A Good Recruiter

Just so you people don’t think I’m some kind of curmudgeon, allow me to tell you about my encounter with a true, professional recruiter.
I wrote recently about an interview I had wherein I was treated in an unprofessional, discourteous fashion by both a company’s in-house recruiter and a manager. The two of them were rather rude, unpleasant and left me wondering exactly why they wasted my time (as well as theirs) in bringing me in for an interview.
Not long after I interviewed for a recruiter position at a healthcare company. I was greeted warmly and the woman who interviewed me was upbeat, fully engaged in our conversation and interested in what I had to say. I left the interview feeling like the organization in question was a good one and that I had been treated with respect.
My philosophy as a recruiter is that even if the person being interviewed is not right for the opening at hand, they may be perfect for something down the line, so make the experience as positive as you can.
That, my friends, is what we call professional recruiting!

A Bad Recruiter

Last week I had a job interview. It was a complete and utter waste of time.
I first met with the company’s in-house recruiter. I can’t say I was overly impressed with her…she struck me as being of the very anal-retentive, process-oriented branch of the staffing tree. She brought in the manager that I would be working under were I to get the position.
The two of them proceeded to spend the next 20 minutes more-or-less telling me why I wasn’t qualified for the position.
Hmmm…that’s fine. I left their offices with a very sour taste in my mouth, so I certainly wasn’t upset I wasn’t going to be working there. But neither should that recruiter.
I was certainly qualified for the position based on the standards set forth in their job posting. So if I truly wasn’t qualified, someone surely didn’t write a very good ad. Also, if I truly wasn’t qualified, why did they interview me in the first place? This was a waste of my time, her time and that manager’s time.
One of the fundamental things a recruiter does is separate the wheat from the chaff…sort the qualified candidates from the unqualified. This should be done at every opportunity. Write an effective job post or ad, so prospective candidates know whether they're qualified or not. When resumes come in, only shepherd the strongest prospects through the process.
Etc.
The other side of that coin is this…if they did have some interest in bringing me onboard, the recruiter and the manager both did a world-class bad job of selling me on their company as a good place to work. Both came off in an unpleasant, unprofessional fashion. Having left one, shall we say, less-than-positive work environment I certainly don’t want to get into another.

Whatever the case may be, that recruiter did a lousy job.

Bad Advice

I was just talking to a candidate for a position I'm trying to fill. In the course of asking her questions about her experience, several things came to light that weren't on her resume. Several things that made her a vastly better fit for the job than I had first thought.
I asked her why she didn't have these things on her resume. She told me that someone had advised her to cut her resume down to one page. Wrong.
Wrong, wrong, wrong.
The one-page rule is fine when you're an inexperienced or entry-level person who doesn't have alot to brag about. When you get to the point when you've had more than a job or two, when you've had a series of accomplishments and experiences....guess what? You can go over a page. When you have something to brag about, brag about it. The aforementioned candidate might not have had a shot at a pretty good job, all because of some very bad advice.
The fundamental thing to remember (and what I always preach) is when you're job-hunting, you're marketing yourself. Your resume is an advertisement for you. When you don't list all of your accomplishments just for the sake of keeping your resume to one page, you're selling yourself short.

Job Board Follies

A few months ago, before I got my current job, I was registered with three of the big job boards...Monster, CareerBuilder and HotJobs. I still get emails from them, usually solicitations to apply for various positions. I have to say that I'm more than a little disturbed that at least one of those sites allows emails for obvious scams, such as the old, "we are a foreign company and wish you to be our financial intermediary".
Recently I have been invited to apply for a few accounting positions. The emails state that I'm very qualified for such positions and would be a great candidate. Best of all, I was asked to apply for an accounting position at a famous talent agency in Hollywood.
Um...no.
I have absolutely no experience in accounting. None. Zero. Zip. Nada. I have also made it abundantly clear that I will, under no circumstances relocate.
That begs the question as to why anyone thinks I'm qualified for such a position and why the "Senior Recruiter" at the aforementioned Hollywood talent agency thinks I should apply. Did he not look at my resume? Is he just sending out the same email to everyone registered with the job board? In any case, he's simply not doing a very good job of being a "senior recruiter".

Quick update: Just hours after posting this I got yet another email asking me to apply for yet another accounting gig. Wow.

How To Annoy a Recruiter

I've been working in the recruiting/ staffing field for a good long time...over twelve years now, actually. I've met some great people and some not-so-great people. I've learned alot. What follows are a few things that people do to really screw up in their job hunt, especially when working with a recruiter or staffing professional.
-Not Show Up. This past week I was working to fill an industrial assembler job. I had four people scheduled to come in to interview with me. Only one of the four bothered to show up. The rest didn't even bother to call. What sort of reception do you think those three will get next time they call looking for work (as they inevitably will)? I think you know the answer to that.
-Act like a jerk. That same day interviewed a recent college grad for a customer service position. He was snide, condescending and rather obnoxious. Simply put, he was acting like a jerk. He said to me at one point, "Is there something wrong with my tie?" I said there wasn't. "Oh, well you've been staring at it this whole time." No I wasn't actually. And no, I won't be referring him to any clients. I would have to wonder whether he'd act in a similar fashion on an interview with said clients. All this kid accomplished by acting like he did was look like fool and ensure that no one from my firm would ever consider him as a viable candidate for anything. Ever.
-Whine about paperwork. Why do employers and staffing firms make you fill out applications and tax forms and I9 forms? There's a reason for it. So don't whine about it.
-Interrupt me. This is my pet peeve of the week. This morning I called two people on that. One of them took exception to my protest. Too bad. I hadn't interrupted him, so why is it okay to do it to me?
-Treat me like I'm stupid. I've been successful as a recruiter for a reason...I know what I'm doing. Just because I don't understand everything you do about Material Requirements Planning doesn't mean I'm not qualified to talk to you. When you condescend to me, I have to assume you'll treat my client in the same fashion.
In the end, it's important to remember that you should work in a respectful manner with your freindly neighborhood staffing professional. When you don't keep an appointment or act like a condescending jerk, we have to assume you'll act the same way when we put you in front of a client.