Press '1' To Eliminate Yourself As a Candidate...
August 30, 2007
First up, I'm a Gen X'er, so don't tell me I don't understand because I am too old... Is being in your 30's too old now?
Why do seemingly quality candidates insist on leaving inappropriate greetings on their voice mail? Do they
understand recruiters like me might call their number and get voice mail?
I've been known to be hard on voice mail. If I am calling a candidate off a resume and get voice mail, I treat it like a freebie. Good energy and kind of dynamic sounding in your voice mail greeting? Cool, I'm more interested than I was when I called. Sound depressed and seem like the whole thing takes too much energy? I'm out - you lost the opportunity. I rate your voice mail - if you are rated 5 or worse, you'll never hear from KD again..
Just called a strong candidate back after a phone interview to set up a face-to-face session. Hadn't gotten her voice mail yet in the process. Got it this time - BAM!!! I'm treated to 30 seconds of a profane Notorious B.I.G track before the innocent, professional voice I was expecting comes through over the track during the chorus. Professional position, 50-60K job. Bye-Bye...
It'd be the same deal whether it was Marilyn Manson or Larry the Cable Guy. Market to me, the recruiter. Don't take risky chances with your brand when I call.
I have counseled people on this before - you might also want to be careful what is on facebook or myspace. Sorry girls and boys but if you need to show the world everything about you be prepared for a fair number of poeple to decide to stay away. Individual expression is a wonderful thing, but it has consequences; think about it before you put it out there.
Posted by: JEM | August 31, 2007 at 10:58 AM
I don't think it's a generational thing. I think many of today's young people are simply acting like young people always have. The problem is that we're in a very transparent world now. I can check out your MySpace page and I'll consider what I find there. I will listen to your voicemail and consider what I hear. Having said that, I think too many young people are ill-served by the colleges they come from. Someone, early in the process should be explaining that it's easy to make the wrong impression if you don't pay attention.
Posted by: Wally Bock | August 31, 2007 at 01:27 PM
Love this post! I gave you kudos on my site for it. It is something I would write!
Actually, it is something I tell college students to be aware of in addition to making sure their email address is appropriate when applying for a job. Some email/voicemails aren’t just offense they can be down right scary!
I also agree with the above posting pertaining to the personal posting pages. If you don’t want the world to see it…duhhh DON’T POST IT FOR THE WORLD TO SEE IT!
I guess as recruiters we should be glad, we get insight to some candidate’s poor discretion BEFORE we hire them. This is a selection tool that we didn’t have just a few short years ago. We should make up a name for it.
Cheers,
Recruitnik
Recruitnik.net
Posted by: Recruitnik | August 31, 2007 at 09:46 PM