Dear Recruiters, Here Are 5 Ways to NOT Get Great Talent

I receive voicemails and emails from recruiters all the time. This isn’t a statement I make to brag, it’s how I open this article because I want readers to know that I deal with recruitment all the time. I also use recruiters to hire people, but this article is specifically about being the target and not the client.

Other assumptions I will make include:

• You work for the hiring company directly, or for an agency specifically tasked with this requisition.
• Your goal is to find the best fit for the position (as opposed to just grabbing a commission).
• The company you’re hiring for is moral and transparent (as opposed to a shady start-up operation).

The reason I assume these things is because I don’t want to deal with the alternatives. I don’t want to go through all the hassle of applying and interviewing with a recruiting agency if there’s not a timely on-site interview in the future. I don’t want to be a commission, and just fill a seat in a company that wants anyone to complete a task for cheap. I don’t want a shady contract job, and I don’t want to work for a company that bends my morals.

Now that we got all that out of the way, here are 5 things recruiters do that are an immediate turn-off.

5.) Contact Me by Phone

I have a line on my resume, and on every career site I use that says “Don’t call me without an appointment. I don’t answer unknown numbers or listen to my voicemail. Please email me first and we can setup a time to talk.”  Choosing to ignore my very clear contact preferences means I will be unlikely to even see your message.

Unexpected phone calls are like unexpected visitors ringing a doorbell. It’s impolite at the very least and disrespectful at its worst. You are not don’t want to be viewed as a solicitor.

4.) Refuse to Take No For an Answer

When I reply politely to an email with a “I’m not interested, but thanks for considering me” message, don’t try to convince me otherwise. Save both of us the time and effort.

I’ll often tell a recruiter why I’m not interested with the intention of helping them better qualify me as a prospect. Take my feedback or leave it, but don’t try to convince me that an hourly contract-to-hire position is just as good as a permanent W4 one. I’m not an idiot.

3.) Spell My Name Wrong

Come on, guys. Take the .3 seconds to make sure you spell my name correctly. You don’t even have to use my last name. It’s incredibly disrespectful, and reflects very poorly on your skills and professionalism.

Your primary skills are networking and communication, right?

2.) Make Me Do All the Work

The reasons I like working with recruiters are numerous:

• They’re incentivized to make me look good and get me the job
• They know a good resume, cover letter, etc. and can help optimize mine
• They usually have the first shot at applying for new jobs
• They can alleviate the tedious tasks involved in applying for jobs

And that last line isn’t optional. If I send you a complete resume, a link to my website, and a LinkedIn profile you shouldn’t need to copy/paste a form in my email asking me for things like my first and last name, what position I’m applying for, etc. Again, it shows a lack of respect for other people’s time.

1.) Play Games with Vital Information

Here’s how this usually plays out when I reply to a recruitment email:

Me: “How much does this position pay?”

Recruiter: “What do you make now?”

Me: “That’s none of your business. Please answer my question.”

Recruiter: “I don’t know, what’s the least you’d accept to take the job?”

Me: “I’m not accepting any job that I don’t have all the information about. What is the salary range for this position?”

Recruiter: “[…]”

If you email me trying to sell me a product, don’t dance around its price. Would you spend an hour tweaking a resume, writing a unique cover letter, and filling out web forms to maybe purchase something without them even telling you the price? I wouldn’t. Respect that my time has value.

On top of that, you’re wasting your own time too. If a recruiter just said to me “We’re looking to pay between X and Y for this spot” you’d get an answer from me right away telling you if I’m a qualified prospect or not. No more back and forth time-wasting emails for either party.

Playing games like this immediately makes me assume that this is what it will be like working there. I don’t want to work in a super-political office where it takes weeks to just get someone to hit the “Approve” button on anything. I don’t want to work someplace where everyone they hired was the lowest bidder.