I saw something in the Twitterverse last week that took me aback. My friend, Chris Hoyt, also known as the Recruiter Guy in the blogosphere, did something very simple, but seemingly very ballsy. He put his phone number out there. A job seeker had said to him if a recruiter were serious about using social media to recruit, they would put their phone number out there. So he did. My response to Chris? If a recruiter were really serious about using social media to recruit, they’d put their phone number in their Twitter profile. And then he did it. Now here’s someone who walks the talk.
Yet I can’t bring myself to do it… yes, my little tail is cowering between my legs. Admittedly, I’m actually scared. You probably are too, because the reality is that for recruiters, we’re all overwhelmed right now. I’m receiving resumes upon resumes from every which direction. I’m receiving calls from candidates by the hour. And I’m even receiving calls and emails from the boyfriends of candidates. Then there are the third party recruiters and agencies calling daily. Everyone has a candidate or is a candidate and is trying to sell themselves to me. It’s a lot to deal with and my patience is tried almost daily… so to put my phone number out there to be even more accessible? I don’t know…
Yet, I also don’t know how I feel about building walls up around me completely. (Are we talking about recruiting or relationships? LOL!) I’ve been thinking about this idea of how much to put ourselves out there quite a bit of late, particularly as a job seeker asked a question of me recently… when coming across a job posting that says, “no calls please,” does the employer really mean it? And if so, what’s the penalty for a candidate calling? Of course, as I often do, I farmed the question out to my friends on Twitter to see what they thought and Susan Burns of the Future of Talent raised an excellent point. The bigger question is what does a statement like that say about the culture of the organization? It’s kind of negative language, isn’t it? And I couldn’t agree more. The notion of job posting language such as “no calls please” reinforces the whole notion of companies being “big black holes” when it comes to applicants sending their resumes in… yet given the volume of candidates out there, I get why someone would do say no phone calls. I don’t agree, but I get it.
So, what’s a recruiter to do? If you’re serious about using social media to recruit, if you’re serious about recruiting in general, you have to be accessible. On my LinkedIn profile, my email address is spelled out for you. On my company’s website, my actual name is listed. You can find my phone number pretty easily or call our receptionist. You can find my email address, if you click around a bit on the interwebs. The number of candidates who find and contact me, it’s greater as a result. And there are days, I’d like to yank my contact information. There are days, I’d like to not pick up the phone, or just ignore candidates. But what then is going to happen when the market turns and I’m the one calling passive candidates? You know what I mean?
The tables will turn back around at some point. So let’s just see what happens if we put ourselves out there. This is about accessibility. Don’t be another black hole to your talent community. So if I’m going to walk the talk? Here you have it. Candidates can email me at jlee@apcoworldwide.com, or ring me. My direct dial is 202.478.3723. My apologies in advance if I can’t get back to you immediately. You’ll understand because the market is so plentiful and there are lots of candidates calling me – but I’ll get back to you. I look forward to hearing from you.
Wow, this is real food for thought, but I think your reasoning is excellent, and I’m going to have follow suit.
Thanks for the great post!
While I admire you and Chris for putting yourselves out there, I am wondering how practical this is. If I returned every cold call I received from candidates and recruiters/agencies that is all I would do all day long, and that is without my number out there. I feel we do a good job of communicating with those in the process or those in whom we have interest, but beyond that it is just not feasable.
Kudos to you for putting yourself out there, but I just can’t bring that upon myself.
Thanks Jessica, your article hits on a real struggle for recruiters. Our roles are most times to be agents of our clients, promote the brand that is our Firm whether large or small, and promote the brand that is us! Finding the balance is the tricky part. I believe its essential to respond to every valid call/email in some manner – BTW feel free to weed out the “Dear Recruiters,” or impersonal emails to the masses with a resume – that should drop the numbers at bit.
We owe it to our clients, the firm and ourselves to keep in touch with the market, which includes fielding unsolicited calls and resumes. Candidates and job seekers may be our next clients, and how one handles them now is critical to building that relationship for the future. No, we can’t personally respond to everybody, so as Rob indicates, we need to choose our spots wisely or we could be buried. Although, as talented as we are in getting people on the phone; we should be able to get them off the line as well!
HOLY CRAP! You just threw down the gauntlet for me!!! I’m completely blown away by this idea. I really don’t like it when people call me all the time! In fact it’s getting harder for me to be nice all the time. So many stupid people!
I’ll do it!! I’m going to put myself out there too!
Thanks for the lead, here comes the crazy days!
Phil
Jessica, Good for you. Very interesting question. Like you, I have my contact information on my LinkedIn and Twitter and connect all of these… so if you find one… you’re a click away from my email.
The reason why I prefer email to phone is it gives the savvy candidates a chance to “sell me.” By this, I mean drafting a great cover note that shows they’ve done research on my company, on me, and that they are able to articulate their value proposition to my organization.
That’s very hard to do in a voicemail.
So… for candidates in PR and Digital I’m at brian.batchelder@fleishman.com and @B_Batchelder. My LinkedIn is http://www.linkedin.com/in/brianbatchelder
JLee,
You Rock! Great post. By the way what was your home phone number again?!
The Wall Street Journal wrote an article a couple of weeks ago that spoke to this. They highlighted some technologies that are replacing recruiters. They name 3 companies that are replacing recruiters.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204475004574126832685403014.html
@puf + @phil – well, do it and you just might hear from me too just so i can say hello!
@rob – i just don’t understand how it’s possible to build a talent pool or community if you’re not actively putting yourself out there and making yourself accessible. the volume is TOUGH to deal with and i know it’s overwhelming… but i don’t know what else you’re supposed to do!
@brian – agree with you… for our industry, i do like email better because then i can see their writing skills and wow have i weeded out people because of their poorly crafted message. i still want to be accessible by phone too!
@tim – lol. like i said to you… a good recruiter could track that down.
@gerard – thanks for sharing that… i’d venture to say companies that are replacing recruiters w/ technology are making short sited decisions. there’s still a people element to recruiting isn’t there? i thought this was about relationships.