ON: Annoying Indian IT Recruiters
Posted 02-27-2017 at 10:03 PM by Blondebaerde
From an Indian recruiter, LinkedIn Post:
Dear friends,
If someone calls you regarding Job opportunities & if you are not interested in them, tell them you are not up to it.Don't bark at them or disconnect calls before they introduce themselves.Think before you talk or act!
It will hardly take a minute to let them know you are not actively looking for it Or if you really hate getting job related calls,Just remove your profile from job portals and don't go active on those portals.I have seen people who are active on portal & they say they are not looking for change when we call them.We are also doing our job.
My (Verbose) Response:
Guy, this is an important topic. I have a different view, as a senior (13+ years’ experience) American professional-level candidate in enterprise program management, people leadership, and strategic solution definition for Fortune 500.
My time is a resource. So is yours. Unsolicited calls are "interrupts," in the systems sense of the phrase. I tend to answer most if not all calls, on the assumption the interrupt is crucial to caller's time AND mine.
Often, however, the urgency is not crucial to both parties. During the day, I am inundated with non-US and other interrupts. When searching for a new opportunity, I strategically place my CV on several job boards, with clear cover letter stating my level and interest to provide value-add for A-game firms only. Examining my call logs, I receive an average of about five random calls and seven email solicitations per weekday when searching (when I have made myself available). In any given week, then, call it twenty-five interrupts.
Of those, per my job search log, typically three to five per week are actually relevant and correctly leveled, or only slightly under/over. Those are from thoughtful retained recruiters, or occasionally contingency-based with contract opportunities of-interest at a (very) senior level. One to two per week result in a detailed mutual compatibility screen, and further action: interviews with executive recruiters, HR authorities, or company principals. For me, in my areas of specialty, i takes several months minimum for those to kindle into appropriately leveled offers, that I accept or seriously consider for mid to high six figures.
Let us focus on the remaining calls that are not a productive use of the caller’s time or mine. Let us further refer to those as "random casts" by agents not well versed in proper protocol for senior candidates, and/or who typically do not understand American cultural norms well enough. Further, random casters have a poor reputation for thorough follow-up/follow-through on opportunity status. Random casters presumably work in a challenging environment, contacting tens or hundreds of equally random prospects per day, based on outputs from bots. To random casters, such calls are a sales opportunity, no more or less, based on bulk. I usually hear background noise with marginal call quality. I instantly assume: amateur-hour, commodity trading.
The difference between retained and random caster recruiters is stark. I know within thirty seconds if a recruiter has thoughtfully parsed my CV and considered the needs of their role equally carefully. Interrupting me without appointment automatically elevates the importance of their call beyond...not equal to...anything else I may be doing, for example a client meeting or personal business.
At that point, nothing is yet established in a business relationship that I should stop (interrupt) my other task to listen to their opportunity instead. That causes me, the executive candidate, to immediately assume an inappropriate level of familiarity. "How I am doing" or other social niceties are gibberish. The random caster's role being solicited, which is almost invariably more-geared to entry level vs. executive, is suddenly *more* important to me than anything else...in the caller's mind?
That, unfortunately, is not acceptable. Thus, the conversation necessarily becomes adversarial from that point forward.
Professionals have no time for amateurish calls. When...not if...I am direct with random casters, it is to conserve my valuable time and allow them to return to working with entry level, non-degreed, desperate candidates. I typically advise that in the future, the most-professional method to contact me is the following: 1) A well-crafted, thoughtful introductory email of under several paragraphs introducing themselves and their firm. 2) Establish, in a few sentence, what in my background was of-interest directly relevant to the role being solicited 3) Provide a through precis of the opportunity, to include proposed duties, span of control, required experience, and desired certification and education. 4) Directly ask me to respond, if interested, with a convenient time to call and discuss.
Provided the previous, I can then propose times for phone calls that honor both our schedules. Typically, that can occur within twenty four to seventy-two hours of initial email outreach, depending on my prior commitments. Outcome of that will always be a meet-and-greet, locally, or at-minimum a thorough Skype screen to establish the bona fides of each party. Under no circumstances will I provide "resumes", "rates," or other artifacts until and if we have made additional contact in-detail.
As mentioned, only a few thoughtful outreaches per week meet the above bar. I treat the remainder as abrupt / interrupts, with no further action desired until and if the above is met. If we wish to work together, that is the minimum mutual professional courtesy level required.
