I’m a recruiter AMA

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When it comes to a position that will manage a small team of direct reports in a medium-sized public company, what is your view of an otherwise-qualified candidate who has not had direct reports, but for 10+ years was the leader of cross-functional teams for very large, C-suite facing deals at an F100? Assume the candidate has excellent references both from his/her manager and from junior personnel that the candidate coached and mentored.

Cross Functional/Project/Indirect leadership is HARDDD, so Kudos PP. Before recruiting I was a matrix leader, I had direct reports and a whole bunch of people who indirectly reported in - that’s a euphemism for they could ignore me at any time. Positional authority was so much easier than the indirect management but the key is to translate the work and experience you have into People Leadership.

Your success in landing the position will depend a lot on what is going on with the team.
If the team needs to be Assembled, Formed, or are Newly Built and they need someone to Coach/Mentor/Engage/Delegate (the happy stuff of people management) you likely have direct experience to draw on.
If the team however is in trouble and they need Performance Management, ‘Difficult Conversations Need to Be Had’ and the Leader ‘Needs to Make a Call,’ this is where your experience may fall short if you’ve never had to terminate someone and stay compliant/legal.

Things to reflect on:
If at any point the managers of the people on your teams:
Came to you for Feedback about their people…
Asked you to coach someone on their team because that person related to you during the project…
Inquired about promotion of the individual (every matrix is different)…
Asked about how to staff up for the future…
….you are very close to the stuff of people management, and you should prepare these go-to examples.

Definitely ask: What’s going on with the team today / How would you describe the health of the team - as one of your Q&A questions. Their response will be a clue to your chances. Good Luck!

Thanks PP! The recruiter said that the prior manager was “beloved,” so they are looking for someone to continue to support and develop that team. Would it be appropriate to send the recruiter several reference letters from people I mentored in our cross-functional teams? I have letters from coworkers a variety of roles, all indicating that I’ve been instrumental in developing their skills and trajectory.

Going to be honest, I wouldn’t want to receive those unprompted. If the interview has already happened the recruiter has already decided whether they are going to advance you based on your interview. If the recruiter asked ‘what is your experience in managing others/have you managed others’ it’s a Qualifying question (see my previous note on it) and you may be up against others who have the experience.

It’s sounds like you really want this role - maybe send a follow up note inquiring status with a mention about your impact on others. If the recruiter gets back to you quickly, within a couple of days, that could be positive as we keep candidates who are in the running ‘warm.’ Again good luck and keep applying!

Thanks OP! The recruiter did send me a LinkedIn request after the interview, and a nice response to my thank you email. It’s been about 10 days since interview. I’ll send the follow up note as you suggest. Thanks!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Posters should stop blaming this OP recruiter for “age discrimination”, or hearing the bad news that resumes are important and that things like fonts and emails matter. That is just the state of the working world and they are just sharing their perspective.

Don’t shoot the messenger. He or she is doing you a favor, telling you these things are impacting the hiring process.

Nobody is blaming this recruiter. I do think this recruiter may be reflecting more about their specific company than they think.

Nobody cares about work experience from more than 15 years ago is telling. That's all.

DCUM is a core Gen-X site. So it's surprising to be told that a decade + of work experience doesn't require mentioning.

The truth is that knowing/networking with the hiring manager is always the best way. Not relying on the resume screen.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Posters should stop blaming this OP recruiter for “age discrimination”, or hearing the bad news that resumes are important and that things like fonts and emails matter. That is just the state of the working world and they are just sharing their perspective.

Don’t shoot the messenger. He or she is doing you a favor, telling you these things are impacting the hiring process.

Nobody is blaming this recruiter. I do think this recruiter may be reflecting more about their specific company than they think.

Nobody cares about work experience from more than 15 years ago is telling. That's all.

DCUM is a core Gen-X site. So it's surprising to be told that a decade + of work experience doesn't require mentioning.

The truth is that knowing/networking with the hiring manager is always the best way. Not relying on the resume screen.

