Oh, did this did just happen to me?

Recently I was called by a recruiting agency recruiter.  The person, from Manpower, called me about a position that he was looking to fill for an engineering/technical recruiter.  I am not shocked by this as that is what we do for a living.  However what did shock me was the pedantic way in which the person went about it while leaving a message.  It was almost robotic in its very essence.  The person was more than likely young and reading from a script given to them written 20 years ago but still, there was no passion.  NO reason for me to even want to return the call even if was somewhat interested.

So what did I do?  I called the person back.  I figured why not?  I know some people that are looking that could be qualified for a technical recruiting role.  So I called back at the number they left.  (it was different then the caller ID).   I left a message for them and like so many candidates I waited to hear back and check on the exchange.  Nothing.  I waited the normal 24 hours and called again. I left a message again. Nothing.  I called a third time yet this time I did not leave a message.  I came to the conclusion it was a waste of time.  My question though was WHY CALL me in the first place if you never intended to speak with me?  Why leave the message? 

The answer:  This recruiter was given a call sheet and told to call and leave messages.  I wonder what would have happened if picked up the phone when it rang I thought to myself.  The person would have been utterly terrified.  Either that or I would have had the same apathetic attitude of a meat grinding recruiter just talking to add another number to the excel call sheet.  Sadly knowing this calling a recruiter with years of experience meant nothing to this person or the agency.  What does this reflect on if I were a programmer or senior manager?  What does this say about us as a collective group of people building a SEO or brand that must fight against this type of lazy recruiting that so many candidates AND us complain about.

We as a community need to point this out to not only ourselves but to the customers we support.  Whether you are a corporate, agency, or independent recruiter your customer deserves better and most assuredly is paying you to be better.  Once we as a group strive towards this we will all be better off in my opinion.   Shame on Manpower, shame on the person managing this recruiter, and shame on us for not calling them out by name more often.