I was recently sent an email from a contact in the Australian recruitment sector that I think raises some interesting questions about the value of true sourcing activities. It also takes a dig at “rec-to-recs” such as my own company, which is another matter but one I obviously need to address too.
Did anyone in NZ get this email with the title Are you struggling to find good recruiters?
Welcome to Benvolo. We are a research company and in essence we build contact lists for various industries.
• Rec to Rec’s deal with Unemployed, Unhappy and Unsuccessful recruiters – the Three U’s
• Good Rec to Rec candidates get multiple offers so you are in a Dutch-auction
• Attracting “passive” candidates is very expensive
We have the answer and the cost to you will probably be less than one tenth of a rec to rec fee.
We have just completed a range of contact lists outlined below for the recruitment industry
• UK Recruiters – Over 34,000 UK recruiters profiled by industry and with contact email addresses
• Oil & Gas – Over 4,500 O&G recruiters worldwide with contact email addresses
• Mining Recruiters – Over 2,200 mining recruiters worldwide with contact email addresses
That’s over 40,000 recruiters with names, company details, locations, sectors and email addresses – the Oil & Gas & Mining ones are included free of charge.
The best part is the cost – all three are available as a bundle for just £399. There is one catch though; there are only 10 copies available so it’s a first come basis only.
Yours,
Scott Morgan
Director
OK so firstly, “the Three U’s”:
Unemployed – yes we do deal with unemployed recruiters. Often it’s because they’ve recently arrived in the country from overseas, or perhaps are returning from maternity leave or some other kind of career break.
Unhappy – yep, some of our rec-to-rec candidates are unhappy with their current employer. Big revelation. Sometimes they have a personality clash with their boss, which requires further investigation, but sometimes it’s because they’ve had half their desk whisked away and handed to another consultant, or sometimes even not been paid on time.
Unsuccessful – yes we rec-to-recs do receive numerous CV’s from recruiters who haven’t made budget in their firm. The pressure’s on and they decide to look around. Naturally we get far more of these than CV’s from $500k+/year billers. Usually they wouldn’t get referred on (well I wouldn’t anyway), but sometimes there’s extenuating circumstances too. A million dollar biller can still fail working for the wrong brand and on the wrong desk.
But let’s be honest here, is any of this really that far removed from the desks of legal recruiters, of IT recruiters, or of Engineering recruiters? No, of course not. It’s just that we rec-to-recs are an easy target (and I admit there’s quite a few who’s behaviour does bring it on themselves). But the reality is that rec-to-recs are simply holding a mirror to the whole recruitment industry, and often what you revile is actually what you are yourself.
I’d also like to highlight a couple more points, if you’ll bear with me here. All this company has done is scrape the email addresses off the recruiter ads from a load of online job boards and built them into a list. These aren’t “passive candidates”. They are email addresses, probably amassed by some digital sweat shop in the sub continent somewhere. There’s no engagement here. You’re buying a list of emails that will earn you the reputation of the recruitment company that doesn’t really care what kind of recruiter they hire, they just want to spam the entire sector to see who might be stupid enough to put their hand up.
And some will. Because there’s plenty of stupid recruiters out there. But the irony in all of this is that I bet it will be one of the more bottom-feeding rec-to-recs out there that does purchase this list and spam the industry. It will happen, mark my words.
To finish, I’d also like to point out that the “catch” that there’s only 10 copies available is a lie. This is a base marketing tactic to limit supply, create an illusion of exclusivity and thereby spawn an aura of allure around the product. It’s a list of emails. It’s not limited to 10 copies, trust me, not unless it’s been printed on the bleached hides of stingrays.
Oh, and according to this the company, Benvolo, has been dissolved, and the Director started working in what looks like a proper job a couple of months ago. Just saying. Yeah, I can be petty sometimes too!
