Stop Trying To Reinvent Recruiting

Seriously. Just stop. STAHP. You’re embarrassing yourself and the community at large. If I see one more ridiculous, self-serving post about the “recruitment agency of the future!” and how y’all are going to CHANGE EVERYTHING I will probably just burst into tears out of pure frustration. You. Are. Full. Of. Crap. Recruiting, recruitment, whatever the hell you call it is a pretty freaking simple process. Get paid to find people for jobs. THAT’S IT.

Social Media is not going to save you. Your false promises about personally hand delivering every single resume you ever receive to companies DESPERATE for your services stink to high heaven. I am beyond irritated with your nonsense. A recent post on here (I refuse to link to it - I will NOT provide click bait) promises that recruitment agencies treat every individual differently and only short-lists after each and every application is examined, thereby insuring only the most talented candidates get first preference.

You sir, are full of caca.

Here’s why. Most recruiters, including yours truly, will use a variety of methods to identify qualified candidates. I will review applications that come in. I will source on LinkedIn, various job boards, social media sites (sometimes) and anywhere else I think people with the right skills might be found. I will then make contact with said candidates, hoping they’re interested in the role as well. And so it goes. The funnel tightens, with people being rejected or rejecting the opportunity. It happens. I will use Boolean strings, key words, any number of ways to narrow the pool. Because that is my job. I will do my best to get back to everyone who took the time to apply and CERTAINLY everyone who gets a 2^nd look – if you’ve interviewed you deserve the courtesy of closure, you better believe it.

We have to stop making false promises to candidates. This pisses me off more than anything else. I do what I can to help candidates get visibility in my (very large) organization, but I also try to be very honest about what I can and can’t do. I’ll give advice on resumes, always with the caveat that it’s one recruiter’s opinion, your mileage may vary. For special skill sets I’ll do everything I can to create an “opportunity hire” – basically finding a home for someone AWESOME that my company can benefit from. This is more common on the agency side, let’s face it. Still, most hires happen because there’s an open position.

As both a former agency recruiter and current corporate recruiter, let me tell you what I REALLY want from you. Find qualified people in a timely fashion for a decent price. As a former candidate who’s found plenty of gigs over the years through agencies, let me tell you what I expect. Be honest with me about the companies (and kinds of roles) you can present me to. Give me honest feedback on my resume, interview skills, and presentation. I know you’re being paid by the client, but I also know it’s possible we can help each other out by making the hiring manager happy.

I’ve been doing this for almost 15 years, and with the exception of the internet making information easier to come by, the basics of finding jobs, finding people, and bringing them together has not changed. Stop trying to make recruiting something it’s not.

Comment by Paul DeBettignies on February 5, 2014 at 1:52pm: I have an idea for a webinar... find someone who is a recruiter. You know, who actually talks with people. Could be a corporate recruiter, could be a search firm recruiter... I don't care. And have them talk about what they do, how they do it, successes and failures, what they are doing next, tools they use and how.

They don't need to give up all the goods and we don't need them to train on how to recruit. Something like a week in the life of.

How Amy does her job, how Will does his and how Jerry works... all slightly different stories. Different twists on how we do this recruiting thing.

And please... no one with huge egos. If I listen to one more webinar where the host gives a reasonable 90 second intro and then the person does one for 5 minutes with 3 slides I swear... I will reach through the Internet and punch someone.

Comment by Amy Ala Miller on February 5, 2014 at 1:55pm: I'd be down with that kind of webinar... but who would sponsor it? That's the problem.

Comment by Derdiver on February 5, 2014 at 1:55pm: Paul, cool idea. Although I believe @animal tries to do this every week on his show.

Comment by Matt Charney on February 5, 2014 at 2:01pm: Sponsors aren't the real issue - the content and the voices informing the conversation are, and agree with your sentiment, Paul. It's like in geometry: the answer is less important than showing your work. We can provide the platform and audience - we just really need the content from real recruiters. I'd rather shut up and support that dialogue instead of drive it. So totally open for ideas - because this kind of conversation is way more fun than content marketing BS. What can we do to turn that sentiment into something tangible?

Comment by Amber on February 5, 2014 at 2:01pm: Hm - RBC would be the perfect host, plenty of vendors would be glad to sponsor it, I'm sure. I bet most of the "presenters" would be willing to do it for t-shirts - and wine/libation. Maybe snacks.

Comment by Keith D. Halperin on February 5, 2014 at 2:30pm: @ Pete, you art too kind.My Paypal funds-transfer to you is on the way. Keep up the good remarks...

@ Derdriver,: thank you too.

@ Everybody: I really like Paul's idea.... A day or two ago (I think it was in response to Will's posting) , I said THAT'S WHAT I'VE REALLY WANTED TO DO FOR YEARS!. I know someone in the Recruiting Community who might be very interested in this sort of thing- he has resources and I've worked with him on projects before.

Interested Folks: lets pow-wow with Matt.

Keith keithsrj@sbcglobal.net

Comment by Sandra McCartt on February 5, 2014 at 4:01pm: What I find rather amusing in all of this is that all of us are saying the same thing. We are sick of marketers, promoters, self styled newbies giving bad advice or talking about something they have never done. In the next breath, Amy says she almost didn't post this because she worried bout it being too snarky. Paul didn't post what he really wanted to say out of concern for damaging his name.

While most people are worried about not coming off as a fire breathing troll this is part of the reason for the landslide of garbage. We have been conditioned not to directly confront. Just start another blog, take issue but for God's sake don't use any names or directlyidentify what has made out eyes roll bck in our heads or reach through the screen, grab some stupid kid by the neck and bang their head against the wall or scream in their face until they wet their rompers.

Consider this peeps, the reason this garbage continues is because they are given a platform. All the webinars, t-shirts and comments saying, "respectfully, you are full of shit, you don't know what you are talking about, you are not qualified to give anybody any advice on something you have never done"is not going to stop it as long as they can push the post button. Most of them will not attempt to rebutt. They can't, won't and have been told not to so they don't dammage the brand. When that gibberish publishes, their job is done. The placement is out there and trust me they are not one bit interested in what real recruiters do because the objective is to get their "relevant content" out there to promote their product or service. As long as they are provided a platform to pontificate garbage they will.

If you have a party, the mosquitoes are swarming, you don't open the door and bitch about the mosquitos or tell everybody to ignore them, or just swat them politely. You at least close the screen.

Comment by Tim Spagnola on February 5, 2014 at 4:04pm: Slightly off topic - nice to hear from you Sandra.

Comment by Stephen Nehez, Jr. on February 5, 2014 at 4:17pm: I think Sandra just busted some of us writing on the bathroom walls with Sharpies.

(slinking back into my little snow hole in Michigan....)

Steve

Comment by Matt Charney on February 5, 2014 at 4:25pm: @Sandra I'd rebut you but you pretty much nailed it. Criticism without creation or content changes nothing and amplifies content marketing BS like my posts, so thanks for contributing to this conversation. Hope to hear from ya more often - even if it's just to tell us what we're doing wrong ;-)

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