The OP recruiter isn’t just making up the 10-15 years experience only thing or basing it on their company. That’s pretty standard advice and once of the things to counter the rampant ageism in hiring practices.

https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/resumes-cover-letters/how-many-years-should-you-go-back-on-a-resume

Just because it hurts doesn’t mean it’s not the truth. I’m Gen X too and I don’t want to get tossed out or not get an interview just because I’m listing my Fortune 500 experience from the 90s on my resume.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Posters should stop blaming this OP recruiter for “age discrimination”, or hearing the bad news that resumes are important and that things like fonts and emails matter. That is just the state of the working world and they are just sharing their perspective.

Don’t shoot the messenger. He or she is doing you a favor, telling you these things are impacting the hiring process.

Nobody is blaming this recruiter. I do think this recruiter may be reflecting more about their specific company than they think.

Nobody cares about work experience from more than 15 years ago is telling. That's all.

DCUM is a core Gen-X site. So it's surprising to be told that a decade + of work experience doesn't require mentioning.

The truth is that knowing/networking with the hiring manager is always the best way. Not relying on the resume screen.

The OP recruiter isn’t just making up the 10-15 years experience only thing or basing it on their company. That’s pretty standard advice and once of the things to counter the rampant ageism in hiring practices.

https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/resumes-cover-letters/how-many-years-should-you-go-back-on-a-resume

Just because it hurts doesn’t mean it’s not the truth. I’m Gen X too and I don’t want to get tossed out or not get an interview just because I’m listing my Fortune 500 experience from the 90s on my resume.

I see. So you think pretending you're 40 until called is a success strategy?

If they are looking for 40, then 50 isn't going to work. Because many times the ageism is about wanting somebody younger in a direct report.

However, if I ever need to, it seems it's perfectly acceptable to delete 20 years of work history and then claim "everyone knows what you did that long ago is irrelevant" with a straight face.

That is oddly freeing!

[Anonymous]

Do you see virtual jobs becoming less and less every year or are they holding steady? Do you see way more applications for virtual or partially remote jobs compared to in-person jobs?

[Anonymous]

I went through two rounds of interviews - one with the corporate recruiter and one with the hiring manager. In the interview with the corporate recruiter, she said she would like to schedule a video interview with the hiring manager, and we scheduled it during the call. During the interview with the hiring manager, he asked if I would be interested in coming in for an in person interview to meet the whole team and I said yes. He said he would leave it to the corporate recruiter to reach out to organize it. She reached out to ask for my availability on 4 specific days. I responded the same day and provided my availability for three different times. This was over 11 days ago and I haven't heard back. I followed up once and I still haven't heard back. Should I assume I am being ghosted? I am so confused because both interviews went really well. I assume they are moving forward with a preferred candidate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I went through two rounds of interviews - one with the corporate recruiter and one with the hiring manager. In the interview with the corporate recruiter, she said she would like to schedule a video interview with the hiring manager, and we scheduled it during the call. During the interview with the hiring manager, he asked if I would be interested in coming in for an in person interview to meet the whole team and I said yes. He said he would leave it to the corporate recruiter to reach out to organize it. She reached out to ask for my availability on 4 specific days. I responded the same day and provided my availability for three different times. This was over 11 days ago and I haven't heard back. I followed up once and I still haven't heard back. Should I assume I am being ghosted? I am so confused because both interviews went really well. I assume they are moving forward with a preferred candidate.

I’m the OP. Wow they really liked you to give such positive indicators of moving forward - in two rounds too! This is one of those cases where anything could be happening behind the scenes - they found someone else, an internal candidate stepped into the process, the role is put on hold, they are re-evaluating… It wouldn’t hurt to follow up just one more time. Then if you still haven’t heard back - let it go. And if that’s the case try to remember what you did/said/prepared during the interview and do that again! I rarely rarely schedule the next round while on the initial call so you definitely made a positive impression!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do you see virtual jobs becoming less and less every year or are they holding steady? Do you see way more applications for virtual or partially remote jobs compared to in-person jobs?

