The Dark Side of Recruitment

If you chose Human Resources as a profession, it is likely that your life has been flooded with a sea of interaction, at work, at home, on social media and some of those unwarranted (read: creepy) enthusiastic prompts from someone who, at 11:00 pm or later sends you a whataspp "Hi, How are you" and stares at your whastapp window because you are both online, and sends a "?" if you don't reply within the next minute. At times, there is an unnerving switch between "is typing.." and "online" that confirms, to your utter dismay, that until you answer this person, they will remain anxious. Life is become increasingly overwhelming for everyone, but what it has become for an HR person isn't normally understood. We are like the magicians that will never endorse that you pull out the rabbit from that hat but in the case that you do, no matter how ungodly the hour, we will put it back, we will turn back the time to when there was no rabbit. This goes another notch up for those of us who are full-time or part-time recruiters i.e. forget your working hours, be prepared for the world to google you (before they find your awkward movie selfie from ten years ago, please find it yourself and have it deleted) and most of all, be ready for random people to message you at any time on every social media platform you signed up on with your name - I have known recruiters who have received threats and actual curses once they found out they weren't the best candidates. Be ready for that as well!

Since it was Recruiter's Day yesterday, I thought of sharing some thoughts and advice on behalf of recruiters, so here goes my small list, read it with a light spirit!

1. Know how to stay in touch: Remember that recruiters are just people who like meaningful relationships just like the rest of us. I know, I know, it's hard to believe. But if you take my word for it, we are all here to add value to each other's lives - calling someone you knew 15 years ago just because they posted a job of your interest is a tad bit out of place.
2. Know how to contact a recruiter: There is nothing wrong with asking a question, especially if you know the recruiter in some capacity. But have you scanned the instructions for the answer? And just because you have their contact number and you're the one submitting the application on the last day, it does not mean you can contact them at 11:30 pm on a Saturday night.
3. Follow the instructions: If your recruiter friend asks you to follow the instructions on an advertisement, please follow them. That's how you can draft a good application likely to get shortlisted, not by hounding them with reminders every two days.
4. Merit and Reference: Reference based hiring is an effective method of finding suitable resources particularly for hard-to-fill roles. But are you referring a person who can really do that job? I have been pushed into corners by contacts who are convinced that recruiters can just about appoint anyone wherever they like. No no no. There is a method to this madness and it (usually) comes with an instruction manual!
5. Leave behind your emotions: It's 2022, you would think we have eradicated abuse by now, at least at work where a code of how to behave is defined and the consequences are real. Yet recruiters face unfiltered abuse every day, and there is no exaggeration in this. Please allow me to share some of hate mail I know a few recruiters to have received:

"F&*^ you. I could do this job and you know it but you just want to give jobs to peoples that you know. She doesn't have 25 years of experience in this role and I do." (I don't think we realize that 30 years in the same role isn't always the selling point one may think think it to be..)

"B^&*" (well, that's a great way to get a call back?)

"I have had so many rejections for too long, I thought at least you guys would not ask me why I have gaps in my resume or why I am still not married but you turned out to be worse than everybody else" (pinky promise we asked no such questions but our heart goes out to this one!)

"I have applied to your company a thousand times and you have never shortlisted me. Who are you to decide whether I can do this? How do you even know whether I can actually do this job or not when you haven't even interviewed me?" (who am I really? certainly not the person who is going to interview you a thousand times, I daresay)

"First you knock me and encourage me to apply. I waste several hours to finish the application. Then you tell me that I am not good enough for even an interview. This is outright insulting. You should apologize to me." (I am with the candidate on this one, we apologize, we are sorry for becoming recruiters..)

"You have left me no choice but to lodge an official complain to the HQs. Now I don't know what will happen to you but I am just letting you know so that you won't think that your own country mate stabbed you in the back" (scream gaslighting and take three steps back!)

"You don't know how to do your job. I can do your job better than you." (okay, that actually hurt..)

"I don't think we have ever met. So there is no reason for you to have a personal vendetta against me. Did anyone ask you to do this?" (yes, that's what we do, Tariq - hire one person we like and not hire the 276 we have a personal vendetta against!)

Of course, there is more to recruitment than just this dark side. I felt it was important that on International recruiter's day, I do something special for recruiters. I hope we all take a moment to think about how can we make their jobs easier and less detrimental to their sanity! Happy Recruiter's Day!

P.s. Should offense be taken from any of my comments or jests above, please accept my apologies. This article is on a lighter note and the examples above are sampled, not exact messages. Cheers!