Is it ok to contact you directly on your work e-mail?

Last week, I received an e-mail from a target candidate. He was so offended by the fact that I had contacted him on his work e-mail that he took the time to share his feelings with me…in very clear words…

I can fully understand that someone does not like to receive calls on their cell phone. Let’s face it, most of us are in an open space office and receiving a call from a headhunter is uncomfortable at best.

Or imagine that you are in the car…with your boss…and you get me on hands free. Such an approach might not be the right way to engage you in an exploratory conversation.

I tend to turn to e-mail to pitch my opportunity in the hope that you will be attracted by it, or curious at least.

Obviously, there is LinkedIn, which is an easy way to get in touch and that is usually the starting point. But we all know that not everyone checks his or her LinkedIn account on a regular basis. When you have the right profile for a position, chances are that I will take the time to dig up an e-mail address that I can use to contact you directly. And in most cases, your work e-mail will be the easiest to find.

There are several ways to respond to my pitch e-mail.

When you are interested in this or future opportunities but you prefer to stay in touch through a private e-mail address, you can simply ask me to use another e-mail for future correspondence or even easier, send me a reply from your private account.

When you are not interested, a simple ‘thanks but no’ will do the trick. But it is equally fine to just delete it. I’ll get the message and I won’t be contacting you again.

When you do direct search, like I do, there is no other way than to invade your privacy to find to out whether you are open to explore new job opportunities. After all, my clients pay me to find the best possible candidate for a position. So rather than being offended by the ‘creative’ ways I use to get your attention, consider it a compliment, a sign that your profile is attractive to other employers.

Nevertheless, the clear words of my candidate resonate so here is here is my question for you: what is your preferred way of being contacted for job opportunities?

I look forward to hearing from you,

Isabel

Through a personalized and tailor-made approach, Ingenium Executive Search aspires to assist you in attracting the right talent that matches the DNA of your company

Check out our website http://www.ingenium-search.be

Follow me on Twitter @IngeniumSearch

Did we forget that there is a human being behind the cv?

A few weeks ago, I posted a job ad on LinkedIn. To my surprise, I received over 200 applications. Flooded mailbox of course and back-to-back interviews of some really great candidates but let’s face, the majority of the candidates ended up in the ‘not the right fit’ pile.

One night, I decided to get to it and send e-mails informing candidates that they were not withheld for the position. To my surprise, I had another flooded inbox the next morning. Almost half of the candidates had sent me an e-mail, simply thanking me for the time that I had taken to send them a personal message.

How did it come this far that people start thanking headhunters for a simple e-mail! Did we, in the rush for the perfect candidate, forget that there is an actual human being behind a cv, who is eager to know whether it could be a match?

Every business professional knows that delivering a great customer experience is crucial for success. And the consequences of a bad experience are equally well known.

For a recruiter, talent is the equivalent of customers for a company. And the marketing message has arrived with ‘candidate experience’ being one of the top trends in talent acquisition the last few years. Research has shown that 91,4% of all HR professionals believe that a positive candidate experience has a direct impact on the quality of the new employees.  Yet we seem to have forgotten that it also entails clear and personal communication about not being the right fit.

Admitted, I also sometimes forget to send a message letting people know that they are not withheld. Never on purpose, but it happens. And yes, I have a separate mailbox with candidates who have spontaneously applied to whom I still need to respond. There is a good reason for that, I want them to benefit from the video-pitching we will be launching. But that is no reason to keep them in the dark.

So my good resolution is to send those e-mails right now. Once that is done, I'll start writing my next blog on creating a winning candidate experience.

After all, the day that we forget that there is a human being behind a cv, will be the day that robots and AI can take over recruitment. 

I look forward to hearing from you,

Isabel

Through a personalized and tailor-made approach, Ingenium Executive Search aspires to assist you in attracting the right talent that matches the DNA of your company

Check out our website http://www.ingenium-search.be

Follow me on Twitter @IngeniumSearch