Friday, July 20, 2007

What Kind of Contact Do You Expect from a Recruiter?

What Kind of Contact Do You Expect from a Recruiter?

I received an email from someone who emailed their resume for a job a client was trying to fill, asking me about the status of their resume. Two weeks had already gone by and, I'm sure most of you know that two weeks normally means no interest on their part.

I responded to his email letting him know that they weren't interested and received a response back that I interpreted as being sarcastic. I then thought that if he thinks this way, certainly others do, too. That is the germination of this article.

A typical day has me arrive at my office between 8 and 8:30 AM to somewhere in the area of 100 emails (spam is filtered out via Postini; it does a very good job of it). As I start to read them, more keep arriving and calls start to come in. I try to respond to every email I receive with a call, an email acknowledging that I received their email and offering some services through my website that they might find helpful or with an email asking a few questions.

Often, these calls require additional action--interviewing someone, calling someone, inputting their resume into our system for later retrieval, submitting a resume to a client.

I leave messages; I read more resumes, receive more calls, schedule some interviews,

Opportunities start to present themselves that require that I check back to see if someone is still available. Sometimes I need to re-schedule an interview because one party or another needs to make a change.

Oh, yes, I eat lunch, do some networking, write an article or two for my blogs, ezine or book and answer a call or two from my wife or a friend.


So, what gives if I respond to everyone who wants to check and find out "what's going on"?

Unless someone is in my VIP program, you don't pay me for anything I do; I am paid by the institution to evaluate and assess people for their suitability for a job and I am paid quite well, thank you.

Obviously, I need to understand a person and their needs, wants, skills and such in order to bring the two sides together. But until someone starts paying me, I'll decide how I manage my time to help the most people.

Oh, yes, if you work with a recruiter who has the time to take all your calls and tell you ever piece of minutiae that they are doing to help you, there will come a time where they will not be there to help you in the future.


Jeff Altman
The Big Game Hunter

Concepts in Staffing
thebiggamehunter@cisny.com

© 2007 all rights reserved.

Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter, is Managing Director with Concepts in Staffing, a New York search firm, He has successfully assisted many corporations identify management leaders and staff in many disciplines since 1971. He is a certified leader of the ManKind Project, a not for profit organization that assists men with life issues, and a practicing psychotherapist.

To receive a daily digest of positions emailed to you, search for openings that The Big Game Hunter is working on, to use Jeff’s free job lead search engine, Job Search Universe, to subscribe to Jeff’s free job hunting ezine, “Head Hunt Your Next Job, or his staffing ezine, “Natural Selection”, or to learn about his VIP program, go to www.jeffaltman.com. Job Search Universe is also available at www.jobsearchuniverse.com To add your firm’s career page to “The Universe” email the url to jobsearchuniverse@gmail.com.

If you would like Jeff and his firm to assist you with hiring staff, or if you would like help with a strategic job change, send an email to him at thebiggamehunter@cisny.com (If you’re looking for a new position, include your resume).If you have a question that you would like me to answer pertaining to job hunting or hiring, email it to me at:
thebiggamehunter@gmail.com