Tuesday, December 5, 2017

Is it ok to contact you directly on your work e-mail?

Last week, I received an e-mail from a target candidate. He was so offended by the fact that I had contacted him on his work e-mail that he took the time to share his feelings with me…in very clear words…

I can fully understand that someone does not like to receive calls on their cell phone. Let’s face it, most of us are in an open space office and receiving a call from a headhunter is uncomfortable at best.
Or imagine that you are in the car…with your boss…and you get me on hands free. Such an approach might not be the right way to engage you in an exploratory conversation.

I tend to turn to e-mail to pitch my opportunity in the hope that you will be attracted by it, or curious at least.
Obviously, there is LinkedIn, which is an easy way to get in touch and that is usually the starting point. But we all know that not everyone checks his or her LinkedIn account on a regular basis. When you have the right profile for a position, chances are that I will take the time to dig up an e-mail address that I can use to contact you directly. And in most cases, your work e-mail will be the easiest to find.

There are several ways to respond to my pitch e-mail.
When you are interested in this or future opportunities but you prefer to stay in touch through a private e-mail address, you can simply ask me to use another e-mail for future correspondence or even easier, send me a reply from your private account.
When you are not interested, a simple ‘thanks but no’ will do the trick. But it is equally fine to just delete it. I’ll get the message and I won’t be contacting you again.

When you do direct search, like I do, there is no other way than to invade your privacy to find to out whether you are open to explore new job opportunities. After all, my clients pay me to find the best possible candidate for a position. So rather than being offended by the ‘creative’ ways I use to get your attention, consider it a compliment, a sign that your profile is attractive to other employers.

Nevertheless, the clear words of my candidate resonate so here is here is my question for you: what is your preferred way of being contacted for job opportunities?


I look forward to hearing from you,
Isabel


Through a personalized and tailor-made approach, Ingenium Executive Search aspires to assist you in attracting the right talent that matches the DNA of your company

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