How Not To Contact Someone About a Job

In today’s world where information is very accessible I continue to find it perplexing that some recuiters clearly aren’t doing their jobs better. My LinkedIn profile is up to date.  My Facebook profile is open to the public.  My bio is available on both iMedia and on this site.  With all the information you have about me you should be able to laser focus only on jobs that are clearly in line with experience.

Today I received the following email from a recruiter:

“Hi Adam,

My name is [name] and I’m a recruiter with a company called [company name]. I came across your resume on LinkedIn today and am very interested in speaking with you about a job opportunity. The position is with a great advertising client in the Minneapolis area. This is a direct hire opportunity that offers great compensation, benefits and a highly creative atmosphere. I have attached the job description for your review.

If you are interested, please give me a call at your earliest convenience so we can discuss in further detail. If not, would you know of anyone who might be interested?

Thank you for your time,

[name]

So that sounds interesting and let’s be honest even if you are happy with your current job, you’d be foolish not to look. So I look at the position description that was attached and the following jumped out at me “Mid-Level to Senior Level positions available (3+ years of required experience). Senior Level people should be capable of leading large-scale integrated and interactive projects on national accounts. All applicants should have excellent multi-tasking skills, and can expect to juggle multiple projects and clients. ”

Why on Earth would you send a position requiring 3 years of experience to someone with 12? My response to the recruiter was:

“[name]

Thanks for thinking of me. But I’m not sure this is a great fit for me. I’ve got 12 years of experience and this position seems substantially more junior.

Adam”

I thought that was a nice, simple, truthful response. It was clear that the recruiter never took the time to look at my profile, understand what I’ve done, and what I’d like to be doing. Instead they simple did a blanket search for people in the Minneapolis area who have Interactive experience.

Folks, the web gives you so much useful information. Please take advantage of it.