On Being Professional

 jobHuntTwitter_featurePhotoSZDArticles about recruiters have been written over the years by satisfied and not so satisfied candidates.   If a recruiter has introduced you to a fabulous new opportunity that has positively changed your career – you may write something good or great about the industry or the company the recruiter represents or even the individual that made the difference for you.  If you haven’t believed that a recruiter has helped you at all then it is more likely that you will write about the bad experience.   It’s a love/hate relationship.

I want to discuss the other side of this.   Over the 15+ years that I have been working with companies and individuals in Attraction and Retention of high performing individuals I have seen and received a lot of emails with resumes attached.  I have trained and coached many recruiters [both 3rd party as well as in house recruiters] to be efficient, find the ‘gems’ that are out there and stop wasting time hoping there is gold in every email submitted.

Most resumes are very professionally written, with a great email introduction drawing attention to the skills they bring and solutions they have provided to organizations they have worked with over the years. Whether you are looking for those skills or not – well, it’s always a pleasure to connect with professionals – who treat you as a professional.

Lately, I have seen an increase in resumes with short, curt email introductions. The body of the email has no formal structure, no email/telephone numbers included, no LinkedIn connection – just a quick note that they are looking for a role and perhaps a line or two more and then a resume/cover letter attachment.   Most of them actually state they want to meet.  Not really sure if it is spam, junk or for real.

In short – these email introductions don’t meet professional standards at all, even though the attached resumes are from people with good careers – even executive level individuals. It leaves me baffled – would they actually have read an email with a resume attached that looks as sparse and unprofessional as they are sending out?

The body of the Email is the first blush that a recruiter has of who you are and demonstrates how you might present yourself. If you can’t take the time to actually research us out, highlight why we should spend time to read let alone interview or meet you, then why should/would we open up the attachment?   Be professional!

For those that are sending these generic email……do you know they go straight to delete?   Wondering why you haven’t heard from a recruiter?  Check out how you have approached one?  If it isn’t professional, then a recruiter owes you no professionalism or time in return.

Loretta Biscaro Smith is the founder of Genesis Executive Management Inc. A consulting firm that specializes in Talent Attraction and Retention, Leadership Development, and Executive Coaching.     loretta@genesis-em.com  

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *