OK let’s see a show of hands. Who out there received an “approach” from Hudson this week?
No? Not you?
Well either you aren’t a recruiter currently operating in New Zealand or Australia, or you haven’t adequately described and categorized yourself on your Linked In profile (I know there is a third option that you might not have a Linked In profile… *gasp* …but I doubt you’d be reading this blog if you haven’t even progressed that far yet).
If you don’t know what I’m on about then I can explain. This message quietly slipped into my Linked In inbox on Monday night:
Dear Jonathan Rice,
Hudson is the place where the best recruitment consultants do better.
From our A-list client base to a genuine focus on work/life balance, we invest heavily in supporting you so you can do what you do best.
Hudson is growing, and growing quickly. We’ve seen your LinkedIn profile and we’re keen to talk to you about joining the Hudson team. From A to Z, we can list the benefits of taking your next career step with Hudson.
We’re looking for talent management professionals and for recruitment consultants to join us across accounting & finance, sales & marketing, legal, human resources, ICT, office support, managed services, property, public sector, supply chain and technical & engineering.
If you’d like to find out more about why Hudson is the place where the best recruitment and talent management professionals do better, please email careers @ hudson and one of our team members will be in touch.
Pretty slick eh? Thanks but no thanks Hudson, I’d rather remain a supplier if you’ll have me, but I admire the tone, nature and innovation of your approach.
So what’s going on? How have Hudson managed to become a “Linked In Partner” and gain such unbridled access to all of our inboxes? I imagine they have probably signed up to Linked In Recruiter Professional Services which is a system that basically allows you to use Linked In as a giant global CRM database and do candidate searches and “e-shots” (terminology from my Hays days) to people’s Linked In profiles.
Makes sense really – I mean did you think Linked In were a Not-For-Profit or a Charity? Of course not. It’s just that they didn’t really have much of a focus on revenue generating strategies outside of the US until earlier this year when Australia surpassed 1 million Linked In users and they opened an office on Sydney’s Pitt Street. Steve Barham popped over from their Californian HQ as Director for recruitment solutions for their Australia and New Zealand markets and from that point on it was only a matter of time before we would start to see more premium Linked In usage entering our realms of reference.
One of the first to sign up was Rio Tinto’s internal recruitment team in Australia. Now it looks like Hudson are having a go with it too. So how effective do you think this will be? I’m sure this premium product must cost a fair premium too – will they get a decent ROI?
I have already heard from a few recruiters out there in New Zealand who have received this approach from Hudson. I’d be keen to see how wide the reach has been – feel free to leave a comment on the blog if you received it too (and yes, you can remain anonymous if you wish).
Most of all I’d be interested to hear your views on whether you feel this is an effective approach or not and, again anonymously, if any of you are planning on contacting them as a result.
I wish Hudson good luck with this new approach but I hope not too many of you say “yes” as I might need to start doing things a bit differently myself! Always up for a bit of innovation though!
Have a good Friday and weekend everyone – talk again soon.
I think it is a crass and lazy approach to recruiting your own staff. Basically it’s nothing more than spam. Such an approach would probably do more to turn off a decent recruiter rather than stimulate their interest in joining Hudson.
If this is the future of recruiting then God help us.
Agree with Ross above, this got a delete from me. I thought what wan&ers, best consultants do better…. best consultatns set up on thier own.
Well put Ross.
A ham-fisted approach, its only minor plus point is that they are the first to do it in the NZ Recruitment market.
Watching various members of my team chuckling dismissively as they briefly discussed the message is probably not the reaction Hudson were seeking though.
Would love to see a response from Hudson on this topic.
I agree whole heartedly with Ross
I’m with Ross. Just spam and incredibly lazy.
Tho maybe i am just bitter and twisted as I think I must be one of the few recruiters not to be ‘chosen’ for this – guess I just don’t make the grade!
Yeah I got it… forwarded it across the office as an example of lazy, non specific recruiting. I guess they’re just throwing a whole bunch of mud and hoping that some sticks. Every recruiter in Australia should know who Hudson and if they were interested in working for them, they would’ve contacted them already. What’s worse is there was no personal touch, no contact person to speak to, just an anonymous email address. Poor form from them and I can’t imagine too many quality recruiters would consider this a useful candidate attraction strategy.
rant over.
Hahaha…what ‘quality’ recruiter would actually follow up on this approach. Lazy recruitment, and a boring spam ad. This approach hardly works with candidates not in the recruitment game, let alone experienced, professional recruiters. I hope Hudson employ anyone who responds to this – as they are not what I’d consider quality…would certainly help decrease any kind of competition or competitive advantage Hudson currently have.
I got one – made me feel like a FIGJAM for 2 seconds – but reality hit pretty fast.
It’s innovative but lazy & sloppy – I wouldn’t want my staff recruiting this way
I agree with most comments above, isn’t part of recruiting making potential candidates feel a cut above the rest instead of knowing you were contacted as part of a mass marketing activity? To my way of thinking LI should be used professionally and not for spamming everyone with a ‘buzzword’ on their profile. I’m quite happy Hudson have been so specific as I’m sure this will inadvertantly got to some of their clients as internal recruiters, good to know Hudson aim for the top consultants not just anybody! I realise they just halved their office space in Auckland but still struggling to get consultants on board?
I received it, as did the other 3 recruiters in my team.
I find this approach a reflection of how they view their profession. Recruiters are paid for talent spotting, finding the absolute best in market and robust sourcing strategies.
I’ve only worked for 2 agencies, but I take pride in the process I went through to get my own job. A referral from a trusted senior member of our business was followed by 4 interviews, 3 reference checks and numerous testing. If you are a panel –beater would you drive a car with a key mark down the door? If you’re a web designer would you operate your business without a slick web-site of your own…….
lazy or innovative no matter. its a numbers game. those who are turned off by it I suspect would not consider working for Hudson anyway. Im guessing they only need a 2% response rate to make it worthwhile.
I think it’s a very lazy approach to an industry that is essentially built on servicing its clients and candidates. They got an abusive email from me to basically p*ss off!
Is this not turning people off using Linked in as a networking tool? How many managers, candidates are getting this sort of spam and how long before all the good talent and managers stop using Linkedin.
If you are going to contact people in this form you need to be adding value, not spamming.
The web and social networking is certainly creating more opportunities in the recruitment industry however, in my opinion this does not sit in the social networking category.
Depends on how people look at this, either from a candidate or recruiter’s POV. As a recruiter, I think LinkedIn is a very important tool but would approach LinkedIn users in a more direct manner. Advertising ads on groups pages and job pages should suffice and naturally let candidates gain interest. I do disagree with spam advertising; should have been a more direct and personal communication of a job or business opportunity.
From a candidate POV, what better way to get a job than get approached? Saves me time hunting a job when someone is actually looking to connect with me. LinkedIn is the Facebook of Recruitment.
Hudson’s LinkedIn email is targeted to candidates who they think are capable of doing the job. Would be utterly stupid to just micro-target and “spam” job opportunities. A recruiter would understand because spamming job opportunities will backfire and have too many application that are sh*t and would be difficult for a recruiter to filter through.
So let’s question the point of LinkedIn anyway… Why do people join it? It is like a professional Facebook, networking, seeing new opportunities…whether business ventures, products or even jobs.
Hypocritical for someone to say they joined LinkedIn to “network” with people and say they are NOT looking for better professional opportunities.
LinkedIn was always a hub for Recruitment, and its not a lazy approach, LinkedIn is a new style of CRM. Recruiting is going into social networking scene and experienced consultants look beyond job boards and resume screening to get their right candidates for the job.
If you can’t handle a message like that, get the hell out of LinkedIn. Don’t bother uploading your resume and update your “work details”.
If you think this is “lazy” or “crazy”… that’s ok, its your opinion anyway… But don’t go whinging and crying when your friend gets a better job than you when he/she gets approached through LinkedIn by an employer. Oh wait… yes, that’s happening as we speak.
Wow,
I’m really surprised they didn’t even bother to make this feel a little more like a personal message to the person receiving it. It seems very poorly thought out, or not thought out at all. They’ve just gone some way to losing the respect of the more experienced recruiters out there. Approaching people on Linkedin is fine and effective if done the right way. This certainly isn’t the right way. They won’t get 2%. If they get anywhere near that, they will only attract people that don’t understand recruitment. They may find some newbie’s to the industry with this approach, but certainly not proven performers. Once again, really surprised at this approach from Hudson.
Some people may think this is a lazy way of targeting consultants. However, just because you got the email does not mean that Hudson would actually employ you. They have one of the most in depth hiring processes I have ever seen. Especially since last year, when they changed their psych testing, which is now even harder to get through. Yes they are seeking new consultants to help build the business and to be one of the best in the market, but they are also aiming to have professionals and market specialists.
