Bad Tech Recruiters – redefining values

Just mention the word recruiter and many job seekers cringe. This is unfortunate considering that conceptually speaking recruiting has the potential to be one of the most respected professions of all time. How many other professions can you think of that enable a person to get paid for having a positive impact on another person’s earning potential and therefore their quality of life?

Our careers shape our lives. They are an inextricable part of who we are as people and how we are perceived by others. To a large degree they define the level of confidence we have in ourselves and thereby our sense of dignity.

“Recruiting is a career in which our success is measured by how effective we are in helping other people to succeed in their own careers.”

In short, responsible recruiters play a key role in helping to improve the quality of other people’s lives. For recruiters with integrity, that is a rewarding thing to do.

“Unfortunately, the concept of integrity is lost among many of self-proclaimed recruiters whose only interest is in improving their own quality of life.

And they selfishly do so by persuading other people to compromise theirs.”

These are the long-on-talk and short-on-listening breed of recruiters who essentially manipulate people into taking jobs that don’t truly serve their best interest. They are masters of both the hard-sell script and the guilt-trip script depending on which side of the fence you appear to be leaning in reaction to their ‘dream job’ pitch.

Clearly, these types of recruiters wouldn’t know what the right opportunity for you was if it hit them in the face. How could they know since they never cared to cultivate a meaningful enough relationship with you to find out? Granted, that’s a lot to ask of a recruiter whose only interest is in a placement fee. To prioritize a fee over another human being’s genuine welfare is a disgrace. On the other hand …

“to think of a placement fee as a reward for helping others to realize their career goals is respectable.”

Any recruiter who does not share this attitude should be abolished from the profession.

While a large group of undesirables have certainly tarnished the image of the recruiting profession, I am here to assure you that there are many GOOD recruiters out there who do actually care about your best interest and who do conduct their business ethically and professionally.

Good recruiters measure their success by one thing only … that being your success. I am one of those recruiters.

While writing this post I had the brilliant idea of turning this into an interactive project. I think it would be a fascinating exercise to team up with my readers and together pen the perfect recruiter values statement. Surely, many of you have had bad recruiter experiences and have something to share.

I will start off with the first five … albeit from a technical recruiter perspective (because that is what I am). However, the values are most certainly transferable to any type of recruiter.

• As a technical recruiter, I know technology. That means I understand what your resume says therefore what your skills set is. I won’t waste your time with opportunities you are not qualified for and clearly would not be interested in to begin with.
• As a technical recruiter, I know technology. That means I am able to speak your language and understand what it is that you do. I will ask you the right questions so that I will be able to present you to my client accurately. I won’t waste your time with incompetent phone screens.
• As a respectful person, I realize that a career decision is a life altering process. I am appreciative of that and do not engage in aggressive, hard-sell tactics.
• As a respectful person, I will always return your phone calls or e-mails if we have had previous correspondence. If we have not had previous correspondence please respect that I receive hundreds of inquiries and it is not physically possible to respond to everybody.
• As a respectful person, I will always work in your best interest … because it is also mine.

Now its your turn. I have turned on the comments feature for our project. I look forward to your input!