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.