Do You Know Why Candidates Think Recruiters are Idiots?

Below is a conversation i just received from a Sr. CFO candidate. This is what happens when inexperienced little girls do key word searches and can't read a resume.

Sandra,

I just got a call from (company name removed to protect the mentally deficient) in Irvine, California. Doing a search for a Manager of Financial Reporting. I told the recruiter that this really wasn't in my "strike zone," even though I believe I have the ability to do the job, but I'm a CFO.

She kept talking.

She disclosed that the job was in (city removed) I asked, "Is this XYZ Company?"

Long pause.

Yes.

I used to be the CFO of XYZ Company. In fact, I was the first CFO of XYZ Company and took the company public.

Oh. I guess I missed that on your resume. Does that mean you're not interested?

Weird phone call.

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Amy Ala Miller on April 19, 2012 at 7:34pm

You just can't fix stupid.

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Permalink Reply by Sandra McCartt on April 19, 2012 at 7:49pm

In your wildest dreams can you imagine picking up a resume and not noticing that the candidate worked for the same company you are recruiting for, ten years ago as the CFO. In your most demented, brain dead moments, can you imagine looking at a resume that has CFO all over it with a 250K plus bonus and options salary history and calling them about a financial reporting manager spot that pays 75K tops.

Attencion, Attencion managers of recruiting firms. Keep these little dollies off the phone until you teach them to read a resume and have some idea what they are talking about instead of finding the key words "financial reporting" on a resume and jumping on the phone to make a blatant fool of themselves and your firm.

Ya caint fix toopid but ya can keep from smearing it all over you. No wonder people on Linkedin are ready to send recruiters to the idiot pile. For anyone who wonders why people are rude to you on Linkedin. This cunning array of stunts would be the reason why.

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Permalink Reply by Amy Ala Miller on April 19, 2012 at 7:56pm

I've been on the phone with candidates while in labor about to give birth and never done anything quite so stupid... did she at least ask for a referral since he clearly knows the company culture so well? hahaha....

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Permalink Reply by Sandra McCartt on April 19, 2012 at 8:20pm

No, he told her that the job was all over the net and had been for over a month. The company has 118% turnover, the current CFO is a foul mouth drunk. Makes this guy sick to see what happened after he left. Little dolly dimples thinks she has a hot job to fill. Bless her little stupid heart.

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Permalink Reply by Suresh on April 20, 2012 at 9:11am

Maybe Resumes should be limited to 140 characters...just kidding

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Permalink Reply by Brian K. Johnston on April 20, 2012 at 10:19am

Makes Me Angry Knowing Good Recruiters Are Unfairly Stereotyped With IDIOTS, perfectly stated by Amy.. "You can't fix stupid!" Happy Friday ALL!

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Permalink Reply by KKenner on April 20, 2012 at 10:51am

Sandra,

UGH! This is the brand of recruiters who don't even know what real networking is either...This recruiter just makes the good ones look bad! This topic makes me want to write...OMG. the stories! lol

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Permalink Reply by Sandra McCartt on April 20, 2012 at 11:39am

@suresh that may be the problem :) this level of recruiter may be so social media focused that she only thinks in 140 characters. Duh, look, this resume has "financial recruiting" on it , oh boy,I found a winner.

@ Brian truth my friend. I have been apologizing for idiots in our industry for so long that if I got paid for I could have retired 20 years ago. The real indictment here is do we have people calling themselves recruiters who literally cannot read or are so focused on keywords that they have a cognitive disconnect on content. One can only wonder what would have happened if this fellow had just said, " sure Dora, shoot my resume in and let's see what happens.". Too bad he didn't so the client got a chance to receive the resume of their first CFO for a job in the department he put together and one of five groups that reported to him.

@kKenner, exactly. My words exactly when I got that email. All I could write back was, "oh, my God". Call you later, at least we know Darwin got it right, they walk among us and the bad part is they vote and breed.

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Permalink Reply by Kyle Schafroth on April 20, 2012 at 5:06pm

Sometimes I think it takes skill to miss things like that...

It's stories like this that I've been directing my "soon to graduate college" friends interested in recruiting...heaven forbid someone I know becomes one of the bumbling idiots..

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Permalink Reply by Sandra McCartt on April 20, 2012 at 5:28pm

@Juntee, it is almost mind boggling. I have gotten multiple emails from internal recruiters about this post saying that they are amazed at the things they are hearing and the resumes they are seeing from people who even with years of experience don't seem to have a clue about what they are sending. We all make goofy mistakes from time to time or misread a candidate but if there is a lot of this going on , and there seems to be, are these people who should be selling work at home schemes on the internet or have managers lost their minds?

@Kyle, i think the toughest thing for soon to graduate who want to go into recruiting is that they have not had enough business experience to know the difference between a CFO and a financial reporting manager. It is not about matching keywords. I saw a lot of this when i first started in recruiting. A newbie would get a resume of someone who had an accounting degree and worked at a grain elevator in payables then turn around and send the resume to a public accounting firm then be mystified why the senior partner would tell them that it was not at all what they needed and ask to speak to someone who knew something about accounting. They were mystified and would say, "but they have an accounting degree." Yeppers but they have never done tax work or audit work and that is what public accounting firms do. You got a blank look because they had no clue. It seems to be coming at us in waves again. The prolific blasting of emails to any and everybody about every job on the planet. More of the sling it out there and maybe something will stick. If i thought this were an isolated incident it would just be roll your eyes and shake your head but it seems to be increasing from what i am hearing from candidates in every verticle.

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Permalink Reply by Kyle Schafroth on April 20, 2012 at 5:35pm

Sandra - agreed, there are unfortunately some recruiters I know that require excessive detail to assure that the 'qualified candidates' have done more than walk by a company that has someone who does Job X.

Harsh probably but if someone (even new to the game) is thinking that Marking Degree = Sr. Digital Strategist (or whatever other job you pick from the hat) they have more than a few problems. Everyone makes mistakes which is forgivable, but sadly, common sense is starting to be one of those "highly sought after skills".

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Permalink Reply by Sandra McCartt on April 20, 2012 at 5:58pm

@Kyle, so true. I am beginning to think that common sense is an uncommon commodity. I tell newbies to curb their excitemment. Read it three times then take the audit approach, take a step back and ask yourself, do i really know what this job req means, do i really know what this candidate does and wants to do. Then go ask somebody else and bounce it off of somebody else before you jump on the phone and get your ears pinned back. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't.

But read the thing, just read it.