Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by David Jaramillo on June 21, 2012 at 1:16pm

Sandra, great story.

These stories continually pop up in our industry and I'm sure any good experienced recruiter can tell you a similar story as well.  Since the barriers to entry are fairly low in this industry and the initial learning curve isn't high, this will likely continue for a long time coming.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Sandra McCartt on June 21, 2012 at 2:28pm

@David, it has always been this way but with the advent of technology capable of mass mailing and mass collecting contact information we have a whole segment of the recruiter population whom i would equate to people who fish with a shotgun.  If they scatter gun shoot into the pond they will kill something eventually.  I took issue with one of them not too long ago.  He was appalled that i would dare question his recruiting ability (4 years in and calls himself a Sr. Recruiter, no doubt in his firm he is probably the Sr. recruiter).  His feeling was that a CFO level candidate who did not appreciate a ton of mass mailings concerning a staff level position had issues of their own and anybody should be delighted to connect with a recruiter at any time.  Whatever made him think that sending mass emails made him a recruiter is beyond my definition of recruiting.  My take was, "Pal, you are not a recruiter, you are a computer operator."

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Joshua Lee on June 22, 2012 at 2:25am

THIS IS EXACTLY why people get the idea that "any monkey can be a recruiter" and why they really believe recruiters are idiots.  If you've been in this business long enough, this type of thing is too painfully familiar.  It's so so so sad.

Allow me to recycle one of my posts that address this very issue actually.

Junior Agency Recruiters: Most agencies (especially the big ones), like to hire people with like 1-2 years of sales experience or straight out of college. They do this because what you learn in a sales environment is similar to how you need to perform in recruiting. Also, if you have too much experience, it becomes challenging to unteach you bad habbits and retrain you into the way that they want you to perform (the recruiting agency). A college degree and 2 years of experience is ideal. Also, they don't have to pay you ver much. The down side: Exactly what you get, a junior 2 year out of college grad who really doesn't know anything about the business world yet or the positions he's recruiting for.  No wonder so many candidates get turned off by recruiters.  Imagine the disparity in the quality of the conversation if on one end of the conversation is someone just fresh out of college and on the other end is an Oracle 10g RAC DBA or a Director of Finance and Accounting.

***My oppinion --- THIS is where a lot of bad recruiters are today. The real problem is in training. It's not the college grad's fault that he/she just got out of school.  As a matter of fact they are eager to learn and jump in the work force head on.  A lot of companies do a very poor job in training their people which is a huge disservice to their clients, to the candidates, and ultimately to these poor recruiters who pick up really bad habits they have a hard time shaking later in their careers.  The most important thing I find other then discipline and persistence is that recruiters need to truly appreciate and understand their role as a 'service provider'.  Being "service oriented" has become a lost calling.  

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Rich Rosen on June 29, 2012 at 9:31am

The first  thing  I do when hiring a new recruiter is put them on a  public  conf call about various topics on recruiting  run by Barb Bruno.   part for the content   part to hear just how ignorant  the typical recruiter is.. ( surely who ever  made the statement there are  know a stupid question, has not been on during the Q&A period of one of these calls.)  After the call i tell the new recruiter  the people you just listened to ask these question are earning  $50k to over 100k and have  little clue on how to function  in this job.  You were hired because you are smart, driven  etc...  If these people can make  decent money then you certainly should w2 no less then $200k once you learn the system. and treat this like a career not  a part time job...   and everyone that has lasted more then year has w2 over $200k over the past 17 years - with each person reminding me  of there  conversation......

FYI

one question from the conf the call that stands out --- "What do i do when a candidate or client hangs up me?"

Just think if, it were not for these  people in one aspect making our jobs  more difficult, then our clients would never know how truly  good  a job we actually do.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Greg Savage on June 29, 2012 at 5:05pm

.. and THAT is why we have such a bad rep!

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Sandra McCartt on June 29, 2012 at 7:17pm

@josh. Correct and there are a lot of monkey butts with a computer calling themselves recruiters.

