1. Don’t Irritate the Talent

    I get something like 7-12 contacts from recruiters every week and about half of those are cold calls direct to my cell phone. I spend a lot of time responding to job inquiries. I welcome the opportunity to discuss a new option, but most recruiters seem to go out of their way to turn me off to their services. Here’s some advice:

    1. If you found my profile on Monster, CareerBuilder, or some other job board, you might note I said no relocation from the the Baltimore-Washington area. So please don’t contact me about a job in East Liverpool, Idaho. If I wanted to move to Idaho, I’d say so.
    2. If you have my profile in front of you, it does say I am currently employed in a regular position. So don’t call me about a 2-month contract. Don’t call me about a contract-to-hire position. Call me about actual jobs.
    3. When you call me about the 2-month contract, make sure it pays more than one-third of what I am currently making.
    4. Make sure you actually know what my specialty areas are before you call me.
    5. When you call me, don’t ask why I am interested in leaving my current position. You called me. That’s why we are having the discussion.
    6. When you call me about a specific position, make sure you actually know the following:
      1. Who the position is with;
      2. What the position is;
      3. When the position needs to be filled;
      4. Where the position is; and
      5. Why the position exists.
    7. Don’t contact me to ask me to fill out a form on your website. It’s a scam. We both know it.
    8. Don’t ask for my resume in Word format. Actually, let’s go into detail here:
      1. You already have a copy of my resume you got from who knows where. It should explain that I am math and computer science geek. When you see this, you should assume my resume is stored in two cross-referenced databases and automatically generated from a stack of build scripts that create a LaTeX source and generate a hyperlinked PDF.
      2. I know you just want a Word document to take the information, rewrite it, and slap your own branding on it, but it is unethical to present me in any way to a client without my prior review. And I’d be an idiot to let you.
      3. Given this, if you can’t figure out how to get the information out of a PDF, how did you manage to dial the phone?
    9. If you’ve contacted me for more information, and I provided it, call me back at some point and let me know what’s going on. Disappearing into the aether gives you, your employer, and your client a really bad reputation. I do spread it.

    Even in a down economy, you don’t piss off the talent. They are, after all, your product.