One of the reasons I set up recfindr is to improve the impression people have of recruiters.

Obviously, it’s not the only reason. But it’s a big one.

recfindr allows true specialists to be found by those who need them.

That, in turn, will hopefully help to stop generalists driving down the quality of recruitment processes. My opinion is there isn’t anyone better to manage the recruitment process of a niche, tough to fill role than a specialist.

Someone who spends their days, weeks and years speaking to appropriate people.

Someone who’s built a network entirely within that niche.

But generalists are often those who get the nod. They’re in the right place at the right time, and go to market with incomplete knowledge and shoddy tactics.

They call irrelevant people. Email 9,000 people at once, with poorly written copy. They pester and they ghost.

And this is one of the biggest grievances I have with the negative reputation of recruiters.

Specifically, the pay ‘em low, pile ‘em high recruitment businesses who’ll turn their hand to Java, IT Management, Facilities Management and Financial Crime.

The recruiters who cold call irrelevant hiring managers every month, reading from a script from the 80s.

The recruiters who spot one key word on a CV and spam 9,000 recipients.

These people are the irk of those they pester. And brilliant, capable recruiters often suffer.

The exception to the rule

Of course, in a way, I don’t mind the negative reputation bad recruiters get. It makes the good ones stand out. It makes me stand out.

And stand out for the right reasons.

It shines a light on those who excel in both specialist offering and good practice.

But… there’s a but.

In reality, no one wants to be annoying. No one wants a bad reputation. And for many recruiters it’s probably a right of passage that they start off in a business which perpetuates shitty sales tactics, before they find their own way and mature.

And that’s the point of today’s article.

The subject of ire in shouting at bad recruiters on the internet shouldn’t be the recruiters themselves. It should be the Owners, Founders, Managers and Team Leaders those recruiters report to.

The people who set the KPIs of 150 calls before lunch.

The people who set up the search strings for Graduate recruiters to call through, with zero research about they’re calling.

The people who create the email lists with which flimsily linked, poorly written job ads are sent.

If these people were called out more than the recruiters they hire, the industry would buck its ideas up a lot quicker.

The dog or the owner

It’s like shouting at a badly behaved dog.

Sure, shouting at them once might quieten them down for 15 minutes. But sooner or later you have to look at the person holding the lead.

I live in hope.

And I appreciate asking this request of the people who read this blog is like shouting into the abyss and hoping for the wind to change.

But the one way you can absolutely guarantee you don’t fall foul of this perpetuating negativity is to work through systems like the one I’m building in recfindr.

That’s a fail-safe.

Or, you could share this blog and we can all shout into the abyss together.

Either way is fine.