Make sense? Professionalism in thoughtful approach to senior candidates is always a two-way street. The model itself for random casters is completely broken, at-current.
Dear friends,
If someone calls you regarding Job opportunities & if you are not interested in them, tell them you are not up to it.Don't bark at them or disconnect calls before they introduce themselves.Think before you talk or act!
It will hardly take a minute to let them know you are not actively looking for it Or if you really hate getting job related calls,Just remove your profile from job portals and don't go active on those portals.I have seen people who are active on portal & they say they are not looking for change when we call them.We are also doing our job.
My (Verbose) Response:
Guy, this is an important topic. I have a different view, as a senior (13+ years’ experience) American professional-level candidate in enterprise program management, people leadership, and strategic solution definition for Fortune 500.
My time is a resource. So is yours. Unsolicited calls are "interrupts," in the systems sense of the phrase. I tend to answer most if not all calls, on the assumption the interrupt is crucial to caller's time AND mine.
Often, however, the urgency is not crucial to both parties. During the day, I am inundated with non-US and other interrupts. When searching for a new opportunity, I strategically place my CV on several job boards, with clear cover letter stating my level and interest to provide value-add for A-game firms only. Examining my call logs, I receive an average of about five random calls and seven email solicitations per weekday when searching (when I have made myself available). In any given week, then, call it twenty-five interrupts.
Of those, per my job search log, typically three to five per week are actually relevant and correctly leveled, or only slightly under/over. Those are from thoughtful retained recruiters, or occasionally contingency-based with contract opportunities of-interest at a (very) senior level. One to two per week result in a detailed mutual compatibility screen, and further action: interviews with executive recruiters, HR authorities, or company principals. For me, in my areas of specialty, i takes several months minimum for those to kindle into appropriately leveled offers, that I accept or seriously consider for mid to high six figures.
Let us focus on the remaining calls that are not a productive use of the caller’s time or mine. Let us further refer to those as "random casts" by agents not well versed in proper protocol for senior candidates, and/or who typically do not understand American cultural norms well enough. Further, random casters have a poor reputation for thorough follow-up/follow-through on opportunity status. Random casters presumably work in a challenging environment, contacting tens or hundreds of equally random prospects per day, based on outputs from bots. To random casters, such calls are a sales opportunity, no more or less, based on bulk. I usually hear background noise with marginal call quality. I instantly assume: amateur-hour, commodity trading.
The difference between retained and random caster recruiters is stark. I know within thirty seconds if a recruiter has thoughtfully parsed my CV and considered the needs of their role equally carefully. Interrupting me without appointment automatically elevates the importance of their call beyond...not equal to...anything else I may be doing, for example a client meeting or personal business.
At that point, nothing is yet established in a business relationship that I should stop (interrupt) my other task to listen to their opportunity instead. That causes me, the executive candidate, to immediately assume an inappropriate level of familiarity. "How I am doing" or other social niceties are gibberish. The random caster's role being solicited, which is almost invariably more-geared to entry level vs. executive, is suddenly *more* important to me than anything else...in the caller's mind?
That, unfortunately, is not acceptable. Thus, the conversation necessarily becomes adversarial from that point forward.
Professionals have no time for amateurish calls. When...not if...I am direct with random casters, it is to conserve my valuable time and allow them to return to working with entry level, non-degreed, desperate candidates. I typically advise that in the future, the most-professional method to contact me is the following: 1) A well-crafted, thoughtful introductory email of under several paragraphs introducing themselves and their firm. 2) Establish, in a few sentence, what in my background was of-interest directly relevant to the role being solicited 3) Provide a through precis of the opportunity, to include proposed duties, span of control, required experience, and desired certification and education. 4) Directly ask me to respond, if interested, with a convenient time to call and discuss.
Provided the previous, I can then propose times for phone calls that honor both our schedules. Typically, that can occur within twenty four to seventy-two hours of initial email outreach, depending on my prior commitments. Outcome of that will always be a meet-and-greet, locally, or at-minimum a thorough Skype screen to establish the bona fides of each party. Under no circumstances will I provide "resumes", "rates," or other artifacts until and if we have made additional contact in-detail.
As mentioned, only a few thoughtful outreaches per week meet the above bar. I treat the remainder as abrupt / interrupts, with no further action desired until and if the above is met. If we wish to work together, that is the minimum mutual professional courtesy level required.
Make sense? Professionalism in thoughtful approach to senior candidates is always a two-way street. The model itself for random casters is completely broken, at-current.