@rich, good for you for trying to up the game of your trainees. This is where it has to start. This kind if trash recruiting may make a lot of us look better because these punks make fools of themselves but it sure makes me wish I could nail their ears to a fence post and collect a bounty.

@ Greg, says it all and unfortunately even a blind pig finds a truffle once in a while.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by David Jaramillo on July 2, 2012 at 3:20pm

And the idiocy continues....

I just had to include this gem as I just got this yesterday from some sort of a "recruiter."

The email below is verbatim--and I haven't been in financial analysis for over seven years.

"Hi,
I would like to discuss your resume and a potential position. Can you attach
your updated resume? We specialize in permanent Accounting/Finance and Tax
positions in Houston alhtough I a recrutiing position your background looks really good for.  Your resume won't be sent anywhere without your permission.

Thanks,"

Getting this from a recruiter just continues to reinforce the notion that this industry is full of know-nothings.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Bill Schultz on July 2, 2012 at 3:31pm

I think s/he was saying s/he had a recruiter position for you.  not that it excuses the boiler plate (ness) of the pitch.

David Jaramillo said:

And the idiocy continues....

I just had to include this gem as I just got this yesterday from some sort of a "recruiter."

The email below is verbatim--and I haven't been in financial analysis for over seven years.

"Hi,
I would like to discuss your resume and a potential position. Can you attach
your updated resume? We specialize in permanent Accounting/Finance and Tax
positions in Houston alhtough I a recrutiing position your background looks really good for.  Your resume won't be sent anywhere without your permission.

Thanks,"

Getting this from a recruiter just continues to reinforce the notion that this industry is full of know-nothings.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Amy Ala on July 2, 2012 at 4:28pm

spell check is your friend. :)

 

Agree with Bill, except I think s/he was thinking if David wasn't interested in any of the permanent Accounting/Finance and Tax positions in Houston... Oh David tell me you at least live in Houston???? :)

Bill Schultz said:

I think s/he was saying s/he had a recruiter position for you.  not that it excuses the boiler plate (ness) of the pitch.

David Jaramillo said:

And the idiocy continues....

I just had to include this gem as I just got this yesterday from some sort of a "recruiter."

The email below is verbatim--and I haven't been in financial analysis for over seven years.

"Hi,
I would like to discuss your resume and a potential position. Can you attach
your updated resume? We specialize in permanent Accounting/Finance and Tax
positions in Houston alhtough I a recrutiing position your background looks really good for.  Your resume won't be sent anywhere without your permission.

Thanks,"

Getting this from a recruiter just continues to reinforce the notion that this industry is full of know-nothings.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Sandra McCartt on July 3, 2012 at 1:32am

There is one out of irvine Ca. That sounds like snyber snoders who are working the Houston area with these goofy emails. It starts out, " the reason you are receiving this email is that you are registered on a job board, a social network or you are in our database. " It goes to everyone who has the word accounting in their profile. The position one of my candidates was contacted about this week was a staff spot. He has not been a staff accountnt since 1981.

The really tragic thing is that they gather up a candidate or two and place ome one once in a while. One can only hope that they insult enough people that eventually they will go the way of the board scrapers of years gone by, but probably not. Multi level marketing schemes have been around forever and a sucker is born very minute. The really ugly thing is they call themselves recruiters instead of email marketers.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Raphael Fang on July 3, 2012 at 7:15pm

I even worked with a few recruiters who will call up managers and offer them with assistant roles.  They just randomly call up people and hopefully one of them will be a fit.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Sarah Calverley on July 3, 2012 at 8:36pm

And this leads me back to my tantrum from yesterday about young inexperienced recruiters running around and calling themselves 'headhunters'... This is not doing our industry any favours. 

Although this instance seems so obviously stupid - this kind of stuff happens ALL the time.

• ▶ Reply

▶ Reply to Discussion

• ‹ Previous
• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• Next ›
• Page