Where is MY tall, dark, and handsome???

The executive team meets – an agreement is reached. The job description is written, then passed on and edited, and revised, and reviewed, and edited to include the typical “works well with others” sections – and TADA. You have your typical job description.

I often liken job descriptions to personal ads just as I have likened recruiting to matchmaking. My consultants usually chuckle when I give them the following analogy:

“Job descriptions are like personal adds. If you’re looking for a wife or husband or soul mate, you put EVERYTHING down that would make someone perfect for you. For the ladies – tall, dark, handsome, successful, a great cook, loves kids, athletic, protective, great sense of humor, loves the theater and opera. However, when push comes to shove, we’ll relinquish a few once we meet our next-to-perfect. Maybe he’s shorter than we had hoped or not a world renowned chef and maybe.. just maybe.. he’s balding. It’s the same with companies and job descriptions – they will often relinquish a few must haves to get their next-to-perfect. Because lets face it – it’s very few and far between that Goldilocks strikes our lives and gives us that – just right.”

They giggle, and think back to a personal ad they’ve read or potentially written. And the lightbulb goes off – maybe I have a shot.

Putting this down makes me wonder – how often are we discounting candidates because they’re not “just right” instead helping them understand they could be “next-to-perfect?” Are we working with our candidates to help them sell themselves or simply doing those key word searches hoping with our fingers crossed to find our elusive Goldilocks?

And what do you do?????

“And what do you do?”…. pause. I answer “I work in IT Software Consulting and Staffing.” Longer pause and blank stares. I continue “Staffing…. Recruiting…? Ummmm.. I get computer people jobs at big companies.” Ahhhh – recognition spreads across his face and like those before him, he smiles and snidely replies “So… you’re a HEADHUNTER.”

Now – I realize that there are several terms out there describing what I do – but Headhunter is my least favorite. It has a negative connotation – similar to Lawyer or Telemarketer. But I realize that there are certain terms that people recognize. So I smile coyly and respond “No… I’m a Head Huntress.”

There are many industries out there with a bad rap – I’ve mentioned two prior but recruiting/staffing seems to have one of the worst raps and ironically, one of the most noble of purposes. We help people get jobs. Now – don’t get me wrong – there are always a few bad apples. A few “headhunters” who treat people like a commodity instead of a living, breathing being who is enlisting our help to garner work. But unlike those bad apples, I guess I tend to think of every candidate as a critic. Negative word of mouth is more damaging than any other type of critique so I view every potential candidate or potential placement, as a “Kelly the Head Huntress” critic capable of giving me a bad review and therefore – making me no better than those bad apples.

Thinking of this I have to wonder: How are we treating our candidates out there? In a time of recession, are we treating them less like people and more like an overabundance of wheat because there are less jobs and quite a few folks out of work?

This blog going forward – resume advice, job hunting advice, overall dialogue surrounding the big bad world of job hunting, funny stories, candidate nightmares, and how every now and again – we recruiters serve a very useful function.