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SittingXlegged

Corporate recruitment: what works and what doesn't plus other musings.

Things I believe in the Recruitment Space follow this blog post

posted by on March 20, 2009
  • Human Resources people hate agency recruiters.
  • Agency recruiters hate Human Resources people. Now we're even so get over it and get back to work.
  • Corporate recruiters hate whatever Applicant Tracking System they are using.
  • Agency recruiters say they have access to the hidden pool of candidates but they work with the same pool of candidates that everybody else does.
  • The passive candidate is a myth.
  • Every candidate is an active candidate.
  • Corporate recruiters say they are great at sourcing but the amount of time they spend doing it is dwarfed by their heavy administrative load.
  • Most metrics that attempt to describe recruitment are worthless.
  • Human Resources doesn't get the respect of upper management because it doesn't deserve that respect.
  • Corporate career sites are mostly out-of-date and difficult to use.
  • Technology geeks in recruitment may be on the cutting edge but they are spending time that could be spent better being in communication with candidates and customers.
  • The OFCCP has a lot to answer for.
  • The EEOC has a lot to answer for.
  • Before investing much in the thoughts of an industry expert, first check their credentials thoroughly.
  • Read as much as you can and believe very little of what you read.
  • Complaining about how busy you are is a waste of time.
  • A clean desk is much better than a messy desk.
  • The most important thing is to have fun doing whatever you're doing.
  • You can't do it all. What you did is what you did. Did you do the most important stuff?
  • Find out what you are really good at and ensure that you are doing a lot of it.
  • Contributing to others is a way of life.
  • Treat everyone with respect and I do mean everyone!
  • When in doubt...laugh!
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4 comments

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  • 1 point 11 months ago

    ...even though they're painfully true.

    I have yet to meet a single person who likes their ATS!

    I'm starting to think that the problem is not that every single ATS in the world is awful (though many are, and I say this as a person who is married to a database application developer, so I know a little about the backend stuff), but that recruiters, by their very nature, are constitutionally unsuited to logging everything in a database.

    Great recruiters are not exactly admin-oriented. Admin-oriented types aren't usually all that great on the networking/phonecalling/rah-rah stuff.

  • 1 point 11 months ago

    Hi Sarah,

    Thanks for the comment! You raise an interesting point about the competencies needed to be a great recruiter. I maintain that great corporate recruiters may not enjoy administration but they realize that being great at administration is a critical key to success. Many don't "get" that and they are unlikely to succeed. In short, you need to be great at both the "networking/phonecalling/rah-rah stuff" and administration.

    Cheers!

    Simon

  • 1 point 11 months ago

    Hi Elaine,

    Messy desk people just don't get it! Or perhaps clean desk people, like me, just don't get it?

    Thanks,

    Simon

  • 1 point 11 months ago

    You read my mind! Except for the clean desk thingy. I have a system that nobody can figure out- keeps people from snooping around!

    Elaine