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Hey y’all, sorry for the gap in submitting this. My wife and I found out recently that what we thought was going to be baby #2 is actually going to be baby #2 and baby #3. Life comes at you fast. Let’s kick this off.
So, I read about what you tell me to do, but what should I NOT be doing while conducting a job hunt?
I’m glad this was asked. I’ve debated whether or not to write something on this topic but was afraid of coming off like a giant d-bag. The biggest thing I would say is that when a recruiter finally calls you, and you’re actually in the interview process, don’t blow up their phone requesting updates.
Perfect example: I am working on an opening right now and there is a candidate who, on paper at least, is a 100% match for this position. With that being said, he will not leave me alone. He legit just emailed me saying “I am trying to pester you into giving me a truthful update.” Over the past 8 days this guy has emailed me 9 times, called my desk phone three times, my cell phone twice (on a Saturday) and even fucking texted me on Sunday asking for updates. I have legit responded to everything but the text message telling him I don’t have any updates for him right now as the hiring manager is on vacation and there will be a delay.
I truly feel for this guy, he left working with the government (retiring takes time) in hope of landing another job. The job he thought he had with a different company went away, so this guy is without a paycheck. I feel bad for him; part of being a recruiter is that the livelihoods of some of the candidates is in your hands. That’s not something I take lightly, so I have tolerated this guy’s straight up harassment of me because I feel bad for him.
After telling him 5 separate times that I will let him know the second I have an update, I am seriously beginning to question whether or not to withdraw my referral of him to a position. Recruiters have reputations to uphold. We are customer service types with the client being a hiring manager. If we continuously send bad candidates to the hiring manager, they will go elsewhere. If you annoy the crap out of a recruiter, they’ll assume you’ll do the same to the hiring manager, thus hurting the recruiter’s brand and that can turn them off on you hella fast.
Lastly, don’t insult the company you are trying to work for. I was at a job fair last week and a candidate walked up to me and said the equivalent (in my company terms) of: “Man, the new iPhone is terrible, you’re getting destroyed by Samsung right now. That really sucks for you. So what types of positions is Apple hiring for?” I was dumbfounded someone actually thought insulting a company would be a good strategy when it comes to trying to work there.
I just got a call from the recruiter with an offer package at a new company and I accepted. Should I drop a two-week notice and if so, when?
Yes. Always drop it, you never know when you might cross paths with that person again. One of my counterparts worked at a company before coming here and his boss loved him. He left that company because he could make 1.5x as much money here and got a legit title increase. He then ran into some really shitty stuff that happened here (not his fault) and is looking like he might get fired. Because he dropped a notice, his old boss is going to gladly bring him back to his old company and have him replace his old boss as that guy is retiring. Had he straight bounced from that company, middle-fingers a blazing, then he wouldn’t be able to land on his feet.
As far as the WHEN? Always wait until you have a written offer in hand. The offer process goes like this:
1. Verbal Offer
2. Background Check
3. Employment Verification
4. Written Offer
If you’ve received a verbal offer, a lot of things could go wrong before you receive your formal offer letter. Always wait until you have the written offer letter. Always. I don’t care how sure you feel about this new job, you always wait. Hell, you could be going to work for your dad, you always wait for the letter. The candidate I referenced in the first question did not wait and now he is up shit creek. Always wait.
I’ve started connecting with recruiters at some of my target companies on LinkedIn. They’ve accepted. Now what?
Recruiters work best with actionable intel. Some (not all) recruiters will tell you which specific positions they recruit for either within their LinkedIn summary or straight up in their LinkedIn title. If the recruiter is searching for something that interests you (or you see them attached to a job posting on LinkedIn) then reach out to them introducing yourself. This is your elevator pitch/the “tell me about yourself.”
Once you’ve done that, let them know that you are interested in positions 1, 2 and 3. Recruiters can’t execute your own job-hunt for you within their company. They are simply there to give you a push across the finish line. If you give them something they can act on, you’ll not only be helping them, you’ll be helping yourself.
I don’t graduate until May but I’m starting to do a preliminary search for jobs now. What should I be doing?
For most companies, the target window is going to be between 60-90 days of your desired start date. AKA now. If you are six months out then now is not a good time to be applying for jobs. You should absolutely be doing research now and giving yourself some extra tools (certs, classes, etc.) that you feel will help you when it comes time to launch the search.
There is an exception to this rule. That exception comes from recruiters who solely focus on working with college graduates/MBA grads and are trying to fill recent graduate slots within a specific program that company has. Those recruiters usually fill 25-200 slots each June with candidates who are joining the company. You can reach out to them almost any time.
