Recruiters from Linkedin

Over the last couple of years, I had noticed that people were contacting me via linkedin for job opportunities. The first thing that came to my mind was where were these guys when I was unemployed for 7 months? The would have been real helpful during that time period.

I was starting to think I was ranking up and becoming a more valuable employee. Unfortunately, after interacting with a few of them, I came to realize that they were just salesmen and were using the spray and pray technique to fulfill their quotas. I have no ill will towards them, this is just the way our world works and everyone has to make a dollar.

So I asked a recruiter how the process works and the staffing agencies pay linkedin good money for advertising and or leads. Nowadays, when I see a message from a recruiter, I don't really pay that much attention however I remember one instance where the recruiter wasn't even trying to go for a match.

The position was for an accounting controller. For anyone who doesn't know, the position of controller is the highest position if an accountant doesn't become a CPA and start his own firm. Controllers make six figure salaries and require in excess of 8 to 10 years of experience.

I received the blurb for the opportunity and I saw the tagline at the bottom. If you or anyone you know is interest in this position, please email me. This is also another technique used by salesmen to get leads.

In the field of accountancy, I'm pretty much a low level grunt and was nowhere near qualified for the position. If I had even tried to apply for the job, I'm pretty sure the HR manager would just hang up. However I decided to have a little bit of fun with this guy.

This position paid a salary of $120,000 a year. So I sent the recruiter the following email.

$120,000 seems kind of low. Over my last 8 years of experience in the field, I have managed to crash six successful companies into complete bankruptcy. Upon my dismissal, my golden parachute was always in excess of $50,000. I think a salary of $150,000 would be a fair price for me to extend my services to your client.

Send.

I'd like to say I never heard from the guy again however he did reply to my email saying that the salary of $120,000 was nonnegotiable. Even though he won't admit it in the email, I'd like to think I made him laugh.