SEO – SEM recruiters: The Good and the Not So Much
Yesterday I received two emails (via LinkedIn) from SEO industry recruiters. Don’t think that this happens often (I’m not that cool). The interesting part isn’t that they contacted me, but how they pitched themselves.
Let’s start with the good one. We’ll call him Smarty McRecruiter. He actually added me as an invite prior to emailing me, and asked if I’d connect with him on LinkedIn. I read through his profile, and accepted. Here’s a copy/paste of his email:
Hi Dan,
I just wanted to thank you for accepting my invitation to join my network. If you would ever like to be introduced to anyone in my network please don’t hesitate to ask.
Also, I would love to chat with you for a few minutes if you would be interested. That way if you ever decide to hit the job market I could work with you right away. Either way, yes or no, is fine. Once again, thank you for accepting my invitation. Have a wonderful day!
Thanks,
Smarty McRecruiter
No pressure, no hurry, no biggie.
Now let’s discuss the second email. We’ll call this guy Pimply McClueless. I’m going to leave the misspellings and incorrect grammar in place, for effect. Here we go:
Dan,
My name is Pimply McClueless and I am a search Consultant with Zipperhead Recruiters. I would like to speak with you regarding umerous positions I am working on currently that match your back round. One specific position is within the BLANK Industry and looks to be a great fit! Please let me know the best way for us to connect and speak?
How many errors do you count? I count 4.
- Capitalized “Consultant” but not “search”. One way or the other; be consistent
- Forgot the “n” in numerous. Really.
- “back round”? background
- Why the question mark at the end?
I’ve dealt with multiple national recruiters in the past, and I’m willing to bet that they may have some of the same positions to fill. Guess which one I’d be more inclined to reach out to?
Thoughts? Horror stories? Did the name Pimply McClueless make you laugh out loud? Yeah, me too.
January 13th, 2008 at 1:30 am
I’ve never been pitched on Linked-In…however, I do get periodic phone calls & emails. One particular woman who has called me three times was particularly entertaining as I believe that she couldn’t spell “SEO” if I gave her the first two letters.
January 13th, 2008 at 2:06 am
Interestingly, I looked up Pimply McClueless’ company site, and I actually reached out to them a long time ago. No database? No SalesForce? I’d be surprised if there wasn’t. They already have tons of info on me, and he reached out to me via LinkedIn. Some stuff I just don’t understand.
January 13th, 2008 at 5:47 am
I’m starting to see that happen on LinkedIn as well. I get maybe one a week, but I also get folks who sometimes seem to want to connect simply to reach into companies I’ve worked with. But I also used LI during a job search a year or so ago for the same reason and thought the experience was a good way to match simply because you could see what the recruiter was able to publicize about themselves and vice versa.
George
January 14th, 2008 at 12:33 am
I love you Dan Perry…..
I love Google
no understand English….rss
January 14th, 2008 at 1:09 pm
“back round” is the second eighteen when playing a double-header…
January 16th, 2008 at 1:14 am
Great story, great pseudonyms, and a simple distinction: Smarty cares about you, while Pimply cares only about himself.