Re: [ljc] Advice, please, for a new RecWorks recruiter
| From: | Wesley H. |
| Sent on: | Tuesday, March 15, 2016, 3:57 PM |
Hi Maggie,
I would definitely +1 the points made by Abraham and Trisha here.
My own view begins with the suggestion that the first step on the path to recruiter wisdom, it seems to me, is the recognition that this is a service game, and within the context of the current world, not a inexpensive one in real terms. There are cheaper ways to recruit than with a recruitment agency so the initial question becomes, “How do I provide that extra value?”.
On my linkedin profile, my job title is given at CTO, which, in and of itself, appears to make certain recruitment companies feel that this provides them a license to simply spam me with every candidate that they ever speak to, in much the same style that Trisha described. This is not providing a service, this is playing the lottery.
I have recently ‘sacked’ two recruitment companies, by which I mean, told them using language that I have been politely asked not to use here, that they are not to contact me again. Why?
Well, in the first instance, I was sent a cold email about a candidate looking for a contractor role. I stated that we were not currently hiring contractors, and asked not to be sent anymore, was told I had been removed from their list, then received another contract candidate from the *same recruiter* less than an hour later. Once again I complained, received an apology. The next morning I checked my email…. and guess what. The response I then sent did not use friendly language.
In the second instance, the first recruiter from the company I dealt with seemed decent and we interviewed a few of their candidates. That recruiter left, and we were given a new one. He went on to commit a few cardinal sins, but the worst was when I received a fairly unpleasant email directly from a candidate we had softly rejected through the recruiter (at their request that all communication go through them), and they had simply not bothered to pass this on. The candidate was quite annoyed that he had received no feedback, and I don’t blame him. Again, I sent a fairly directly worded email to the recruiter.
So, there are some examples of how not to behave, and are somewhat illustrative at how low the industry has sunk.
The good news is I love recworks to bits, and talk you guys up very often. We deal with Tom Pearson and he is not just the guy sending us candidates, but he is also the guy advising and discussing our entire recruitment process with us. We have recently shared quite long emails about our current process and how it can be improved. Things that typically work for candidates, and things that do not. *This* is how you provide a value add service, and your new guy could do a lot worse than to learn from Tom.
Recruitment is obviously punctuated income. Typically you guys are not on a retainer (that model is starting to appear in some places), but receive your payment on successful placement. I think this has led to an attitude that it is *all* about placement. This is why recruiters spam guys like me. It’s actually the same reason any spam is sent. It’s cheap to do and you might ‘get lucky’. It’s also the reason why my rejected candidate did not receive a response. Upon rejection the recruiter cannot be paid for the introduction, so passing on rejection information can be seen as an inefficient use of time (this is extreme for the most part, but clearly does happen).
If you look at the provision of recruitment services as exactly that, an on going-service and imagine the payment (and commission) as being spread out as if it *were* a monthly fee, it begins to look like a different kind of engagement, and a wholly better one. Be an expert in the domain, know about platforms like workable, and advise clients on them, share insights, blog posts on recruitment. Be the partner, not simply the salesperson.
My last little tip, which may be controversial to some degree, is the recognition that when doing recruitment for coders especially, that CVs are so much less valuable than code samples. Make samples of actual work a integral part of the process. Collect them from candidates, pass them on to employers, and develop a strategy (with the employer) to provide some kind of exercise(s) for those people that do not have samples they can immediately provide. We are currently working on this process at Signal, and it’s really starting to become useful.
That’s about my 2 cents.
Cheers
Wes
On 15 Mar 2016, at 10:46, Maggie Cranford <[address removed]> wrote:Hi guys,
I’m writing today with a message from one of my RecWorks colleagues, Bryon,"Barry suggested writing to you to get your thoughts and advice on something. My name is Byron Donovan, I am the newest recruiter of the RecWorks team. I am quickly learning and understanding Java from some of the seniors here but I’d love to get some advice from Java developers in the industry on what to do and not to do as a new recruiter entering the tech industry. The guys at RecWorks have told me that typically recruiters have a bad reputation, so I’m keen to understand what I can do to make sure I can do things well.
If any of you have any advice please contact me directly or just reply to the group. I’ll be along to a few LJC events soon so if you see me please come and say hi!
Thanks,
Byron”
As Byron says, he’d be happy to receive feedback via the list - or feel free to send comments off-list using my email as I’ll be happy to relay them to Byron.
Many thanks!Maggie[address removed] |
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