Avoiding the awkward "Thank You" letter

I’ve been blasted this week hence the lack of tweets and blogs…...but here I am!  This weeks topic is kind of a funny one but really if you’re looking for a job it’s not funny at all.  It’s about the awkward interview or meeting follow up.

Now, before I get into this….NONE of these examples are from people who’ve interviewed w/ me recently.  Been talking to a lot of people and it’s not cool to talk out of school.  Ok?  Ok.

We all know that the post interview follow up is really important.  To me, it doesn’t really matter if it’s email or a written letter...you’ve gotta follow up and say thank you for the interview.  No brainer right?  Well...unless you send a really uncomfortable follow up.  What does that mean?  Here are a few examples:

Spelling the persons name wrong - Do I need to even say anything else here?  Right

Using the wrong pronoun - Um yeah.  Referring to a he as a she, she as a he….whatever, not the kind of thing you want to screw up.  I’ve seen it.  #fail

Emailing the wrong address - Nothing takes the wow factor away than having someone else forward you the “thank you” note.  If you’re going to email, make sure it’s to the correct address

Assuming you’ll get the offer - Confidence is great, arrogance is annoying.  Your thank you note is just a thank you….that’s it, nothing more.  Don’t assume anything just be nice.

There are a million other things you can do wrong here so just play it safe.  Send a polite and timely follow up….nothing more, nothing less and wait to hear about next steps.

More soon, I’ll try to pick up the pace.  And, as always good luck out there...

Why recruiting is harder than you think...

I write a lot about recruiting tips and tricks and little nuggets I’ve learned over the years.  Here is one I don’t usually share...recruiting is a REALLY hard career.  It’s amazing if you’re into it, even better if you’re good at it.....but it’s hard.  No joke, it’s harder than it sounds and here are a few reasons why:

Sell the candidate, sell the company - Recruiting has a lot in common with Sales, tons of grinding and prospecting to find business (or candidates if you’re a corporate recruiter) so you spend a ton of time of time on the phone.  No big deal, the phone is fun.  The challenge is this....you are ALWAYS selling.  Sell the candidate on the role.  Sell your client on the candidate.  Sell the compensation.  Sell the benefits.  Negotiate the agreement. Sell, sell, sell. You’ve got to have that mindset from the start.

Most recruiters don’t last - Little know fact, most people who start a career in recruiting are out of recruiting within 3 months.  If they make it past that...maybe two years but most people get worn down over time because all they do is hammer the phone when the get started.  What they don’t realize, great recruiting is more than just hammering the phone...but when you first get started you usually can’t see the forest from the tree.

The numbers don’t lie - My first boss in recruiting taught me many lessons, this one has really stuck.  “If you play baseball and hit .300 you’re an All-Star, in recruiting if you hit .200 you’ll do really well...but what that means is 80% of the time you’ll fail.  Hiring metrics, pass thru rates, submittal numbers etc etc don’t lie......recruiting is a game of failure and how well you can keep your eye on the wins....and the wins will come.

Most of the tools suck - Yeah, I said it.  Most of the tools you'll use suck so when you pull a report...that data sucks too.  Recruiters are many things, great tool builders....meh

You’re always on the chopping block - Look, hard truth here.  Recruiting is always the first function to feel a slow down.  We are the ultimate cost center.  Not only are we expensive...but we hire people who are at least as expensive as we are and add to the bottom line.  So, when revenues are down or the market crashes who gets laid off first?  Recruiters go.....sad but true.

It’s always a hiring problem - Final hard truth but it’s something you’ll find at most companies.  Companies always blame recruiting.  Attrition high?  Hire more people.  Miss revenue?  Recruiting didn’t hire enough sales people.  Expenses too high?  Recruiting over hired and drove up expenses.  Can’t hire enough engineers?  The candidate pipeline is too small.    Honestly, I’ve seen all of these examples in real life.  What’s funny, is it’s almost never JUST a recruiting problem.  Sometimes it is sure but usually it’s a bigger issue about the culture or the way the company operates it’s just easier for everyone to point at us recruiters than it is to say there is a culture or management problem.

There are a million other things that make recruiting hard but this is just a quick short list...for those of you getting started or considering a career in recruiting I hope it helps.  My blog can be a lot of puppy dogs and ice cream and I wanted to make sure I keep it real.  I love recruiting and will probably spend my entire career doing it but don’t think it will be easy.  Chances are you’ll work longer hours and have more ups/downs than most of your friends......but that’s ok, we can handle it.

So you're a great recruiter.....now what?

Ok, so by now you've already read my post about what it takes to be a great recruiter right?  Well, if not check it here....

Anyway, you've done all this cool stuff and you're an amazing recruiter.  You can fill any job, your peers love you and clients sing your praises.  Awesome right?  Well....kind of, I mean, yeah of course it always feels good to be awesome.  See Barney Stinson video resume:

Seriously, this is all great.  But how do you take this awesomeness and become sought after in the industry...someone who doesn't LOOK for jobs, because jobs look for you?  Here are a few thoughts about building your recruiting brand:

Build a huge network - It wouldn't be a Jeff Moore blog without a networking tip right?  Honestly, for us recruiters we're only as good at our network.  Most of us have networks of engineers, or sales people but slack off terribly when it comes to networking with other recruiters.  Why?  Honestly, I don't know but it's crazy.  Build a network of other great recruiters and you'll never be looking for a job again.

Speak out - A great way to build your brand is to speak at events.  Now you don't need to speak at ERE or Talent Connect(although those are great), tons of local groups or job fairs are always looking for recruiters to speak about hiring, resumes, etc etc.  I'm a big fan of the "unconference" like #Tru events which are a little more casual but give you great exposure (I'm speaking here in a few weeks).  Additionally, I'd be willing to bet your school would love to have their rockstar alumni back to talk about all things hiring.  The more you do it, the better you'll get and next thing you know you'll be leading a track at ERE.

Get social - Recruiters are social people but I'm always amazed at how few of us tweet or blog.  There is really no better way to build your brand than to share you're awesome experience with other recruiters looking to learn.  You don't have to have a million followers to make an impact, start small by following a bunch of folks and engage......you'll be social before you know it.

A few recommendations on people to follow can be found here and here

Amp up the LinkedIn profile- This one is pretty obvious but let's just be honest.  Recruiters are all over LinkedIn trying to find top talent.....does your LinkedIn profile represent your awesomeness? It better.  Take time to add content and recommendations to really show off your skills.

Hope this helps, building your personal brand is tough...but do it right and you'll be mad you didn't do it sooner.

Happy hunting this week!