Apparently a few GenY’ers are…
Last evening, I was fortunate to participate in Rich DeMatteo‘s CornOnTheJob #jobhuntchat. Nice group of young, misguided jobseekers who believe that the rules of job hunting as ordained by their career services departments are written in stone.
Q3 as written by the Chief Corn Jobber was “How do I stand out at a job fair (college or experienced) when hundreds of other seekers R there too?”
My response was:
By being better than your competitors
To which someone wrote:
“By being better than your competitors” unlikely you’ll be in a group of people significantly less qualified
To which I responded with (okay, perhaps with one or two hairs standing on end):
with 15+ yrs of entry level recruiting I can assert that while those looking may not see differences, we do
Then added:
differences can range from posture 2 language 2 eye contact 2 smiling 2 body odor, etc; many ways to stand out
To which my dueling Twitter partner (just for those few sweet moments) offered:
but it is good to hear from the other side that the differences are noticeable!
So I called this person this morning. Didn’t receive a call back but I did receive 2 DMs after which I believe I was deemed worthy of being blocked:
(1) Hi Steve. Received your VM. Wanted to let you know, I felt phone contact was inappropriate since we had yet to connect on twitter (cont)
(2) I wanted to share my discomfort with you so that in the future you might consider it when connecting w/new people. Thanks.
Whoa!!! So you have to be connected before you take a phone call? I suppose I could call this one person an outlier but I’m more concerned that a new social media etiquette has emerged that bypasses human contact until a threshold of tweets is surpassed.
Naturally I was compelled to call Ryan Leary, that social media guru in residence in Philly, and ask him what he thought.
He laughed in a way that could only mean, “Foolish young jobseeker.” I felt better and will continue to call when followed and invited.
Yet I wonder – stalking references aside – why someone would turn down a call from a recruiter, preferring to build a Twitter relationship first. Thoughts?
The Recruiting Inferno 
I’m a bit disappointed that this person wouldn’t call you back, and felt threatened. This could unfortunately be a sign of the times, but I hope not. I didn’t graduate from college that long ago, and your phone call was welcomed when you called me. Maybe I was a little embarrassed that you found out quickly that I’m a Gen Y’er still living at home, but I enjoyed the phone call.
This would make for a great question/topic for one of the coming #JobHuntChat’s. The purpose of #JobHuntChat is to start the conversation. When it ends, it’s up to the folks participating to continue their discussion offline and benefit further from contacts.
Interesting story. I wonder how many of the folks in #JobHuntChat would react the same way?
LikeLike
Dude,
Haven’t you been reading all of the employment experts’ blogs? Within 6 months, all jobs will be filled through Twitter. And, in even better news, you won’t need a resume to get a job! You’ll just need a vibrant personal brand and a burgeoning social network! This whole “competition for employment” thing is so yesterday, man :)
LikeLike
Hey, I ‘m just glad I made the posting. Kudos to me. But to be serious for a moment, the comments are silly. Young job seekers are sadly misguided in thinking that they will assume CEO tomorrow.
I was listening to @internqueen and thought to myself that she should have been part of this conversation. She would smack these silly jobseekers silly when she heard this. She just graduated in 2006, runs her own company (successfully) and travels the country training jobseekers just like this.
A few things:
First my rant:
– To turn a call down form a recruiter is just silly. I know a lot of people compare cold calling recruiters to telemarketing, but let’s be real. There’s a great chance that the recruiter who is calling you on the other line is tripling your salary. (their take home not yours ;-)
– By turning down a call you just blew a relationship with a highly qualified individual who has the contacts to get you a 15-20% raise in your next role.
– Leveraging social media is great. Living social media is stupid. This person is obviously living social media and I would feel confident saying that their salary reflects that. (in a nice way of course)
Next…Connecting online v. Connecting offline
– This world is built on networking, not Twitter.
– Twitter makes it easier to connect for sure, BUT real people with real money at stake and real jobs and pertinent info to be shared pick up the phone and close the deal.
