Guidelines from my corporate life

So, in addition to the media stuff, by day I’m a recruiter. Before you start flooding my inbox with resumes, I specifically recruit high-level executives that are currently sitting at VP level or higher.

Because the people that I recruit are seasoned professionals with typically 15-20 years of experience, I’m always amazed at the rudimentary lessons that I have to teach candidates about what not to do during the recruitment process.

Typically I don’t co-mingle my blog with my day job, but, because there are so many people out of work these days, I know that someone here could benefit from the following information:

How To Be a Serious Contender for an Executive Role (or How Not to Piss Off Your Recruiter)

1. Get a serious email address for job search correspondence. By serious, I mean something conservative, like firstname.lastname@yoururl.com. While your friends use the personal address that you’ve had since college, trust me when I tell you that hiring managers will not think that beerpongmaster@yoururl.com is appropriate. Not to mention your potential behavior at the corporate Christmas party will be questioned.

2. Proofread and spellcheck your resume. You’re taken far less seriously if the title of your most recent role is “VP of Makreting.”

3. When you go on an interview, don’t do anything to distract from your message. By that I mean take off all kooky “unique” jewelry, and be careful of your use of cologne and hair products. An SVP of Sales candidate once wore lizard cufflinks that were 60% covered in rhinestones. Between those and the incredible amount of gel in his hair, I was so mesmerized that I couldn’t pay attention to anything he said. Oh, and if you have a signature fragrance, please know that your interviewers don’t want to be introduced to it. You want your interview feedback to be “she’s brilliant” or “he will fit in so well with the organization.” You don’t want anyone to say “yeah, she’s smart, but there’s no way we can hire anyone who has such an affinity for Lady Stetson.”

4. Land the plane. Meaning, don’t give a 10 minute answer to a 30 second question. An interview is the opportunity for the recruiter or hiring managers to get to know you and learn about your experiences. We’ve often allocated a certain amount of time to speak with you, therefore you need to be succinct. When we ask you to take a few minutes to walk us through your background, we really do mean a FEW minutes. FYI, 60? Is not a few.

5. Don’t condescend to the recruiter. We’re in the process for a few reasons. First, we’re professionals trained to recognize talent. Second, our clients and hiring managers use us as the first line of defense to screen out your garden variety yahoo who thinks that their 8th grade education and two years of experience as a basket weaving technologist make them qualified board room contenders. Third, if we meet and like you, we will always keep you in mind for future positions, even if this one doesn’t work out. We’re great friends to have. That said, if you approach us with attitude, such as “is there anyone more senior than YOU that I can speak to?”, you have just bought yourself a permanent black mark on your record. And we’re not shy about sharing our opinions with the recruiting community.

6. Don’t stalk us. I appreciate tenacity. I do NOT appreciate a pain in the ass. Let me illustrate the difference. Tenacity is a followup email or call, and maybe another one a week later if you don’t hear back from me. Stalking is calling every day (even when I’ve told you that I would circle back in a week), sending multiple emails begging for another meeting, and giving me the feeling that I might have to look both ways when I leave my office.

7. When you’re told why you won’t be considered for the position (which, unfortunately happens more often than not), don’t argue with us as a last ditch effort. Your personal circumstances, while they might pull at our heartstrings, are not going to make our clients say “okay, since he’s gone through so much this year, let’s bring him in to interview despite the fact that we’ve deemed him wholly unqualified.”

If you’re qualified for a role, and follow the abovementioned guidelines, you’ll be just fine. If not . . . well never say I didn’t warn you!