Insights into the forces shaping our industry.

I am always amazed at what people put into an email.  When I had an advertising job in my earlier years, they used to say, “you live with your sins in print.”  In today’s social media world, your mistakes stays in the cyber world forever.  It is funny, we tell our kids, “don’t put anything you don’t want on Facebook or Twitter that a college or school can see”; yet, it amazes me adults don’t practice the same advice.  Look at LinkedIn, a professional networking tool, almost every business uses, you should have a professional photo of yourself on your page, a logo or no picture.  Napoleon Dynamite is not a good choice nor is your cat or dog for your profile picture.  When you write something for your professional life, make sure it is written correctly and spell checked. There is the guy who can’t write a cohesive statement and wants to know why he is not getting the job as a National Sales Manager of a large company.  There are always those candidates who have typos in their resume.

As recruiters, we have seen a lot. This week I received a very vulgar response from a Managing Partner in a wire and cable company, where he basically cursed me out for reaching out to one of his employees via email, he then, less than 5 days later, wanted me to help him find two sales reps. REALLY? Did you think I had already forgotten about the email 5 days before? No, I have that in your file. What kind of President/Managing Partner of a company writes like that? Why would I want to bring people to your company to work for a rude jerk?  I, personally, have more ethics and character than to bring people to a company that insults people like that. I understand being upset when people leave your company for the competition; but as recruiters, we have never forced someone to leave a company where they were being challenged, appreciated, and well paid.   I say to all managers, owners and leaders of companies – don’t be mad at me, make your company a place where people want to stay, grow and accomplish great things with the company and the team you have created.   Remember what you write in an email, it will be around for a long time; so, you should always remember “you live with your sins in print.”