Over at ERE there is a post by David Szary on his blog 3-O'Clock Coffee Break going into some detail about how Memorial Day is the best time to recruit passive candidates.
First off, I don't know David and I have no personal issues with him. I am sure he is a nice guy and knows his stuff. That said, I have to take professional issue with some of the recommendations in his blog post.
While David is correct that Memorial Day, and for that matter the days leading up to holidays in general, is a good time to recruit (calling the Thursday and Friday before Memorial day are great times connect with people) the tactical recommendations in this blog post are not the best.
Here are the 3 recommendations from David with my thoughts interspersed:
Develop a target list of passive candidates and do a "networking" email blast followed up by a phone call (concurrently or within a few hours). Volume is the key, get your message out to as many people as possible.
Email blasts are notoriously ineffective and have a low ROI. Great talent will shun this approach because it isn't relational enough and it has a dirty telemarketing feel to it. Recruiting is, at its very core, a relationship driven profession. Trying to recruit talent absent a relationship, even of the most minimal nature, is an exercises in futility. In this tactical scenario, the email and the call is "allegedly" about them but the agenda is all yours. You don't just email "blast" high performing talent about you and your job and hope that someone will respond to you when you call. This is the same tactic played out in bars everywhere at 3 a.m. in the morning. If you aren't familiar with that analogy you should listen to and watch this. Volume does not replace quality in recruiting EVER.
Misery loves company. Hold a contest between your fellow recruiters on Thursday and Friday. Track # of emails sent, # of responses, # of people you talk too, etc. Having fun with this activity a day or two before the holiday is critical to you actually staying out of "Holiday mode".
I am all about contests and metrics but let's measure something of value. How many recruiting calls generated a "yes, I would be open to staying abreast of opportunities that might be better than the one I am in today" response? Of those, how many "career wounds" were uncovered? More importantly, how many of those contacts turned into interviews and send outs? Measuring activity for the sake of measuring activity will not accomplish anything. I agree that recruiters need to engage in the right activities and behaviors in order to get results but in this case let's measure the right behaviors.
Follow up with everyone you contact on Wed./Thursday (48 hours) after the day they come back. Again, a good % of folks were out of the office, this is a chance to connect with those that probably deleted your email/voice mail. You can say something like . . I reach out to you before the holiday. I wanted to follow up to discuss . . . . "
Do you really think that those that deleted your email and voice mail are very open to hearing from you with your telemarketing speal yet again after their relaxing holiday weekend? Look at the recommended recruiting call language - "I reached out to you before the Holiday. I wanted to follow up to discuss....". The call is all about you (the recruiter) and not about them (the talent). I am confident what follows the word "discuss" in this sentence is something about your firm, your client or your search you are working on. Why would high performing talent want to hear about you and your search without knowing a little about you and the kind of work you do? Why would they listen unless they have a reason to listen? Why would they listen when you sound like every other recruiter that is calling them all the time? Why would they listen when you (the recruiter) haven't even bothered to show any respect for them and their needs but rather made the call about you.
On top of that you did it in the midst of a family and friend oriented holiday. Go ahead, make calls before Memorial Day. It's a great time to talk to passive talent. Just make sure you are executing properly and doing the right things.
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