Here’s Looking At You, Kid…

Free Beer!

Like you, I’ve been getting cold calls from recruiters since I began working (decades ago in my case). My experience is that they are rarely helpful; largely because the recruiter is often low on information.

I don’t blame the recruiter for being low on facts. The information about a job, or consulting project, is (or should be) provided by the agency’s client.

However, I do blame the recruiter for contacting prospects even when they have insufficient information about a role.

Recently, I was (cold) contacted by a recruiter about a “SharePoint Position.”

He didn’t provide a job description, but mentioned opportunities for “free beer!” on three occasions in a single Linkedin message.

I responded to the recruiter and told him that his message didn’t give me a good vibe about the client or his agency.

He responded, “My client has a VERY casual work environment and they just let the work week speak for itself.”

WTF does that even mean?

It creates huge problems for all parties when a client doesn’t provide a recruiting agency with sufficient information about a role, but still issues “get me candidates!” directive which causes recruiters to start Linkedin spamming of “prospects.”

This is a tremendous waste of time for everybody: the client, the recruiting agency and the prospects.

If a client doesn’t really know what they need in a candidate, or isn’t sure IF they really NEED a candidate, then they shouldn’t  be giving marching orders to line up interview prospects.

Should recruiters who are given nebulous instructions, about an amorphous role, start cold-calling candidates without a healthy pushback to the client? 

The answer is “no.”

If the client’s justification to the agency for  a “Get me candidates!” directive  is “Because I said so!” then can they really expect to find qualified candidates for positions for which the requirements are still in an ill-defined state?

Now about this “free beer,” thing. I spent eight years working for big ad agencies and then later finding myself in the muck of the “Dot.Com(edy)” era, working myself ragged.

I can tell you that the price of “free” beer is a pretty hefty price.

“Free beer!” as a selling point is rather unappetizing to me, especially in the absence of a job description.

After an email exchange with the recruiter, I told him I was not interested in talking further because my vibe about the client had not improved.

I explained  that if  he and the client couldn’t provide a role description, and their value proposition was “free beer!” I didn’t have any interest.

I also made an attempt at some constructive criticism, though I think my words might have made me seem Humphrey Bogart in ‘Casablanca’, because my message felt like this:

“…claims that the client ” ‘….lets the ‘work week speak for itself’…’ and ‘free beer!’ don’t amount to a hill of beans in this crazy world. Some day you’ll understand that.”

Those were not my exact words, but the sentiment was pretty damn close.

I don’t expect to change recruiting processes much. My influence on recruiters and their clients doesn’t amount to a hill of beans in this crazy world.

Though, I think it important for agencies and hiring managers be receptive to constructive criticism. For a company, or a recruiting agency to expect a  candidate to act upon nebulous instructions is contrary to best practices in recruiting.

Perhaps someday, they’ll understand that.


 

 

 

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