Why I Hate Recruiters
Have you ever been dumped and left with the question, “why?” Why did they leave ? What did I do wrong? What could I have changed? Yeah, me neither. While most of the information found was purely intended as venting, there are some golden nuggets of advice. Here’s what I found:
The first hit on Google is a TechTalk discussion board titled “Why I Hate Recruiters.” There are several pearls of wisdom to pick out in this one. Long story short, recruiter asks tech professional to take assessment test, candidate doesn’t want to take test and lets recruiter know why, recruiter takes it personally and doesn’t want to take “no” for an answer.
To start, the recruiter took two weeks to get back to the candidate with a pretty useless email. The gist of the response was to inform the candidate that it wasn’t such a ridiculous request to have the candidate take a test, using personal references and some irrelevant perspectives to sway the candidate.
What we can glean from this:
Be timely with your communications, regardless of the purpose. Whether you’re following up on a conversation, sending out the “I’m sorry you didn’t get the job” emails, or simply thanking a candidate for their time, do it now, not later. We live in a world where dinner can be delivered to your house in 20 minutes without so much as picking up a phone. Get with the program. Communication couldn’t be easier today, use it, and use it in a timely manner.
Try to look at the situation from their perspective. As the post goes on and more tech types weigh in on the conversation, we find a great point from one of the contributors that perhaps recruiters and their clients hadn’t considered.
“I hate tests. I don’t do well on tests. I have never gotten a job where I was tested during the interview. To me, a test is the opposite of what is required in computer programming (or admin, or tech support): you are put on the spot without access to your references, sample code, or help from a colleague. Exactly how realistic is this?”
Are the policies that you have to work with reasonable? Is there flex room? It is understood why some of these practices are in place. We need standard ways to weed through the sea of candidates. But keep in mind the individual and take time to assess their strengths and needs in the evaluation process. After all, isn’t candidate experience still pretty important?
It’s not personal, so don’t take it personally. As recruiters, we are told to be active in our community, engage, get social, but this can go a little too far sometimes. If a candidate doesn’t want to take a test, they don’t have to take the flippin’ test. Work with the candidate and the client to find effective and innovative ways to evaluate candidates. This not only ensures that you don’t pass up potentially great candidates, but it also gets the hiring manager involved sooner.
So they get snippy with you, it’s not your job to compose witty retort emails; it’s your job to find the right candidate for the position.
This is just one of many more posts like it. I don’t say that to get you back on the binge and purge train, I say it because these are some great learning opportunities. Not to mention, some of them are pretty funny. Taking a look at things from the perspective of the candidate can help improve your communication, your tact and your evaluation skills. So next time you need a chuckle and want to improve your recruiter skills all at the same time, Google, “Why I Hate Recruiters”. You’ll be glad you did.