Job Seekers are from Mars, Recruiters from Venus
November 18th, 2009 | by Leanne Chase
After a great weekend in New York and a really fun, informative, idea-filled day at the Social Recruiting Summit on Monday I’m still processing many of the conversations I had and sessions I saw.
In two sessions, one led by Carmen Hudson and one led by Susan Burns, attendees were asked to think about recruiting from the job seekers perspective. For me this is really easy, as I’ve never been a recruiter…but have often been a job seeker. After 20 years and 8 employers, I consider myself pretty well versed in the act of job-seeking, both passive and active.
So I offered my two cents to some of the attendees. And it was greeted with a look as if I was from Mars. My take was that while career sites are great…it’s not where I turn to to get a job. Here is how I did it and what I believe many others do, as well:
Job 1 – fresh out of college, in a recession no jobs to be found (sound familiar). So I started temping. The temp agency knew I was looking for a permanent position, they knew my skills, they shopped me around while I was in a temporary position. It took them 5 months, but they found me a full-time gig.
Job 2 – a friend had told me her company was hiring and she thought I’d be a good fit. I was sort of over the entry-level work I was doing and wanted to move up but wasn’t sure. Then I walked into work where they had some financial pressures happening and the phones didn’t work…because they hadn’t paid the phone bill. I went downstairs to the cafeteria and used the pay phone (yep, I’m that old) to call my friend to tell her I was interested in more info. I was interviewed and offered a job within the week.
Job 3 – A former colleague from job 1 was hired as the operations manager at a new TV Station and I heard about it. I had been working at an ad agency and was ready to go back to TV world. I gave him a call. He told me to fax him my resume. I did. I was interviewed and hired.
Job 4 – After an amazing 5 years of growth and development at the TV station – the owners sold it – and laid off almost the entire staff, me included. I took the summer off to consider my options, while keeping in touch with friends. One of those friends got a contract to produce college hockey games. He hired me to be a freelance producer along side him on the games.
Job 5 – I had always wanted to work on the Olympics and they were coming up again. I contacted Mike Eruzione who had been the color commentator on the college hockey games I had been producing. He was involved in the olympics for years and gave me introductions. His contacts could not help me, but they put me in touch with the people in charge of the TV production for the games in Salt Lake City. Before a ski trip to Utah, I contacted the head of production for the TV people, told him I would be in town and could I have an informational interview. They agreed and asked that I bring my resume. My informational interview was on day 1 of my ski vacation…an offer was extended on day 4 of my ski vacation.
Job 6 – I took some time off after the olympics to travel the world with my husband. But we stay connected via email/internet with our friends and family. I had also put all my information on a “keep in touch” list of people who worked on the Olympics. While overseas I got an email from an olympic colleague who was now working in media relations for the Sundance Film Festival. She needed workers during the festival and knew that coincided with my return. I signed on.
Job 7 – I was returning home to Boston and not sure what I wanted to do next…but knew it was not in TV. And suddenly I had a mortgage to pay for the first time. For years my husband and I had participated in a great 2-day charity bike event that rode from Boston to Provincetown. I emailed the head of the event dept. (who I had met several times) about the fact that I was returning home and would like to work for them because they put on such great events. She had an opening to fill. I was interviewed and got the job.
Job 8 – The non-profit I had been working for decided to cut down on its events and I had less and less to do. As I was also one to donate to this charity it didn’t make sense for me to stay on. So I went back to temping…to figure out my next move. The temp agency placed me in a marketing manager role for a local company. After 2 months on the job they and I wanted to make it more permanent…and we all did.
I am now on Job 9 which is this website. Obviously no resume was needed to get me here. Many of the situations above required a resume at some point. But not all. And sending a resume was never the entry point into that company. Nor was it the biggest consideration from the person doing the hiring on whether or not to hire me. So while I wasn’t surprised to see that recruiters still think the best way for a candidate to get a job at their company was by uploading a resume on their career portal. I was a bit disappointed. And I personally think that’s not how many job seekers (passive & active) end up getting their jobs.
I also thought this was a great way to illustrate how recruiting has always been social. That’s my experience. Social media is just a new tool in the recruiter’s and job seeker’s arsenals to reach out as the telephone, email, fax machine and networking have been in the past.
What do you think? Am I from Mars?
10 Comments
Nope, not from Mars. I would go a step further to say that the recruiting industry and the job seekers need to take on a model used by Hollywood agents. Therefore the actors, i.e. job seekers who choose to use a recruiter, should choose to remove themselves from online databases and should only be linked with one recruiter. If you feel your “agent” is not getting you quality roles in “films” i.e. jobs, then move on to another agent, but fire the first one.
In this model, if a company wants the “best” talent they can go to the recruiting agency and be presented with quality candidates. If all works well, the best candidates are coming from the “top agents” and the results from the “online databases” are few and far between.
Now maybe I am from Mars?
Great post Leanne!
Since I’ve met you in person, I can see how your skills and experiences – as well as your strong networking abilities – have influenced your career path. I don’t think you’re from Mars, but I do think you’re in the minority. Granted it’s the minority of top talent – those who have talent, strong networks and the initiative to make things happen.
The majority of job seekers don’t fit into the top talent group. (Like most things, the talent pool resembles a bell curve.) Some may be talented, but lack initiative. Some may have lots of initiative, but little talent.
Applying for jobs and searching job boards will always be the first choice for the majority, so smart employers/recruiters need to make sure that they are using both avenues. Reaching top talent through personal networks and being open to hiring talent even when no position currently exists, and also having a compelling career site/social networking strategy/job posting, etc. to attract the others who didn’t hit the initial radar screen. Not everyone in the organization needs to be a super star. What I think your career history and experience proves is that you are!
From Beth on the Brazen Careerist site:
Wow this is a really wonderful post. I have definitely seen as I get further and further away from entry level positions that many times it is about a social connection – for better or for worse. Yes, I definitely agree that sometimes people that assist in job hunting could be a bit more innovative in how they advertise the importance of a resume.
Wonderful insights!
From twitter:
@tlcolson:
Yes, apparently we are from Mars. @leanneclc from the seekers seat at the Brazen Careerist. http://tinyurl.com/ydbualm
From Caroline on the Brazen Careerist:
Recruiters who talk candidly about how to get a job will often if not always point out that networking trumps resume submissions anytime. But when recruiters insist that you upload a resume into the database (I always did over 10+ years of recruiting) it’s because with thousands and sometimes tens of thousands of applicants over your years at the firm you need a way to track people. The best companies (and therefore jobseekers) do both — have a great resume database(and resume for the jobseeker) and rely on employee referrals (or networking for the jobseeker). So I agree there is a disconnect but I often see it as the other way around — recruiters know they get their best leads through networking but most jobseekers focus on the resume.
[...] Seekers are from Mars, Recruiters from Venus [careerlifeconnection.com] November 18th, 2009 | by Leanne Chase After a great weekend in New York and a really fun, informative, idea-filled day at the Social Recruiting Summit on Monday I’m still processing many of the conversations I had and sessions I saw…read more [...]
[...] contributes this piece on the disconnect between jobseekers and recruiters with the apropos title, Jobseekers are from Mars, Recruiters from Venus. Leanne is also another generous contributor, throwing $50 into the pot. Her favorite charity, [...]
Yes, I defiantly agree with your post.Resume is not needed in all situations.Thanks for your useful information.
Excellent work. You have gained a new fan. Please keep up the good work and I look forward to more of your interesting posts.
This looks a lot like my career path, at least as far a how I got jobs (and minus the world travel, unfortunately). This is not only the future of careers, but it is how it has always worked, to some extent, for many of us.