In the end, online and social networking is fun. I use it daily and I make a living off of it. But when the clock is ticking and I want to close the deal (which is roughly 1440 minutes a day) I pick up the phone.
I get it, it’s cute to tell your friends you are on twitter and you have 14K followers of which you only know 3, but….reality check: If you seriously want to get the $$$ and live the life you pretend to live, get on the phone and stop hiding behind the crackberry and ipad.
LikeLike
I agree with you Ryan, but I believe this person was probably someone in college for sure, who has never received a call like this, or was told that this is something that happens often.
I don’t know if it was a guy or a girl, but I could see a young lady in college being freaked out by someone that called, without permission. If she wasn’t guided and instructed that this is normal, helpful, and WHAT YOU WANT, then I could understand the reaction. I’m disappointed by it, but I can understand.
This person just needs guidance, and so do many others.
LikeLike
Than again it was Steve that called. I might be scared too.
LikeLike
I am a young job seeker and I admit I would be surprised by a phone call…but also flattered (not offended/threatened). If this person is uncomfortable with receiving phone calls, s/he should consider not publicly listing a phone number! Anyway, as a participant in #JobHuntChat I would appreciate the call.
LikeLike
You go Janelle. I might just call you to call. Now that might be freaky…. :)
LikeLike
I’m replying to the blog post as a whole, but wanted to directly respond to your comment. At the end of #jobhuntchat I posted my linkedin profile, saying I’d love to connect with people from the chat. I can only assume that Steve then visited my profile, saw were I worked, looked up the phone number for where I worked, and then called me. I never listed my phone number. If I had done so, I would have to say my reaction would be really strange.
LikeLike
If in fact Steve did that, its the sign of a good recruiter. Having been in HR and Recruiting for abt 17 years or so, i know that good recruiters know how to make contact with the people they want to know. (whether as a client or a candidate)
In the age of “keep all of your information private, but friend everyone on the planet on FB and get 4000 followers on twitter” – its totally hilarious to me when people think they can’t be found.
It’s as if he didn’t identify himself, ask for a return call, or call during business hours.
That’s professional, and that’s what professionals do.
LikeLike
You could call me anytime and I would return your call. I may have recently graduated from college but I understand getting someone on the phone is the hardest part of any job search (and sales for that matter) and with you calling this job seeker, well that is my dream spot to be in. I have had recruiters tell me they would call but then we end up playing email tag (then through clever sleuthing on my part) and me leaving multiple voice mails before I give up… and that is with them contacting me first. This person does not know what they are missing but will soon find out when they try to enter the “real world.” Thanks for the blog post!
Matt Hodson
LikeLike
I agree with Rich that perhaps it’s a sign of the times. With increased ability to reach out, there’s the increased risk of being reached out to by someone less than savory (not meaning you). As a Gen Y’er, new to the job force and still on the search for my souljob, I would be thrilled to be receive a phone call from someone with experience and valuable advice I could really dig into. We’re thrown into the working world believing everyone else is more qualified, there are no jobs, and we have to be perfect, all things I’ve been finding out simply aren’t true.
Another thing, I think sometimes people get so caught up in social media and online platforms for connection that they forget their original purpose and appeal: to more easily facilitate real life connection.
Melanie
LikeLike
you called me out of the blue, and while i was shocked, i enjoyed the conversation and was in no way offended. We have to make time to connect with as many people as possible – and if this person was offended by a call, they are probably going to be the same person who is whining that they haven’t gotten a job.
Speaking of which, on the phone tag list, I think you are it.
LikeLike
Rich: You may want to provide the young job seekers who participate in #JobHuntChat with guidance regarding how careers and businesses are built on friendships and connections. I embrace every opportunity to meet anyone/everyone because (in addition to enjoying new acquantances) I’m convinced that my next new friend is going to be the one who helps one of my businesses in some way.
