Out of Contact Recruiters.... seriously?

I must be having a dumb moment. I just don't understand. Why is it that people do Recruitment Advertising and do not put their name or phone number or email address on it?

With the low odds of quality candidates actually reading your ad and wanting to reply, why would you not want to talk to them? What you are essentially saying to potential applicants is "Please talk to my ATS, they'll look after you until I deem you worthy enough of my time." I mean come on?

What is the rationale behind this? Recruiters are too busy to talk to people? Is it different for in-house Recruiters and their Agency counter parts? Having been on both sides I don't see why? Sure you get some time wasters, some angry people at times and some people who you think this would be the first English conversation they've ever had. But what does having these conversations actually cost you? 1-2 minutes?
When talking to job seekers I recommend contacting the company before putting in an application. Think up some smart (not smart ass!) questions, build a rapport, get them to look out for your resume before you apply (and then ask if you can follow up!). You cannot find out everything about a person from their resume, and you cannot tell everyone everything about yourself in a resume.

Just a tip from the battle hardened. I made one of my larger placements at Peerlo, from a guy who's resume would not have got him a second look in. It was nowhere near the mark. But this guy called me. We spoke, he sent me his details (to see if he was serious or just kicking tyres), we spoke again. And whilst his resume wasn't a match, he had created such interest that we had to meet. After meeting him, I knew he was right for my client. I'd been doing business with that company for near on 10 years, his attitude, skill and demeanour would get him the job. Bottom line: his first phone call, our first discussion was THE catalyst for him getting the job, and being one of the higher achieving people in that team. His resume didn't get him the job, he did.

Wouldn't have happened if he'd just communicated with our ATS!

Comment by Tim Spagnola on September 13, 2011 at 10:47am: Great story Dan- I had a similar experience w/. a candidate I worked with a few years ago. I work in physician market and this individual wanted to go to an extremely desirable market, and had no ties and was lacking in a few skill sets the job description called for. Needles to say it would have been a complete waste of effort to simply send the CV is for consideration alone. So we talked about a plan of action and I also had the opportunity to meet the person face to face. Like you- after talking I knew this person was perfect for this position and would be exactly what my client was looking for. We made our case and it was a success. It was not the CV, but the individual in the end that got the job (w/. a bit of my help), but point being it would have never happened if we did not talk and have opportunity to get to know where one another was coming from. It to this day was one of my most rewarding placements.

Comment by Sandra McCartt on September 13, 2011 at 1:51pm: I share your dismay Dan. I see ad after ad without the recruiter's name or contact information. If people are paranoid about their phone number they should not be a recruiter. I have seen some drop dead slam dunk resumes only to find when i talk to that person on the phone i would probably send them to a dog fight without a dog. On the flip side some of the most engaging candidates have the worst resumes on the face of the planet.

Those "just trust me and interview this candidate" are the ones that will build client trust in a recruiter.

Comment by Dan Nuroo on September 13, 2011 at 7:24pm: Thanks Tim and Sandra, do you think it is an industry wide thing or mainly inhouse people or agency who do this?

Comment by Amy Ala Miller on September 13, 2011 at 7:48pm: it is an industry wide thing, recruiters on both sides who think they are just SO busy and SO important they can't POSSIBLY take a call from the great unwashed masses. A pox on both their houses. :)

Comment by Sandra McCartt on September 13, 2011 at 8:44pm: I agree with Amy. I have one client that when you go to the web site it takes four or five clicks to get to the careers page. The only option to apply is of course the online app which is set up by specific jobs so if you apply for one but might be qualified for other jobs you are lost forever unless the same job comes open again. There is not a name of anyone in recruiting on the web site or HR. If you track down one of those little darlings there will be no answer to an email and if there is it will not have a phone number much less a cell phone or direct number.

I see Agencies all the time who do not list a phone number on their main web site or recruiters who protect their phone number like it were the keys to the kingdom. It has been my experience that many of the best candidates i have ever represented called me first before they simply flopped a resume out there either to me directly or in reponse to an ad. I know if they call me before they send a resume they want to know more about the job and company before they waste their time or mine just firing in a resume.

What we do if we have any sense at all is talk to people on the phone. Why make it difficult to reach us?

Comment by Alina Molchanova on November 2, 2011 at 7:02pm: I totally agree with you Dan. Its not candidates' job to write a perfect resume, its our job to help them make it better. Its definately wrong to judge a person based solely on his/her resume. I had many conversations with other recruiters and I heard them saying things like "we don't have time for interviews, in most of the cases we invite a candidate for an interview just to make sure he/she is not a freak."

Nowadays, candidates are often treated like numbers and I think it's wrong. There is somebody's life story behind every resume and I believe that candidates deserve an opportunity to talk to a recruiter and get some advice and assistance with their job search.