Linkedin is a sourcing and networking tool. That is exactly what they have done with it. They are one of the few companies who are learning the depth of the tool, and using it to their advantage.
Also for those who think that rec to rec’s are the best way to go – I think you’ll find that every rec to rec out there is emailing consultants from Hudson! There’s another in-house joke. Because Hudson have their own qualified internal hiring consultants, they know they will never get any work through Hudson so they are trying to poach their staff….
Some people may think this is a lazy way of targeting consultants. However, just because you got the email does not mean that Hudson would actually employ you. They have one of the most in depth hiring processes I have ever seen. Especially since last year, when they changed their psych testing, which is now even harder to get through. Yes they are seeking new consultants to help build the business and to be one of the best in the market, but they are also aiming to have professionals and market specialists.
Linkedin is a sourcing and networking tool. That is exactly what they have done with it. They are one of the few companies who are learning the depth of the tool, and using it to their advantage.
Also for those who think that rec to rec’s are the best way to go – I think you’ll find that every rec to rec out there is emailing consultants from Hudson! There’s another in-house joke. Because Hudson have their own qualified internal hiring consultants, they know they will never get any work through Hudson so they are trying to poach their staff….
Lazy, impersonal and spam!
An interesting reply above – funnily enough Anonymous but obvioulsy from a Hudson employee (probably an internal recruiter). You’re right -just because we got the e-mail doesn’t automatically mean Hudson would employ us, then why not be more specific and target those you want to employ, perhaps those people who would enhance your reputation instead of spamming the Auckland recruitment industry. Alternatively Hudson could go back to poaching settled and succesful teams from other consultancies which they have recently done….
Well done Hudson for the targeted marketing. I’m suprised it’s taken so long for other recruiters to get up in arms about this. Now we all know what its like on the other side of the fence. Expect to see more of this from other recruiters.
At least this bulk email was not done by Talent2….Anyone else get the bulk email with 500 recruiters email addresses in the To: field 2 weeks back? Gold
Annoymous you crack me up
“qualified internal hiring consultants” = failed recruiters
“psych testing”. why would psyche testing count as a failure or sucess marker? Surely this is a guide rather than something to make an interview harder. I believe I took a psyche test when I joined the S3 Group in 2004 and apparently I would have made a good mental nurse, but hey ho look I made it to be a pretty good recruiter in spite of the psyche test.
“They are one of the few companies who are learning the depth of the tool, and using it to their advantage.” Fair enough as linkedin is brilliant for headhunting exercises, but what happened to picking up the phone and calling someone?
Agree with the majority opinion – Lazy recruitment, find another career or spend your working days as an email administrator.
And you misspelt anonymous.
Sloppy, Lazy, Unprofessional… I see the same things replicated in the majority of the responses, and this is true.
However, there are many junior recruiters that have not yet been ‘around the traps’ that this may appeal to. It is simple, FAST, and will hit a lot of numbers. Even if the success rate isn’t high, I’ll put money on the fact that they will get some positive responses, hence making this all worthwhile.
Even now, we are all discussing their strategy, giving them another form of advertising and brand recognition.
After all, I dare say that Hudson’s target market isn’t highly experienced, long-in-the-tooth recruitment professionals that should be running their own business. Its young, savvy, salesy recruiters, and I think this marketing will appeal to a minority of them – but this is a minority that it would take a damn site longer to call one-by-one.
For anyone interested in the cost for Recruiter…
$8K per annum per seat
$5K one off set up
$25K per annum minimum spend on Li Product Suite
Yep, very expensive. Although make two or three placements and theres your money back. Easy to do if you have a strong sourcing team and a company who has the money to spend and is willing to do so!
As for Hudson, as a former employee (3yrs ago now), I never got this email which saddens me. NOT. But they bent over backwards for me whilst employed by them in London, Melbourne and Perth. I found it to be a great place to work. Personally I didnt like the tone of the email and there are better ways to make these LI approaches, but I applaude the forward thinking.
Just discovered this blog, I was headhunted with a personal approach by one of their aussie and nz internal recruiters, not interested but certainly not offended, especially as one was an ex-client I had dealt with over a few years.
While I think it could have been done better, the approach isn’t a bad one via LinkedIn. As it’s the first (and I hope not the only one) I’m sure they will have a must do better list next time.
I will watch, and wait witrh anticipation.
And, I didn’t get an invite either…. hmphft.