WANT A JOB? - GET RID OF THE DAMN CELL PHONE! Before I begin my latest tirade (blogg) I want to let everyone know I am not opposed to cell phones. My wife and I have both had cell phones for many years. I enjoy talking to friends, relatives, etc. on the cell phone and using cell phones can save money on long distance calls and I am all for saving money. In my role as a third party recruiter, I even call candidates over the weekend because of the free long distance. However, I have never called a client company on a cell phone and I never will. It just is not professional and that is the underlying theme of this blogg. If any part of a job search can be misconstrued as unprofessional, do not do it!
A candidate for an plastics engineering position returned my call today. I was calling him because he had sent his resume for the engineering position I am trying to fill and I wanted to open a dialog about the position. Unfortunately, he decided to call me back on his cell phone while driving home from work. The normal cutting out encountered when trying to talk while driving was not too bad, but combine that with someone who has just left work and is not fully engaged in the conversation because they are driving, the conversation takes an immediate downward spiral. Now combine the cell phone cut outs and the driver's (think candidate) heavy Asian accent and my Hoosier (Indiana) accent, the conversation became more of a yelling match by two very frustrated people. In the end I gave up, hung up, and threw away his resume even though his resume showed a very good match for the position. You have to understand that I do not like to throw away potential earnings but if I cannot communicate with the candidate, I have to believe he or she will not communicate well with my client company. If my candidate cannot communicate well, or is not a good match for the position, my client company thinks less of me (assuming that is possible).
I realize that third party recruiters (think headhunters) are considered somewhere below used car salespeople in the food chain but very often we stand between the candidate and the job the candidate is interested in pursuing (usually more important than buying a used Saturn in the long term). Therefore, it is important to communicate effectively with the third party recruiter who is, in effect, the gate keeper for the company. Failure to communicate effectively with any recruiter will immediately put an end to the your chances of interviewing for the position you want. Many candidates today do not have a land line and rely solely on their cell phones. I understand why people do this, they can save money. Again, I am all for saving money but not at the expense of losing the opportunity to interview for what might be an excellent job. I have called candidates who have gotten very irritated because I called them while they were shopping in Sam's Club. I would have felt bad about that but since the cell phone number was the only number available to call, their resume went into the circular file. What if the hiring manager for my client company had made the same faux pas? At the very least, if relying solely on a cell phone, the candidate should provide the best times to call and if returning calls, do not do it while driving a car in Chicago traffic. Many of the candidates I talk with have heavy accents and very often they only have cell phones making communication extremely difficult.
If you want to talk with third party recruiters on your cell phone, go ahead, normally we can work through it but talking to corporate recruiters or hiring managers should be verboten! The primary function of most corporate recruiters is to reject candidates. After all, corporate recruiters catch hell if the wrong person gets hired and they get little or no recognition if the right candidate is hired. So if you want to go ahead and roll the dice, go ahead but I will do my best to keep you from rolling the dice with my client company. I know quite a few people think they are impressing others by multi-tasking but driving and interviewing only tells the recruiter or hiring manager that you are not really serious about the position. The last thing your potential hiring manager wants to hear is OH MY GOD as you have a head on collision with another car and you probably won't ge the job.
10:07:51 PM 
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