CareerPlug

Sometimes we have a prospective client ask us if we can do an “email blast” for them. When this happens, I smile and politely tell them that we do not offer that service (but we would be happy to run a “personalized email campaign” for them). Ask our employees, and they will tell you that “email blast” is high on the list of things not to say at CareerPlug (along with “spam” and “solicit”). I am cringing as I write these words…

When I hear the word Blast, I think of an explosion that hits everything in site. Sure, you may be “targeting” your Blast, but it is probably with as much precision as a someone with a grenade launcher would. The general thought behind this being: “well, close is good enough”.

But is it really good enough?

I recently spoke with a recruiting manager at a Fortune 500 company that recruits sales professionals across that country. He told me that their hiring process is very selective, and that candidates must have at least a year of outside sales experience to qualify. He also informed me that they use a software program to “scrape” candidates from the job boards and “blast” thousands of emails each day. When he told about the broad search string that they use (basically “sales” with a few NOTs), it was clear to me that this was a true Email Blast hitting tons of unqualified candidates.

While this approach may save some time on the front end, consider:

• How many unqualified candidates are in these campaigns (retail sales reps/admins for a sales manager/etc)?
• How much time will their recruiters spend following up with unqualified candidates who apply?
• How many bad candidate experiences did they create for people who could be current/potential customers?
• How many legitimately qualified candidates did not apply because they were not enticed by the generic email?

Even though it takes a little more work upfront, CareerPlug believes that the best results happen when you limit the campaign to the qualified candidates that you would want to interview. This allows you to:

1. Attract more qualified candidates by focusing your message and truly engaging your target audience.
2. Save your recruiters’ time and make it easy for them to identify candidates who are worth additional attention.
3. Avoid wasting the time of candidates who are not qualified for this position. Remember, they may be your customers.

In summary, save the blasts for cannons and space shuttles, and please keep them out of your email campaigns.

I responded to a post on ERE.net today that asked the group for advice on approaching a high-volume hiring project. Since sourcing candidates for these types of positions is our specialty, I contributed my two cents. Unlike traditional sourcing/research (for passive candidates), this situation calls for more of a recruitment marketing approach (with some logistics and event planning mixed in). Note that I did very little self promotion, unlike some other responses that proclaimed that using their service would solve everything.

Here’s the original post and my response: Read the rest of this entry »