Today I had a call from a Boston-based IT recruitment firm, the name of which I’ll keep to myself but the experience applies to most firms I’ve dealt with – with a few exceptions to be fair. But only a few. The call descended into a discussion on the value of recruitment firms – a little deep for the time of day.

THIS is the essence of the problem with recruitment people: They seek a fast sale, and I don’t. 

Recruiters want to hire fast – but with rare exceptions I want to hire slow. Not slowly like a snail but carefully, with deliberation, finding the right people to join our team.  

Like quality food that takes time to prepare.  Hiring without unreasonably draining the team’s precious time with the getting-up-to-speed needs of three newbies at once. Even more reason to hire independent, resourceful people. Takes time and intelligence to find those qualities.

So to all recruiters: I don’t care if the ideal candidate whom you still haven’t yet sent me a resume for is in his car AND in the area AND could see me in 30 minutes time. If he knows we’re hiring AND wants to work for us he (or she) will still be available next Tuesday at 10am.  If he takes the next job that comes along that’s fine I’ll have to live with it, and move on to finding people who are not just after a 9-to-5 gig.