Your Feelings on Recruiters?

My recruiting style hardly changes when I approach a prospective candidate regarding an open position even though I’ve received every possible reaction there is to offer. One day I am called a savior and the following day, an annoying solicitor. Life is like a box of chocolates… I guess. Depending on the person’s industry, job situation or general mood, you will receive different reactions so be prepared for anything.

To get a better idea of how my peers of different ages, backgrounds, and geographical locations feel about being contacted by a recruiter, I sent out a brief survey. Feel free to formulate your own “recruiting tips” with these results. Out of all the people who were approached by a recruiter, 71% claim they’re open and receptive. 13% feel annoyed and choose to ignore recruiters. 16% either don’t care or are on the fence about the whole process.

When asked about the preferred mode of communication, the results were a bit more balanced. 43% prefer to be called on the phone, while 57% think Linkedin or email is the way to go. Traditional phone fans feel that online messages are impersonal and could be phishing attempts. Linkedin/email lovers appreciate the ability to speak risk-free, discretely, and openly at work about such sensitive topics. 

These figures were taken from a pool of roughly 100 working professionals. Who knows what these stats really mean in the big picture? I’m sure they will change over time. This could very well be indicative of today’s economy. I’d imagine that at a time when jobs aren’t secure, pay cuts are increasing, benefits are slashed and the like, that people are much more open to weighing their options.

But then again, when times are good, we also get greedy and assume the sky’s the limit, which could prompt one to explore something different and potentially better. As the old saying goes, the grass is always greener on the other side. There’s no way of knowing right now, so look forward to my comparative analysis once the economy has fully recovered!

Vic

PS – I’d like to openly admit that Devon Warwick of OpenView Labs composed a fantastic blog last week that inspired me to conduct this week’s research!