Comment by Hassan Rizwan on September 7, 2009 at 12:45am

Hmmm. I guess you were harsh to the recruiters but there is no problem if they really deserve such a treatment. Looking at your business, it looks like you are handling huge responsibilities as an HR representative in your firm. I would suggest you to go for little expensive but known recruiters who use proper ATS software to filter out the resume database according to the needs of their clients. It’s important to understand the role of hiring recruiters. Always include this question in your list before hiring any recruiter that what ATS software do they provide to post a job vacancy. These days its fairly an easy task if right recruitment companies are approached. The latest practices are about assessing the candidate right at the time when he applies for the job and then the employer can see the grades according to the test given and only the better resumes are be taken into consideration. I hope it’s a good piece of information for you. :)

Comment by Miranda Hinshaw on September 7, 2009 at 1:05pm

Thank you for this post - LOL... I will be humming this tune the rest of the day. I do hope you find your two toed camel herder :-) I know that many of us can relate. Workloads like yours are where we have found great success in supplying on demand recruitment support. Our consultant(s) take a piece of the cycle for you. They act as an integrated member of your team and with years of experience behind them, there is very little ramp time. This type of support helps to maintain company brand, decrease your work load and time to fill. It is confusing to me why money would be wasted on the type of support your caller offered, not only is a waste of your time and money, but having people like this represent your company can have negative effects on your company brand.

I have had many similar conversations as I am screening recruiting talent to find the “Real” recruiters. Now you have given me a theme song! Thanks...

Comment by Peter Ceccarelli on September 8, 2009 at 4:38pm

Are you always this sarcastic? That might be part of your challenge. You get back what you put out there.

What you described is a very typical day in corporate recruiting and very typical conversations from just SOME of the agency recruiters who call. It's all part of the day to day gig. Some corporate recruiters are good and some are terrible. And the same goes for the agency side of the business. If all the agency recruiters were ALL as bad as you've depicted...........they'd all be out of business, now wouldn't they!

Comment by Charles Van Heerden on September 8, 2009 at 7:57pm

As a corporate recruiter I really understand your situation. You are pretty much the turkey in the sandwich. Hiring managers want new staff now, and good applicants are becoming harder to find.

I still have to see a business model where all jobs are filled by internal recruiters, on a sustainable long-term basis, for a reasonable sized business. Typically, there is search for executive roles, and a blend of internal/external recruitment. I would usually give my "difficult" roles to an external recruiter, though I don't like contingent assignments as I believe it is like playing lottery.

Ultimately, we all need each other, and I would be reluctant to try and find a two tied camel herder without my network of friendly (real) recruiters, despite the fact that we have too many camels in Australia!

Comment by Jacco Valkenburg on September 10, 2009 at 4:11am

Very funny and so often true. And people still wonder why corporate recruiters just want to hang up when an agency calls

Comment by RECPEST - Recruiting Pest on September 10, 2009 at 10:26am

Peter, I"m sarcastic only when provoked, by non listening time wasters. Never aggressive, just blunt and sarcastic..

The idea of the post (and obviously well hidden), was to point out the need to know your value, and to be able to convey it, effectively and succinctly. I've worked for the first half of my career as a TPR, I've had teams reporting to me and I've been that guy on the phone the HM didn't want to talk to. I understand the game!

You said it is a typical day, part of the day to day gig, and essentially just what we have to put up with. Why should I? I don't put up with poorly cooked food at a restaurant, I don't put up with poor service. If I'm a customer, I"m looking for value.. Give it to me. I won't tolerate people wasting my time, my boss is paying for that. My job is to add value to my company, not to make others feel good about themselves.

But you can't just hang up on them when they call.. that's rude, and you never know there could be some value there somewhere.

Comment by Jacco Valkenburg on September 10, 2009 at 10:29am

Agree, it's not a good idea to hang up on them. That's why I like your approach.

Comment by Peter Ceccarelli on September 10, 2009 at 7:01pm

Here's the deal. You decided to go into the restuarant and order something. Therefore you should expect service. But if the restaurant came to you, figuring you might be hungry and was "cold-calling" soliciting your business, that's a different approach. And if they do it poorly, then you say, "no thanks" and move on. So I'm not buying your explaination.

To be sarcastic for the sake of being sarcastic gives all of us a bad name. Annoying as it is, and yes, most TPR don't give up on the first "no.......I'm not interested in solicting your services", perhaps just a little bit of coaching might be of value. Therefore you're coaching, extending something of value to them whether they want it or not and they just might learn something. You can do that AND be gracious all at the same time. Right! None of us did this perfect in the beginning. If that were the case we'd all be near as rich as Warren Buffet or Bill Gates. And you said you started out that way too. Were you perfect? Probably not. But to blatantly shut down someone who was actually lucky enough to get you on the phone does not speak well for your company's employment brand. Don't forget.....everyone is a potential customer, regardless of the type of business you're in.

Comment by Dan Nuroo on September 11, 2009 at 10:29am

So you say no thanks to the restaurant, but they tell you they have exactly what you want to eat? The best fit for you, the best steak in the world. But you're a vegetarian? Never have been in the market for a steak and never will be. But they keep pushing the steak on you.. what do you do?

Also if TPR's won't listen to the first no, why would we think they would listen to coaching? And yes I am using a HUGE generalisation.

Agreed that everyone is a potential customer, but hey you don't have to do business with everyone.

I thought the idea of these forums etc was to pass it forward and to add advice and coaching to other parties? Isn't that what Recpest was trying to do? I didn't think this was actually a bragging post of how he beat the TPRs up.

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