I think the first question is largely company and industry dependent. My current company is entirely remote which definitely appeals to candidates. My previous company was hybrid RTO and we still got plenty of applicants even if the incumbents were being noisy about coming back 3 days a week.

I see hundreds hundreds so so many applicants for our IT or IT adjacent roles it’s obvious there is massive churn happening out there. Like I have full software developers applying for help desk positions it’s crazy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I went through two rounds of interviews - one with the corporate recruiter and one with the hiring manager. In the interview with the corporate recruiter, she said she would like to schedule a video interview with the hiring manager, and we scheduled it during the call. During the interview with the hiring manager, he asked if I would be interested in coming in for an in person interview to meet the whole team and I said yes. He said he would leave it to the corporate recruiter to reach out to organize it. She reached out to ask for my availability on 4 specific days. I responded the same day and provided my availability for three different times. This was over 11 days ago and I haven't heard back. I followed up once and I still haven't heard back. Should I assume I am being ghosted? I am so confused because both interviews went really well. I assume they are moving forward with a preferred candidate.

I’m the OP. Wow they really liked you to give such positive indicators of moving forward - in two rounds too! This is one of those cases where anything could be happening behind the scenes - they found someone else, an internal candidate stepped into the process, the role is put on hold, they are re-evaluating… It wouldn’t hurt to follow up just one more time. Then if you still haven’t heard back - let it go. And if that’s the case try to remember what you did/said/prepared during the interview and do that again! I rarely rarely schedule the next round while on the initial call so you definitely made a positive impression!

Thanks for your feedback! I thought they must have really liked me too since they both asked to set up the next interview while on the call. I don't think I am going to reach out again - if I don't hear back from them, that is my answer. It's a red flag to me that they were so positive and receptive to me and then went completely silent, so I don't want to chase them at this point.

[Anonymous]

no yahoo email? should not use 703 area code cell phone # either?

[Anonymous]

Have spoken to five people at a company, the last on Friday the 13th. After interviewing with both the CEO and head of HR, each sent me a LinkedIn invitation the same day. Did not hear anything last week or today. When should I send a quick email if no response? Have been interacting with them since late December.

[Anonymous]

I just received my first auto-generated email from a recruiter. My profile matched a number of keywords on the job opening. I was also asked to send the job description along to anyone I knew, if I didn't think it was a match for my skills.

It was a terrible match!

Is this the future of recruiting?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Have spoken to five people at a company, the last on Friday the 13th. After interviewing with both the CEO and head of HR, each sent me a LinkedIn invitation the same day. Did not hear anything last week or today. When should I send a quick email if no response? Have been interacting with them since late December.

That’s a lot of conversations and a long time! Tough to say. I’m thinking the mtg with the CEO and HR leader were the final stop of the process? You’re likely in the final stages. I would send an email this week for sure. Good Luck!

[Anonymous]

OP, do you work in a recruiting firm, or in a corporation?

For an attorney with 20 years of experience, should they focus on using a recruiter to help them land a position? It seems like applying via LinkedIn/websites and ATS is skewed against more seasoned candidates.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, do you work in a recruiting firm, or in a corporation?

For an attorney with 20 years of experience, should they focus on using a recruiter to help them land a position? It seems like applying via LinkedIn/websites and ATS is skewed against more seasoned candidates.

I’m internal. For our in house counsel we do both direct postings (on our website which migrate over to job boards like LinkedIn Indeed etc) and occasionally we will leverage headhunters. If I were you I would do both. Find the 3 headhunters known for your specialty and simply make contact. They’ll ask you for an updated resume and will ask about your goals next steps salary expectations etc. Just remember that they won’t land you a job, but they will shop you around if they have been tapped by companies to do a specific search. Like, they will tell you’re a great match for the position they have, and they are telling it to 4 other people. They are being paid 30% of your salary to fill the pipeline with candidates and resumes. Headhunters play a critical role in the job seeking universe especially for senior roles. Just be eyes wide open about them. And then keep an eye out for roles posted direct by companies too. Good luck!