1997. I was attending a vocational school night classes in Lacey, WA (since bankrupt) in an attempt to learn how to type and be a receptionist. I had two little babies at home and I knew I need to get some training and make some money. Natalie (I can’t remember her last name) was the branch manager of our local Office Team. She came to speak with all of us students about “temping”, why we should consider signing up with Office Team after our training and we knew how to answer phones and file documents. She stood there in her branch manager suit, all polished and professional, and I knew in that moment – I wanted to be Natalie when I grew up.
So began my path to recruiting.
I signed to be a temp for Office Team, and spent several weeks covering the front desk while their receptionist was on parental leave. When I was offered a role as a Staffing Manager, I couldn’t run away fast enough. All the Staffing Managers I worked with went home crying every day – no way in hell I was signing up for that. Fast forward a few more months and I somehow networked my way into a recruiting gig for a local boutique firm hiring truck drivers. Thus began my recruiting career.
Twenty years later, I’m living the good life as a senior recruiter for a well known tech brand. I’ve learned SO much over the years, the most important lesson is that I’m actually really good at this. I often joke that I’ve been in recruiting so long that I literally cannot do anything else. Probably true, but besides the point.
In all my years I’ve seen disruptive new models come and go. There was the company that offered to pay you to speak to recruiters (it’s ok they’re working on a relaunch). The latest is a firm that is going to do some cool stuff with blockchain and prepaid visas. I listened to the amazing Chad and Cheese Podcast about this today and there was a reference to “Equifax for Resumes” which frankly freaked me the hell out.
Am I in a Black Mirror episode??
Y’all can read the posts and listen to the podcasts yourselves, but let me just say this – ALL of this seems to hinge on the willingness of job seekers to be, well, seeking a job. There’s also apparently a claim that the 5% fee received by the JOB SEEKER is enough for a so called passive individual to make a change. There’s also some discussion about how staffing agencies can actual leverage this tool – which is FASCINATING since the early premise seemed to be that staffing agencies suck or something (my words not theirs, simmer down internet folk).
Alrighty. All that, leading up to THIS – Turn Recruitment Into a Second Income.
I’m CRYING, y’all.
So the basic premise (maybe?) is that you can do this really hard work on the side and by leveraging the fine folks behind this shiny new tool, make some side money. After all, You go and get a job requirement from a company, agree to your terms with them at a 20% fee.
That’s all! Just go get a job requirement. From a company. Get them to agree to your terms at 20% fee.
Easy peasy.
Sure, working with this outfit reduces your fee, but they also remove all the risk and challenges recruiters face and skip right to the money making part (absolutely THEIR words this time, y’all. You can’t make this shit up).
I gotta tell you my emotions are all over the place with this. I went from being mildly amused to pissed off to confused and now am squarely in the sit back and pop some popcorn camp. I think recruiting is BIG ENOUGH for all kinds of people to try all sorts of neat things and make great money doing it. What I DON’T like is anyone reducing my hard work to a simple transaction.
In a phrase, F*CK OFF.
I work REALLY hard to engage people who otherwise wouldn’t consider a job change. I consult all the time with managers, convincing them to take chances on people who may not look “right” on paper. I constantly peel back the layers to understand the emotional currency of my candidates, and try to help them navigate the really hard, complex interview process at my company. I GIVE A SHIT about my clients and candidates. I did at my last several companies. I’ll do it again at the next one.
If you think you can distill all that hard emotional heavy lifting into signing up for a f*cking job board you don’t know recruitment.
Now – if your premise (which is what I took away from the podcast) is that you’re a supplement to recruiting firms / TA teams, that’s cool. But that’s not your premise, right…? You LITERALLY POSTED that recruiting is basically driving around and picking people up in your car.
To the founders, executives, writers, anyone involved that wants to discuss – let’s do it. Amy@recruitinginyogapants.com. I’m open to a conversation – I’ll give you my personal cell phone and we can talk all about it. We could even meet on the Recruiting Animal Show. Let’s talk about how I can make great money with no qualification. Surely you didn’t mean it to come across the way it did…
Right?