My entire career is based upon my efforts at building business relationships – look at my firm’s client list to see where my efforts have taken me. I’m pointing this out to you because I was surprised that the #JobHuntChat participants didn’t take me up on my offer to help produce BriteTab.com video resumes for them – they’re missing an opportunity to make a connection with me…and my friends at companies all across the country. Kind of silly, isn’t it?
Tom
LikeLike
I’m loving this – I have old farts like Zupan, jarheads like Colson, gurus like Leary, writers like TheThingsTheyRead, do-gooders like Hennessey, sun devils like Hodson, and Janelle – all on the same page.
Life is good when you really want to help…
LikeLike
Some folks — young and old — are on Twitter and other online networks to glean information and recommendations on various activities including looking for a job, but are not ready for relationship building offline, which is contradictory when looking for a job I know.
Which also tells me they’re not really serious about looking for a job — staring blankly at their email inbox for a response from job board postings that will never come.
Crickets chirping. Good night.
Steve, you can call me to talk HR/recruiting-marketplace-turkey anytime.
LikeLike
Steve, you also called me out of the blue one day – when I RT’ed a great corporate culture article that you had distributed.
I have to admit, I was surprised, oddly enough, because people just aren’t picking up the phone these days and I don’t often get called without a DM, @ reply, or email first. But I don’t think that is needed, and we had a great conversation and I am glad we connected.
‘thethingstheyread’ hit the nail on the head here – people are forgetting that all of these online social networking platforms are really here to expand reach and facilitate real life connections.
LikeLike
In this economy particularly, I think it’s nothing short of foolish to reject a call from someone who could potentially be a networking/job connection. While it may be more comfortable to communicate from behind the safety of your computer screen, the real world just doesn’t work like that! And while yes, that may have broached the anonymity people often expect from the internet, the crux of it all is that the internet simply isn’t anonymous, and there’s nothing wrong with following up with someone you met online via more personal modes of communication!
FYI, I will be graduating from Cal in 4 weeks, and I participated in last night #jobhuntchat, so I’m definitely part of the generation you directed your post to!
LikeLike
As we say in the South…Awww…Bless their heart!
I have to say I can’t imagine any candidate, on anything related to a job hunt chat, not wanting to take a call from a Recruiter — or any person that can help extend your network or provide guidance/assistance in your job search. What am I missing? What is so threatening about a phone call? Maybe I am immune to that line of thinking since I make money by talking to people. I don’t think we can blame it on generational lines — there are way to many people in general that hide behind technology. I love Twitter — it’s a great way to meet people, get exposure, and stay connected with your network. However, if you truly want to add to or get value from your network — it will be from the personal connections and conversations that ensue.
And on that note…I will SEE and TALK with you next week at TRU ;)
LikeLike
I am not a GenYer (more of a GenX right on the border with GenY). And I have long left entry level stuff, since I have been in business operations for 12+ years. That all said, let me be a Devil’s advocate here.
1. We need to face the fact, that recruiting is a no-barrier-to-entry business. Good recruiters, just like quality candidates, are rare. Out of 100+ recruiter contacts I have, I really would even consider talking to 5-6 of them. Why, because the rest are either unprofessional or I highly doubt are in it for the long term.
2. Have you ever been hammered by calls and contacts from those fly-by-night recruiters who work for the “body shops”? Most of those calls come from the great state of New Jersey, huge accents, zero effort to even look at the person’s qualifications. So yes, at some point we put up the walls.
3. Even younger generation is getting smarter. No all opportunities are made equal and at some point you have to figure out the filter that works for you. Never seen a top-notch recruiter being hindered by any filter. Best recruiters I have dealt with have certain “magic” about their approach. It is hard not to consider their opportunities.
4. Nobody teaches college students how to function in the real world. They will just have to make their own mistakes and figure out what works. Why not improve your karma, as a recruiter, and help educate this new crop of professionals. It is good for you and it is good for the market.
