It sure is Jeff, and I am not even a Bruce guy....The Human Touch Is What Recruiting Is All About

#5 is also valid - thanks for adding Bill!

Comment by lisa rokusek on August 18, 2011 at 9:26am: It is noisy out there, isn't it? So much noise for people to process. More coming at us all the time.

I think that with all the email blasts and twitter and blogs and Facebook that a lot of prospective candidates are so inundated with messages that they tune a lot out. So for the past few years instead of amping up the volume and spewing my messages everywhere to everyone I have become more precise.

It might bite me in the nethers, but so far so good. I consider myself more of a sharpshooter than a hand grenade recruiter. I spend more time thinking about how my message would appeal to prospective candidates and how to drive the behavior I want (and they want, ultimately) than I do broadcasting it. I need to work on my volume a bit, but I have the positioning stance pretty focused.

Resisting the forces that want to make people into yet one more commodity is a passion for me. People notice. I craft my job descriptions, and my emails. I take so much care to position my message. I am constantly trying new things to get people on the telephone. Email is great, but rarely is it where the magic happens.

Positioning is what we do, after all, it is the foundation of the triad that comprises the agency/company/candidate relationship. It is also the model that internal recruiters strive to emulate.

If we, collectively, were more mindful of how positioning makes a difference in our recruiting efforts, well your list would be a lot shorter.

Comment by Scott Burgess on August 18, 2011 at 10:59am: Nice article Jeff...

Comment by Melissa Zentgraf on August 18, 2011 at 11:57am: I'm with Lisa. I'm very precise as to who I reach out to. And yes, my volume of submissions is suffering a bit. BUT my candidate quality is high, my clients are happy with what I give them and my candidates are starting to refer people in their network to me. Just have to work on scaling it up...