Recruiters like me have roughly 25 days start-to-finish to fill each individual role they are assigned. University recruiters, meanwhile, have 11 months each year to fill 200 slots with the same start date. They are always looking for candidates so they can get a good jump on their year, even if that means offering you a job in August 2017 that comes with a June 2018 start date.
Any and all questions, resumes for reviews, etc. can be sent to Kiawah Island Strip Club.
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Kiawah Island Strip Club
I'd rather be golfing. Seattle sucks so I write about that. Also work...ish in recruiting. Shoot your resume to kiawahislandstripclub@gmail.com for any and all job hunt questions.
Congrats on the twins, bud.
What kind of stock photo monster goes in for the left hand shake?
It’s a reflection in the window.
Solid content/advice as always and congrats on the babies!
Met with a recruiter Friday and she had no idea what my title meant. It’s very common. I immediately zoned out of whatever she said after that. I’m not expecting anything to come from that connection.
I see your sexs is efficient. Natural closer.
would look great on a resume
Recruiters are below sleazy salesmen. Literally anyone could be a recruiter especially in an economy like this. “Hey, want this job that you’re clearly not qualified for as I have no idea what you actually do but need to fill a quota so I don’t lose this job and go back to the pizza shop?” Some recruiters are great at what they do and they actually care about the people they vet but a lot of them are just enabling the perpetual meat factory in a cold, dumbass aura filled with false promises and low self esteem projected with Prozac smiles and a life not well lived. If you haven’t noticed yet, I am pretty much Rust from True Detective Season 1 and I’m probably not gonna last long around here lol
I personally dislike talking to the recruiters younger than me because they typically think they can talk “bro to bro” with me. Sorry, this is a professional conversation; I’m not interested in finding out how cool you are, I’m trying to see if you’ve got a position that I could rock to our mutual benefit. The ones in their 30s get it, but the ones who are brand spanking new out of college are the worst.
100% agree with you and cube’s comments. One of the reasons I took this job was because of how bad my experience was dealing with them and I wanted to make a difference. Another reason was because I knew my “competition” wouldn’t be too tough and I knew I could advance quickly. Recruiters are people….for better or worse.
I definitely agree on the “bro” concept. I deal specifically with Veterans and I’ll let some stuff slide being a Veteran, myself. With that being said, I tell them to clean their shit up come next steps because the buddy-buddy routine is nice, but these people are coming to you looking for a fucking job. This is serious shit and people need to act accordingly. Best piece of advice, let the recruiter’s attitude and approach dictate the conversation and how you interact. If they seem immature up front, don’t drop your guard but move it from a Q&A towards more of a conversation. People want to hire people they like. I’m not saying I think recruiters SHOULD be doing it, but they are and you’ve got to adapt to the person as that snot-nosed 23 year old bro has the power at this stage.
It’s sales, there are going to be those who actually care about what and who they’re selling to, and those that are just looking for a check.
Man, first people on Facebook are having kids left and right and now it’s people on PGP. J/k, congrats on the twins!
I’m lucky enough to be in a good spot with my current job but I’ll definitely keep your advice in mind if that changes.
Had a phone screen last Monday. After the call the recruiter emailed me links of the company’s benefits. I responded to email thanking her for our call and affirmed that I was interested and would make a great candidate for xyz reasons. Recruiter told me she had a call with hiring manager on Friday morning to know next steps. No response.
Sent her an email Monday morning following up, nothing. At what point do you cut your loses and accept you’re getting the run around? (Not trying to be like the guy in the article)
I should note that in the initial phone conversation I asked their timeline, she said she’d know in 48 hours. Emailed her on Thursday (two days had passed no word), and that’s when she said she had a scheduled call the next day in the morning.
I would wait this one out. I would continue looking elsewhere but stay patient with this company. We had something similar happen recently where a hiring freeze came down and the candidate got fucked. He was polite and understanding when we told him it would be a few weeks. He handled it like a champ and when the freeze was lifted he was candidate numero uno and ended up getting a higher paying job.
What’s weird is that I wasnt looking around, but I was initially contacted by a different in-house recruiter from the company on LinkedIn. I then saw the job posted on their site a couple days later, and then a 3rd party recruiter (woman above giving me the run around) reached out to me- I explained to her I’d been contacted by an in-house recruiter but she said she’d share the phone screen convo with her.
Really strange. Appreciate the advice.
Congrats on the twins!!
– from a twin
Also a good idea to avoid sharing your current comp with a prospective employer/recruiter. The second you share that information, you lose a lot of leverage. Just let them know your target range
Great avi.