Lastly, lets face it, many employers are taking advantage of people and the trust has been long broken. Many recruiters and HRs exhibited some disgusting behavior (especially in the last decade) and the good guys are ending up suffering for the sins of others.
LikeLike
I’m a little nervous to respond since you all so readily tore me apart here. I’m also pretty surprised that you chose to write a blog post about this before replying to me to ask why I felt this way. You weren’t blocked as you speculated in the post, and I would’ve been happy to explain why I felt uncomfortable if you had gotten back to me.
Like he detailed, Steve and I tweeted back and forth a few times during the #jobhuntchat yesterday. At the end of the chat I linked to my linkedin profile saying I would love to connect with people from the chat. I never expected that anyone would check it out, see where I worked (my job is temporary, which is why I participate in the chat), and then look up the phone number to call me there. In my mind, by posting my linkedin information I was keeping any potential relationships strictly electronic. Clearly, my thoughts on this are not the norm.
I’ve only been on twitter for a few months and still have a lot of learning to do. If we’d been following each other and had a few interactions I would have been pleasantly surprised by the voicemail. I get where a lot of you are coming from about how in this economy any job seeker should be jumping out of their seat with excitement to talk to a recruiter. But as Rich surmised, I’m a female recent college graduate who has never received a call like this, and it made me mildly uncomfortable to get this voicemail at work, unsolicited, from someone I knew virtually nothing about.
So, I’m sorry if I offended you by my DMs Steve. I thought they were much nicer than just not responding at all. Anyone who wants to talk more about this, I’d love to continue the discussion since it looks like I’m outnumbered in my opinion here. Just don’t call me please =)
– The “Foolish Young Jobseeker”
@kelly_ashworth
LikeLike
Ok dawgs, back in yer pens now.
Rich and I spoke earlier and agree that a future #jobhuntchat should focus on what the best recruiters do and how to work with them; clearly this isn’t something career service departments spend time on (they’re too busy sewing parachutes). Nonetheless, and this differs from recruiter to recruiter, my preference is to reach out as soon as possible because “live” trumps “electronic” when it comes to relationship building. Dunno – maybe human interaction will “evolve” into something faceless and non-tactile but not while I have air in my lungs will I fall prey to 140 characters and carpal tunnel syndrome.
So pick up the damn phone!
And lay off Kelly…
LikeLike
Steve – You break my heart.
All – since we will be at TRU USA next week, lets organize a roundtable dial in show to cover #jobhuntchat or possibly use Bills show to cover this. It could be a great forum.
Mr. Corn – DM me @ryanleary and I can help organize
LikeLike
This turned into quite the debate and discussion. This will need to become a topic for at least one question one night on #JobHuntChat.
LikeLike
I’m mildly uncomfortble playing “the old fart” in Steve’s coming of age reality drama :) BTW, who’s going to decide “what the best recruiters do”? Maybe that will be hashed out at the next unconference….so many to choose from.
#jobhuntchat is an outstanding dialogue, and credit goes to creators, contributors, lurkers, inquirers, and anyone who cares about someone landing their next job. HELP KEEP IT MOVING! This discussion is a vital part of the dialogue, and thanks to Steve et al, for engaging.
Kelly-You have every right to be concerned about a call of this nature. I have a 27 yr old daughter and if she informed me of such a call, I’d probably be the one calling back (note to Steve-steer clear!). Most of us have been on Twitter for a short period of time, myself for less than 1 year. I don’t understand it very well, either and I don’t even want to undrestand it all. Keep your eyes and ears open, and speak up like you did here. Thanks for stepping up!
Peace, out.
LikeLike
Ryan – you are soooooo sensitive
Rich – does this sound like an anti-social movement?
Looking forward to Sunday…
LikeLike
Actually, while I’m away, #JobHuntChat will be in the hands of Jessica and Nicole. I’m taking a break from the chat so I can hang out with you cool people and get some drinks. Let’s go out in Madison and be social!
