Recently I got an email from a headhunter. It said this:
I am XXX and I work as a Recruitment Partner for XXX. I hope you don’t mind the outreach.
I found your profile on LinkedIn and it looks like you’ve had some great experience in your career which is what compelled me to email you. I’m currently looking for a person with similar experience and skills as yours to fill in a fortune 500 company in NZ.
If you are interested in the opportunity please forward me your updated CV. If you’d like to know further details about the position kindly send me your contact number and I’d be happy to make a call at a time convenient for you.
Vague, non-descriptive, asking for my resume despite saying that the experience listed on Linkedin had ‘compelled’ them to write to me.
Now while I’ve blanked out their name and the company they work for, the fact is the email they wrote to me, did not match the email of the company he said he was from.
So even if this is real, it’s hardly a good way to show I should put my faith in them.
And I shouldn’t, because frankly – a vast amount of headhunters are simple sales people hiding behind a job title.
They don’t give a fuck about you.
To them, you’re just a commodity they can make some money off.
It’s a numbers game, where as long as you have some key words in your resume or social media profile, then you ‘qualify’.
And what’s worse is these people tend to focus on the individuals who either know no better or are in a situation where they are in desperate need. Knowing all they have to do is make you consider leaving and they’ve got you in their clutches to mess with.
Now don’t get me wrong, there’s some brilliant headhunters out there … informed, interested, connected and with genuine knowledge of the industry you’re in and a true desire to find a mutual fit, where everyone benefits.
But they tend to deal with more senior people, and while I totally understand why, it still leaves this gap at the lower end of the market where people are on their own.
Of course there are some recruiters out there who do care about that level.
I was incredibly fortunate with Lesley Cheng in Australia, who took me under her wing even though I was worth sod-all to her.
She even rang some ECD’s and HOP she knew at home, telling them they should meet me … and they did, because they trusted her, despite the fact I didn’t even qualify to be called a junior.
Which got me thinking – and I have no idea if anyone would even be interested in something like this – but I’d love to set up an ‘advice night’.
Where some senior advertising people and some really good headhunters come together and once-a-month, someone is chosen where they come and get advice or answers to the questions/challenges they’re facing.
Of course these people would have to be quite young to the industry because anyone they’re the one’s often left to their own devices … but also eager to learn and grow or be seen and heard.
I have no idea how this would physically happen.
I have no idea if anyone would want this to happen.
And I have no idea if anyone would like to help me make it happen.
Plus I appreciate it sounds a bit like a creative portfolio night … except this would be for people beyond just the creative department. But if you think it’s a good idea, let me know and I’ll see what I can do … because quite frankly, the way a lot of the recruitment industry works, at least in advertising, isn’t helping people – or companies – it’s designed to just help fill the bank account of the recruiter.
I daren’t imagine how many people and businesses who have been burned or had their potential shafted because they fell foul to trusting someone who said they could help but all they did was send standard, random emails out to all and sundry until someone bit.
So if you think it could work – or you’re up for getting involved – let me know here. Ta.