Tuesday July 7th, 2009
Summer Fun: True tales from the recruiting front lines

Which is why it's not surprising that we tend to accumulate a rich archive of 'Strange but True' stories from the recruiting front lines. Some stories are horrific, some heartwarming - and many are just downright hilarious.

With the summer vacation season upon us, July's a great time to kick back, relax, and talk about recruiting. From the fellow who put his name and phone number on a billboard to the one who used racial slurs in his cover letter, to some of the most brilliant and creative resumes we've seen, we'll be sharing some of our favourite recruiting stories.

And we'd like to hear yours, too!

Got a great recruiting story? Post it as a comment below or send it to us at sarah@head2head.ca (let us know if you'd like to stay anonymous!).

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fun   summer  

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Comments

maren - July 9th 2009 4:38 PM
 
The worst recruiting story I ever had was about 10 years ago. I got a call out of the blue from some agency recruiter who I'd never heard of (god knows where she got my name). She started to pitch me on an 'account executive' job in an ad agency, but after a couple of minutes I stopped her, saying "Actually, that job is too junior for me."

HER: [impatiently, mad that I'd interrupted her] "How do you know? I haven't even finished telling you about it yet!"

ME: "I think I do understand the role, actually. It's probably paying around $45k and is more tactical than strategic, right?"

HER: "Well - yes. It'd be perfect for you. I mean, $45k is more than you're making now, isn't it?"

ME: "Actually, no. I'm making twice that - "

HER: "What? I can't believe it! Who'd pay you that much? Huh - that's WAY more than you're worth. You sure lucked out."

ME: [speechless, then laughing] "Well, I guess it's good that my current employer isn't as familiar with my skills, experience and abilities as you are, then. I sure hope they never find out that they're overpaying me by tens of thousands of dollars! By the way, where did you get my name?"

HER: "Someone recommended you - I can't say who."

ME: "Riiggght. Well, perhaps you'd better go back to your database. I need to go back to my overpaid work."

I mean - what??! I wish I could remember that recruiter's name - I wonder if she lasted in the business more than 5 minutes, or whether her abusive, "I'm doing you a favour" attitude actually worked with some people.

Anonymous - July 9th 2009 5:22 PM
 
How about the time I called the recruiter after the interview to say "Just wanted to let you know the client said the were 99% certain they would be hiring me within the next week..."

The recruiter's response?

"[silence, then] Wow! I thought I'd NEVER be able to place you, but you've been my easiest placement in WEEKS!"

(sigh)

Thanks for the vote of confidence there, buddy. I'm cheesed off that you never believed in me anyway (because obviously you only sent me to that interview to shut me up); if I were the client, I'd ALSO be cheesed off, because basically you're sending them what you think are dud candidates!

Anonymous - July 10th 2009 12:17 PM
 
I am an agency recruiter dealing with technical and professional roles. Some of my meetings with candidates take place in restaurants or in this case a Williams coffee shop. In this case the candidate showed up 25 minutes late and in an agitated state. She had been unable to find a babysitter so had her 3 year old son in tow. He had a serious cold as evidenced by his streaming nose. She had nothing to amuse the child so he began climbing across the table, down on the floor and into her lap. At one stage we had sugar poured across the table and onto the floor. All of this was obviously amusing other patrons but made it virtually impossible to maintain any flow to the interview. At one point the candidate said "I guess that you are not impressed"; I was too polite to say No and that she should have called to cancel our meeting.

Kiera Brown - July 29th 2009 10:54 AM
 
In the 80's I was recruiting for a bilingual Executive Assistant for a major automotive company. The applicant arrived, with, what I thought was a sweater under her arm, but it was a baby wrapped in a blanket. She apologized that her babysitter had fallen through, and we proceeded with the interview. After about 10 minutes, the baby started to cry, and the mother did not miss a beat, started to breast-feed....as I slowly closed my office blinds as my window faced the main lobby!

K - July 31st 2009 4:07 PM
 
Don't have a story to add (not in public, anyways!) -- but I loved reading these. Thanks for the laugh!

About the Authors

Paul Dodd
Co-founder and President
Head2Head Canada

Paul has one simple goal: To help companies hire great people - and get the most out of every recruiting dollar they spend. That's why he's recognized as one of the best recruitment-industry thinkers in Canada.

Sarah Welstead
Director, User Experience
Head2Head

Passionate about recruitment branding and delivering great candidate experiences, Sarah is a frequent author and media commentator on older workers and generational trends in the talent market.

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