Also, I like keeping the chat in the format it currently uses. The reason being that EVERYONE’s answers are important. With a call in show, there’s no way I could possibly have 180 contributers – actually call in contributers.
LikeLike
Frank…you are correct in that there are many milk-carton men out there. But the other side of the coin is that social media tools have created “experts” out of nothingness where “popular” people often become noted and quoted. The “if it’s on Wikipedia it must be true” mindset has kept so many people from even attempting to separate fact from fiction (thank you Snopes) – if I were contacted by someone I didn’t know, I wouldn’t get mad…I’d get Googling.
Maybe this post can help peeps realize that one element of fear is merely not taking the time to check the facts. It doesn’t take a whole lot of time to figure out that I’m a helper not a hinderer…
Frank, I hear the AARP is offering a Twittering for Traditionalists program; it was intended to be a webinar but you’ll have to go to your local library instead…
LikeLike
Apollo: As a recruiter, I have experienced the specialty accented recruiters coming out of NJ,…who don’t bother to check your credentials or skills before picking up the phone and trying to carry on a conversation in anything other then English. They are a minority who give the professional recruiters a bad name.
Rich: Kudo’s that your jobhuntchat has taken off so well, what a great idea you had with starting it.
Kelly: I have a simple question for you – not intended to be sarcastic – why do you follow so many recruiters, if you don’t want any of them to call you? (one more question) – I notice on your profile you are a web and marketing consultant – When you are conducting marketing, you will be required at some point to pick up your phone and call strangers, how will you feel when they don’t receive you well? Just curious, not trying to be sarcastic. Just wondering if you’ve thought about that aspect of your own career? You can consider these questions as “rhetorical”, just something to think about. You can follow me at Le_Brenda
Steve: How can the rest of the world possibly know what your friends and business aquaintances already know about you? That you are a genuinely nice – all around helpful guy!
LikeLike
Brenda,
I may ruffle some feathers here, but from business folk point of view, 3rd party recruiting industry has WAY too many hacks. There is a need to do cleaning in your ranks. From my experience, I find good recruiters to be like pink diamonds – rare and extremely valuable. I keep them close and I “feed” them leads and candidates, because I want them to do well and stay in the business. I no longer (as either a candidate or client) pick up phone calls from any recruiter but my “fantastic five” or people they send my way (and they know I prefer e-mail). Just not worth my time and aggravation.
LikeLike
I get that point and I agree with most of it. It’s a great argument. It’s important to understand that misinformed recruiters will call with vauge jobs and stumble through calls.
At times I’ve felt pretty embarrassed for them myself when they call me, but I was once there.
Recrutiers are not rare. Great recruiters are. A good barometer for this can vary. Maybe another post.
LikeLike
Hi Brenda – Thanks! While maybe this debate started in a negative light, it has ended in a positive. This discussion has bee incredible, and I believe that everyone here has taken something away from this. That’s the purpose of the chat – to include as many people as possible and to provide the arena for discussion!
LikeLike
Hi Brenda. I do in fact follow a handful of recruiters that I’ve come across (mostly through #jobhuntchat) for the different suggestions that they offer on the process of looking for a job. Frankly, I just consider them interesting people… I don’t decide to follow someone because of their career, I decide to follow them because of the content they tweet. Like I’d mentioned, I do have temporary employment so my job hunt is not on my mind 24/7 (more like 20/7). Even though I’ve recently obtained permanent employment, I’ll probably continue to participate in #jobhuntchat to some degree because I enjoy it.
Recruiters quite frankly haven’t even been on my radar in the last few months (graduated early in Dec). None of my mentors, relatives who work in HR, and career services staff ever suggested that route or talked about how it would work. Even during the #jobhuntchat Monday it was pretty clear that a lot of participants my age didn’t have a good understanding of what a recruiter’s role is.
