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Let me caveat this post with this: I have never been a recruiter. I don’t think I ever will be a recruiter. Most of what I’m saying below is based on my assumptions of what you do, could do or should do. Now, having said that, here’s why I think that every recruiter needs JibberJobber personally and as a tool in your trade.
When I was looking for a job I had contacted 29 recruiters. And I’m sure I was a pest. My skills were too general, and I didn’t find a recruiter that had any job opportunities that matched my skill level. I listed each recruiter in my cool spreadsheet and tried to keep tabs about once every two weeks. There was either no response or “I don’t have anything yet – check back later.” It was very discouraging and I felt that all of the recruiters were letting me down.
I really didn’t understand how you work, what your role was, and what my role was. And no one really explained it to me (seriously, a ten-minute talk on “how things work” would have been so helpful – perhaps at your company you can call it “the talk” and clue the candidates in).
This is where JibberJobber comes in. When you explain to me that you have opportunities, and you are trying to find the right candidate for current opportunities, I begin to undersand that I have a lot of work to do also. I need to understand that you aren’t going to list my target companies for me, and that you aren’t going to manage my network for me, and that you can’t sit with me for 3 hours and put together my elevator pitch and answer all of myinterview questions for me. I realize that some of you do this with some of your candidates but really, the ultimate burden of getting a job falls on me – and you need to let me know this (because I assumed you were going to be my silver bullet).
Tell me to sign up for JibberJobber – and manage all of this on my own. I will appreciate the fact that you gave me something of value – a tool that I didn’t know about before. I can get rid of my spiral notebook, my dozens of 3×5 
cards, the sticky notes, my convoluted Excel spreadsheet. You may not have an opportunity for me but at least now I understand what your role is, and what my role is. And for that I’ll be forever grateful.
So please, Mr. or Ms. Recruiter, do me a favor and tell me about the tools and processes. Teach me. Shoot, if you want a cheat sheet go to Harry Joiner’s MarketingHeadhunter.com site and steal his stuff (you’ll have to send him an e-mail to get the 28 tips – but isn’t it cool that he’s educating his candidates?). If you want another idea on how to add value and educate me go check out Carl Chapman’s blog. He is an executive recruiter that speaks to me – here is a wrap-up of his 10 ways to make rectuiters love you series (here it is on PDF).
Educate me. Give me something of value. And I’ll be indebted to you.
Now, on a personal level. Did you know that Keith Ferrazzi (the Never Eat Alone guy) calls you a power connector? “Headhunter” is one of the few professions that he names as power connector. That means that you know a lot of people, and are very well connected. He says that the rest of us need to develop relationships with you.
But what happens to all of your connections when you transition? Because you aren’t immune to the turnover cycles, bad bosses, changes in economy, etc. All the stuff that plagues us can bite you too. So what happens to all of those connections you’ve been developing?
Well, the truth is, you still own the relationships. Maybe not the business relationships – but you own the personal relationships. Is all of the important data on each of your personal relationships sitting in your employers ATS (that’s Application Tracking System for us non-recruiters)? When you leave (on happy or not-happy terms) do you think they are going to let you download your relationship information to take with you? Not likely.
I am a firm believer in tracking your personal relationships. This is your career – you need to treat it seriously. I’m not suggesting that you steal employer data. Or that you breach confidentiality or trust. But if you have a personal relationship with someone then you should manage that on a personal level.
In my humble opinion you should have your own personal ATS. Let’s just call it JibberJobber. There’s no reason why you shouldn’t sign up for JibberJobber and use it to manage your personal career information.
So there you go – that’s why I think every recruiter needs JibberJobber:
- To recommend it to your candidates, and
- To use personally.
Have I crossed a line? Do you agree or disagree?
I’m going to let you inside the not-so-crowded head of a recruiter and see the shadows behind the doors. This is going to come across negative, but I guarantee that if I’m thinking it, other people are, too.
My assumption is this: if it is on the web, it’ll be stolen. The parent company to TJMaxx / Ross just got most of their customer data stolen. Banks get their data stolen (though they rarely report it because of the bad publicity) and they’re pretty serious about security. The military gets their information stolen and they’re more serious about security.
In addition, it makes me dependent on you, your hosting service, and your business plan. If you do any of the standard “web 2.0” things (change business plan, change focus, or, God forbid, go out of business) then my ATS is down the drain.
I have, in fact, been thinking about JibberJobber as a potential ATS and will still investigate it to see it’s usefulness to that purpose. But these are the concerns that are lurking in the back of my head.
Can you slap a pacifier in my mouth, rock me to sleep, and assure me that it’ll all be okay?
Dan
Dan, I think that there is enough value in 400K credit card nubmers for someone to do whatever is necessary to get at them… not so with your 1000 or so contacts. IMHO -Carl
Dan – these are excellent points, and I know you aren’t the only one concerned with these issues. I’m going to respond in a separate blog post.
Jason
Carl,
I disagree vehemently.
Our contacts, whether they be 1,000 or 100,000 are what we’ve spent however long we’ve been in business ferreting out. They represent many man-years of work.
Why wouldn’t someone either new in recruiting or looking desperately for candidates to fill their positions want to steal people we’ve identified as good quality candidates?
Like the TJX theft, it represents millions of dollars of revenue to the thief. Unlike the TJX theft. there is almost zero risk of being caught.
And you’ve been in the industry long enough to know that many of our less ethical colleagues have done much worse for less.
Dan
Oh, I’ve seen people in our business do worse things alright… but I don’t think that there are organized rings of JibberJobber contact robbers who are just waiting to hack my data… unlike the 10’s of thousands of hackers who are trying to get at credit card databases.
Dan, I’m certainly not trying to start an argument, and my disagreement on this issue doesn’t rise nearly to the level of vehemence… But I’m don’t worry too much about people trying to acquire my ‘data’ per say… because even with that, they aren’t acquiring my relationships.
BTW, I wasn’t trying to lowball the number of contacts that you might store in JJ or your ATS. I know you are powerfully connected! 😉
Also, if you might be looking for a new ATS, check out Big Biller… Call Drea at (330) 455-1433 ext 156 and tell him Carl sent you. 🙂
The same people who are in the business of acquiring business directories for recruiters (in less than ethical ways) will steal the same sort of information from anywhere it is available.
I’ll check out Big Biller – thanks! My problem is being a 1 man show and finding something appropriate and still reasonably priced.
JibberJobber fits the bill if I could get over the data security thing…
Dan
Ok I blogged on my responses here: https://blog.jibberjobber.com/archives/508
Hi Jason,
I am both a recruiter and a career coach. I have counseled job seekers on the value of jibberjobber to track their job search. Good tool. I also have always “preached” the first step in a job search is to take charge of it yourself by making a list of your target companies within your industries. By doing that, as a job seeker, you can then use your own network and your recruiter’s network to contact insiders at those target companies when your recruiter doesn’t have hot jobs. Don’t wait for your perfect job to appear. Go create your job through the use of aggressive marketing tactics through direct approaches. What job seekers need to remember is that companies use outside recruiters when they are unable to find viable candidates, are just hiring at such volume or need temp/contract only employees.
Job seekers can’t wait for the phone to ring! Use good, reliable recruiters but don’t expect miracles. Do your own networking beyond the usual tactics. Cold call and research target companies and so on…And as far as taking contact info. My address book is mine and stays where it is safe. If you and I exchange e-mail addresses via an outlet such as LinkedIn then we have networked. But if I received your resume in a professional exchange at my current employer then that crosses the line of breaching a confidentiality agreement and you still “belong” to my employer if I left. Sorry! I like you but I can’t take you with me.
Hope this helps some.