I recently had a recruiter call me regarding an opportunity they thought I might be interested in.  After this call, I got to experience firsthand how important the candidate experience is…even at the very early stages before they know who the hiring company is.

The recruiter did call me on my cell and ask if it was a good time to talk.

                Thank you for that. It is not always convenient for the candidate to take a call from a recruiter due to where they are at, who they are around, or their schedule.

When he introduced himself, he spoke so fast that I couldn’t understand his name the first time.  When I started to ask him (politely) to repeat it…he didn’t even slow down and take a breathe so I could ask him to repeat it.

                Either he was really nervous or just repeating a script that he has said over and over again and wasn’t really interested in a conversation.

He gave no information as to how he came across my contact information – he just cut to the chase…the job.

                While my information is in no way private, it would be nice to know how he came to me if it was a referral, LinkedIn, Twitter, white pages, etc.

In our VERY brief exchange (specifically not called a conversation) he asked:

• How long have I been at my  current company – 5 Years
• Do I work full-time – yes
• Am I actively searching for a job – no
• Would I consider a 6-12 month temporary job – NO!

If it wasn’t bad enough that I didn’t feel like he was really listening to what I was saying or if he knew anything about me (other than my name and phone number), we then had the next exchange.

• How would you feel about a position in “certain city”?

I said “Well, it’s a little far for my preferred commute. It would be about an hour or more in traffic.”

• He then says “Well according to Google, it is only 18 miles from where you are now.  I don’t see how that would be that long of a commute”.

Ok. So let me get this right. This recruiter called me. He clearly did not know much about my current employment details. He did not consider the fact that a) I was not actively looking for a job and b) because of that, leaving my current job does not make any sense for a temporary position.  But then, he knew ENOUGH about me to argue the commute time of a geography that he is obviously not familiar with.

Then to top it off, later on I realize that he had sent me an email about 15 minutes before he called me. The email was a form letter with his name and the position in “red” font.  The email states that he found my “resume on a major job board” – but addressed the email as “Dear Sir/Mam”. (really, Mam not Ma’am)

While I am not in a recruiting function, I have some experience with this and have MANY friends in the field and I know that this experience is not one that would be considered “stellar”.  In no way was this recruiter attempting to build a relationship with me, determine if it was the right fit (for either the company or me), or even paying attention.  So I have 2 thoughts:

Recruiters – Please consider the job seeker as more than just an opportunity to increase your number of hires.  Any “good” hire is worth getting to know and understand a least a little bit about the candidate. You represent your clients and your level of professionalism reflects on them. If you professionalism is lacking I can’t imagine that your number of hires is high.

Job Seekers – Please know that there are recruiters and companies that really are concerned about getting the right person in the right place at the right time.  There really is no need to engage with somebody that does any less than that. There is too much information available through technology now for recruiters to not know anything more than your name and phone number. If that is the case, your placement is only a dollar sign to them – nothing more.