"Dear Mr Recruiter, don't call me & don't send me speculative CVs"

I'm seeing a lot of hiring managers posting on LinkedIn to criticise the business development approaches of recruiters. I thought I'd open the floor to the public & see if we can eventually align to get off on the right foot.

So here's the scenario (a regular occurrence):

1. I have spotted an advert from another agency for a very niche Erlang position in (for arguments sake) Central London.
2. I know this will be difficult to fill, these candidates rarely apply to roles so they will need to be headhunted from the closed market
3. I have a network of candidates & I have a few that are passively looking (they will only move for the right opportunity). I can call them to sell the opportunity, it's usual that I'll have 2-3 suitable profiles ready for submission within 48 hours.

So Mr client/customer has the 'need', Mr Recruiter has the 'product', so why can't this be an easy fix for everyone?

Here's the short answer: Sales.

There's nothing worse than the moment when you're in full flow working to project deadlines & you get a call from Stephen from Accident Claims Direct to discuss that mythical road accident you may or may not have had in the last 3 years.

Now there's an argument that if Stephen makes enough calls, he will eventually find his target audience... in the same way that a broken clock is right twice a day. Unfortunately there are plenty of recruitment agencies that work this way & I think it could be the issue.

I won't go into too much detail about recruitment ethics but my question to Mr Hiring Manager is, if our interests are aligned, how can we work together? How would you suggest we contact you without disrupting your day?

I've posted a Twitter poll for a quick count up, but I'd really like to hear your feedback & suggestions on this, so please feel free to comment below or send me a quick message with your thoughts.

I look forward to hearing from you :)

Hayden