There are only two recruiters that come to mind that I have really had some level of personal interaction (beyond following) with on twitter and I wouldn’t have been uncomfortable if either of them had suggested chatting on the phone. Steve and I weren’t following one another when he left me a voicemail, we had just bounced a couple tweets back and forth. After Monday’s #jobhuntchat one person working in a similar field asked if we could talk, we connected on linkedin, and we’ll probably have an ongoing discussion that may or may not include talking on the phone.
In response to your marketing question, sure it sucks when someone doesn’t receive your phone call well but it is inevitable… I have some experience in cold calling and know how difficult it can be. Connecting with people via the phone has never been an issue for me. I’m not afraid of connecting, just these particular circumstances made me uncomfortable at first. Maybe saying it was inappropriate wasn’t the best word choice, but I was just trying to shoot him a quick message to let him know.
Kelly
LikeLike
I’m looking forward to continuing this discussion during the Gen Y track at next week’s TRU USA unconference in Madison, Wisconsin.
LikeLike
Kudos to Kelly for venturing into boiling water when she knows she’s likely to be outnumbered to give us her perspective on our impressions.
Few would be so bold as to offer up an opinion that has the potential to open so many eyes.
LikeLike
woops, looks like I was logged into my office’s wordpress account.
LikeLike
I concur with Maureen, kudos to Kelly for venturing into these waters :)
I truly am intrigued by all the responses – and looking forward to the conversations that will be inspired from this situation at TRU and in other forums. I see there is much for all of us to learn and understand across the board…
Though I haven’t connected with everyone of the people I have met through online social networking – I have with many and certainly not opposed to it all. If I was, I wouldn’t make my information public. Also as someone operating in the business world, I get called by people I do not know all the time — prospects, candidates, vendors, other employees, etc – all people connecting, seeking or sharing information of some kind or another. People have found my contact information in various ways – and by having a public profile, I certainly can’t be shocked by that fact.
For Kelly – I appreciate and admire your weighing in to help understand your perspective. This is really just a question to provoke thought, but I am just curious why you would create a LinkedIn profile and then post a link to connect with others? What is your ultimate goal in having a public or online presence? Whatever it is, I wish you the best – and thank you for spurning some eye-opening, and clearly necessary conversation. I would welcome connecting with you any time. @havrilla or 678-403-3055
LikeLike
Vin Dieselevy obviously didn’t do anything wrong in calling this girl.
But she’s probably not a total goof either. She’s just inexperienced and frightened of a man calling her.
I don’t think she sees him as a recruiter calling her about a job. It’s a spill over from an online chat.
LikeLike
I thnk you might be right in this. Wait, did I jsut say that @animal was right?
LikeLike
Steve – typically great and relevant discussion to start. I love it. I think more people in general (not just young ‘uns) need to “get it” with the whole concept of reaching and out networking whether it’s phone, facebook, twitter, whatever.
Kelly – thought your responses were very sound. If you are new to this, it doesn’t show. You held your own.
Apollo and Brenda – what’s up with the comments about New Jersey accents? I could care less what accent someone has. The points about tiresome cold calls are very in-bounds, but singling out the way someone talks or looks is not cool in my opinion.
LikeLike
This actually reminds me of when online dating first started being up. People thought I was crazy (caveat: I met my husband online so my experience may be skewed) when I said that I gave my number to men I was interested in only after the first or second email exchange. My friends said “what if he is a murderer or psychopath!” To which I replied, “I know you’ve given out your number to guys at bars or parties numerous times. How is this different? You don’t know them at all. You’ve seen them in person – big deal.” I also had some guys “back away” when I sent my number like all of a sudden it was too real or serious for them.
In the professional arena, I think its even MORE important to meet your online connections in person because humans crave personal interactions. I think we are much more likely to do something (like refer someone for a job) if we KNOW them. I think the online “knowing” is pretty shallow and its important to connect in person when its possible (I’ve had coffee with two people I met on twitter/linkedin just last week). And if not in person, via phone!
