'Dialogue' Transcript That You're Gonna LOVE (From An Online VMS, Of Course!)

A friend of mine turned me on to this message board 'dialogue' (can it really be called that.?.) from a position he was working through an online VMS before realizing he had blown some serious time on a position in which there was no Intake session (hat tip: Scott Love) until after candidates were presented. Yes, what I'm saying is that my friend had no Intake Session with neither the Internal Recruiter nor the Hiring Manager, and now he's mad at himself - frankly, the candidate slate presented by Third-Party Recruiters was used by the Internal Recruiter as a starting point for conversations regarding what the Manager was really looking for!

This whole thing has FUBAR written all over it. Don't believe me? Take a look:

Dec 15, 5:03 PM - I just rejected all of the candidates in queue with the designation "overqualified" for a lack of a better checkbox. I briefly spoke with the hiring manager this morning. His comment was that, while the candidates had the 3-4 identified requirements listed for the position, they also had a lot of other experience that he is not interested in. He's looking for a "purist" if you will. He told me he would try to give more specifics, but wanted to let you know what I do.

Nov 14, 3:40 PM - I find it necessary at this point to remind all of you who are interested in working with XYZ Co. to please respect our processes. I am too busy to chase down all of you randomly contacting our colleagues you find on LinkIn requesting engagement. Believe me, this is not the way to get in our good graces; in fact, it will do our relationship much more harm than good. Do not contact anyone at XYZ directly unless I have given you permission to do so. Thank you.

Nov 10, 2:47 PM - We currently have 2 candidates in the mix, but neither is our ideal because they do not have cGMP or GMP experience. This is a qualification we discovered is critical while interviewing others last week.
In an effort to narrow your search - please re-evaluate any candidates you would like to submit (or have submitted that I haven't reviewed yet) for cGMP or BMP experience.

Nov 07, 4:22 PM - Sorry for not telling everyone before I left on vacation, but ran out of time. I just returned today, and have a lot of messages to return and candidates to review. Please bare with me! I will get back to each of you as soon as I can.

Oct 06, 7:56 PM - We are on a short time-line for this position (probably a month left to identify someone before we lose it), so I absolutely appreciate your quick turnaround times - all of you.

Oct 01, 4:33 PM - 2 things: I got quick feedback from my HM on this position today saying that none of the candidates fit what he's looking for. He needs, simply, a PhD biochemistry scientist who does protein purification.

Before I get too much pushback from you guys, because I know some of your candidates have this, I am meeting with the HM on Monday to discuss all of the resumes he's received so far. Hopefully, I'll be able to get a clearer understanding of his needs - and be able to translate them to you.

Aug 26, 8:31 PM - Default Message - Please, no direct phone calls or emails. Also, please do not use this as business development. I'll reach out to you directly if I need to.

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Permalink Reply by Jerry Albright on January 23, 2009 at 11:01am

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Permalink Reply by Joshua Letourneau on January 23, 2009 at 11:06am

LOL - is this the "Humans are Widgets" Recruiting-as-Assembly-Line Process you might be referring to?

Jerry Albright said:

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Permalink Reply by Jerry Albright on January 23, 2009 at 11:09am

All your resumes are belong to us. You WILL be assimilated.....

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Permalink Reply by Joshua Letourneau on January 26, 2009 at 11:49am

Yeah, you have to love it, Jerry and Jason. On 8/26, there is a 'Default Message' of "Please, no direct calls or emails." My first question is, whose 'Default Message' is it? If it's the VMS, are you essentially blocking the Discovery Session between TPR and Client? What are the statistics on fill % when you ban communication?

Then, on 10/1, all candidates are rejected despite having what was asked for in the black & white JD. Yeah, that's what an Intake or Discovery Session is to uncover (so you measure twice and cut once).

Then on 10/6, just 5 days after all candidates getting rejected, there is a cry for more candidates due to 'short time-line'. Um, ok . . . then it's time to have your Discovery session.

One month later, 11/7, the Internal Recruiter then posts a mea culpa about not letting anyone know they were going on vacation. Ok, are you kidding me?

3 days later, on 11/10, then the Internal Recruiter states that all candidates are rejected again with the following, "We currently have 2 candidates in the mix, but neither is our ideal because they do not have cGMP or GMP experience. This is a qualification we discovered is critical while interviewing others last week." My question is this: Who discovered it was critical? You? Is it because you finally spoke to the Hiring Manager?

Another 3 days later, Internal Recruiter hints that attempting to connect with company employees through LinkedIn will do the "relationship much more harm than good". What relationship?

Another month later, on 12/15, "all of the candidates in queue with the designation "overqualified" for a lack of a better checkbox." A checkbox??? Is this what communication has come to? There wasn't a 'checkbox' for what I wanted to say, so I made one up.

Yeah, what checkbox would you guys put this recruiting scenario into?