Recruiting via LinkedIn – Don’t Do This!

I regularly get emails from recruiters all over the planet, telling me about their awesome new technology, latest and greatest ideas, and why I should work for them.

Most get ignored.

One came in this week that annoyed me, since it was from someone at a company that had sent me the exact same email six months ago.

I felt I had to respond:

Hi <recruiter name>,

I think heard of <YourCompany> last year sometime from a friend.

I also received this same stock email from you on 8/22/11, and you had addressed it to “Pascal” – further evidence of a copy-and-paste.

It would behoove you to keep records of whom you contact, as well as reviewing the message you paste before clicking “Send”.

A stock recruiter email is not a very likely way to attract good recruits, especially if you’re listing a ton of things that are not particularly relevant or interesting in the realm of technology.

Asking me to send a resume, while being able to view my full LinkedIn profile also seems superfluous – here’s the information, you have supposedly read it, and that is what attracted you to my profile in the first place, rather than “someone who turned up in a keyword search”.

I wish you, and your company all the best, and hope that these recruiting tactics work for you.

All the best,
-M

I am very curious what kind of response, if any, I shall get.