But maybe this is also showing my age! I think technology is amazing but I think it has in some ways eroded the quality of in-person communications.
LikeLike
A great article on the topic: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/04/14/BU5D1CQLGR.DTL
LikeLike
@Ryan – I bristled when I read that one fellow was active in his job search bc he was sending out two resumes daily. SENDING?!?!?!
We need to teach these young job seekers how to research and call as well as suggest that the recruiters on the other end learn to pick up the phone and engage.
We’re often our own worst enemy…
LikeLike
Here is my question for Kelly? All the rest of the comments, lectures, tweets and DM references aside, would you have had the same reaction if a female recruiter had cold called you after a couple of tweets?
My guess would be that you would not have been uncomfortable or felt it was inappropriate. Perhaps a carryover from mom and dad telling you to be careful of who you engage with online. Salient point that someone made is, before you freak , google, check out linkedin profile of the person calling. In most cases it’s easy to determine if someone is real or a stalker .
Perhaps if my friend Steve had thought a second he would have left a message that indicated he would welcome it if you would check him out with several other lady recruiters or high visibility industry people if you were surprised by his call.
Let’s not forget folks that we beat our kids to death about online interactionction then expect them to react like experienced professionals to the first call they get when they start to engage professionally on line.
As seasoned recruiters i think it may be up to us to build a comfort zone for young people particularly young women who have been pounded with “be careful”.
LikeLike
@Sandra – after having a nice chat with Kelly at lunch, I’m inclined to think that her initial response was genderless. My voice timbre notwithstanding – despite what @Havrilla might say – the message I left was one I’ve so, so many times before without an incident.
As a matter of experiment, I’ve been randomly calling people who follow me on Twitter or connect to me on LinkedIn because I believe this accelerates building a professional relationship. BK – Before Kelly – aside from surprise, not a single person took exception to the call nor did they call their local PD. I’ll eave it to others I’ve called to describe how they felt being called out of the blue.
But you make an interesting point about about parents putting fear into the hearts of their kids (and from time to time these same parents call recruiters asking us why we didn’t hire their precious child). My “fear” is that while the media and even the social media experts wax poetically about how these tools bring us closer, the notion is an abject lie. Only touch and voice can accelerate sustainable relationship building.
You can’t where your Pampers forever…
LikeLike
I was interested in Kelly’s thought there. When you gave me the first call out of the blue i was delighted to connect with you but at my age a call from a strange man and sexual harrassment are both compliments :) and let’s face it we are mossy recruiters who live in a world of calling people we never met or even interacted with online so each time the phone rings we are exicted to see what strange person is on the other end.
True story, i got an obscene phone call last week from some clown that had seen my picture on linkedin. I didn’t realize it was an obscene call for the first 3 or 4 minutes of the call until he was explicit that my recruiting services were not what he was looking for. Knowing me you can only imagine what i said to him before i hung up. :)
It was just a thought based on what i am hearing parents including myself pounding into kids heads about the net. And to be totally honest after the call i got , i may not be so quick to return a call from a fellow who called me out of the blue from a twitter exchange. As you know, i would fight my weight in wildcats with no trepidation but i did look over my sholder that eveing when i left the office.
We do feel distance between our real worlds and interaction on the net until it comes into our office in the form of a phone call or someone walking in the door announcing they met us on the net. I think you are correct that we do need to connect to remove that distance but hey i can understand a bit of shock even if you do sound like “Daddy is going to take you flying”.
In all a good example that if we are going to interact in a venue of recruiters or in any public venue it is not anonymous and the distance is not all that great.
LikeLike
Sandra- might LinkedIn take your heavy-breathing incident as a potential way to generate revenue? Uk, ick…
And there you women go again thinking that one or two miscreants are typical men! What’s next- legislation to only allow eunuchs and women in our profession? :o
I certainly cannot nor would not minimize the reality of stalking but I think in general this is moving far beyond what I take to be the real issue here. Peddling 140 characters as real communication is ludicrous (imagine what it would be like if there weren’t any emoticons).
There is simply no way to distill and sanitize communication down to a least common denominator. You can get more information from a simple phone call or meeting than you can from 25 140 character Tweets. While I hear the crowdsourcing fans and agile software development people “aheming” me (or should I say sending me Tweets that I’m wrong), your swallowing of the Social Media Koolaid has turned you into zombies who can’t speak face-to-face but you can send IMs, Tweets, and status updates while seated three feet apart.
Sure you may be authentic but you’re not sustainable.
Do you realize that Dr. Martin Luther King commanded the Civil Rights Movement leading to the CRA without Twitter, Facebook, IMs, and emails. Millions around the world were galvanized, committed, and far too many were murdred. How did he do it?
He wasn’t afraid of being social.
LikeLike
Wow, I feel so out of place missing all the good conversation here. I came across this blog post on TRU and left a response and clearly I was missing all the action. I find it interesting that you write a post and the job seeker responds. This is a sign on the times.
While I was also surprised when you called me out of the blue, I am used to this exact thing happening as a recruiter and networker. Job seekers might not be. You are extremely direct and aggressive which in some cases could put a job seeker on the defensive especially if they are an introvert or somewhat passive.
I don’t believe that all of Gen Y is represented in this way and I disagree with your generalization. While this job seeker should always be prepared to talk to a recruiter while in the job hunt, I think we, as recruiters need to adapt our methods and communication to fit the new audience. I’m working on a post now inspired by yours and think it is something we need to consider. The old way is not always the right way.
Jessica
@blogging4jobs
LikeLike
Jessica, better late than never, right?
I’d like to address your use of the word “aggressive” – “Hello Jessica, I’m Steve Levy…LevyRecruits on Twitter…and I’d like to thank you for following me on Twitter.”
Hardly, milk carton material.
When saying “thank you” becomes an issue, then frankly we have a larger problem. Hmmmm
Let me know when your post is up;
LikeLike
Pingback: A New Approach to Gen Y | Blogging4Jobs
Steve,
The post is now up. It is “A New Approach to Gen Y” http://blogging4jobs.com/job-search/a-new-approach-to-gen-y. As far as aggressive, I just mean that you call folks without scheduling an appointment. Most people want time to prepare especially if they are trying to make an impression. Gives them time to research you beforehand.
Jessica
@blogging4jobs
LikeLike
I can attest that Steve called me when I was consulting with my client and knew my work number within that company. I had no idea he knew that number and I was surprise in a good way. Then again, he also called me when I was pretty drowny since I had church 5 AM in the morning and headed straight to work that same day. Overall, I appreciate the phone call, even if I was sleepy and that’s what a good recruiter is for.
This doesn’t happen only in Gen Y about stiffing recruiters. I was contacting someone who posted on the HR Group on Facebook (she was in her mid 30s at the time) (before Twitter became popular) that they needed recruiting help and gave her some advice. She was happy about my advice and email back and forth. Then I called her to talk and found the company she worked for and called the main line to the company. She sounded stunned and mentions that it was her private number…AT WORK AND SHE WORKS in HR. We had a back and forth and then I just backed off because she wasn’t responsive.
The point here is recruiters are trying to make connections and we will always be open, no matter how mad or happy we are that day. It’s the other side that has to decide if they want to be open or not. If not, they’re missing out on a lot of things.
LikeLike
Thanks Tracy and for that matter thanks to everyone for giving this post some legs. I’m still shocked that Rothberg complemented me…
Let me ask you T – and I’m nothing but curious – when we met for the first time at the DC tweetup, did me having called you “make a difference” in your perception of me versus had our interaction been purely via tweets?
LikeLike
I would expect people know my cell since I released my number in public, but you called on my temporary work number, which I thought this guy is very good and serious on his craft. The tweets help to get half of the picture, but the call and the tweetup gave me close to the whole picture of who you are.
LikeLike