‘Crazy’ Recruiting Story: Don’t Stand Too Close to Me . . .
The crazy recruiting stories keep pouring in as part of our “Craziest Recruiting Story of 2011” contest . . . so we’re going to keep publishing them! (After all, that’s what you want.) And all of these stories are like snowflakes or fingerprints—none of them are exactly alike. They all have their distinctly different shade of crazy, which makes perfect sense if you’re a recruiter. You know exactly what can happen on a daily basis in this profession, so much so that what might seem crazy to the rest of the world is perfectly routine for you.
This week’s story was submitted by a Top Echelon Network Preferred Member recruiter, and this is one of the few stories that ended with a recruiter actually placing the candidate. He didn’t place the candidate once, either. Schutt placed him three times! That, perhaps more than anything, is what makes the story so “crazy.”
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“I received a resume from a Case graduate—Master’s Degree, BSEE, Putnam Fellow honors, etc. This was about 1986 or so, when I worked for another agency in Beachwood. The interview rooms faced south with a window about 8’ x 8’. The secretary said that there was somebody to see me, but that I should hold my nose. I went into the room and shook the guy’s hand.
“He was about 6-4 and as skinny as you can get, with a button-down shirt that was buttoned all the way to the top with no tie and flood pants. There were salt stains from his armpits to within about four inches of his pants. I thought I was going to die from the smell. By policy, we closed the door for an interview, but I did not do that because I wanted to live.
“It turns out that the candidate was a very brilliant engineer, so I decided to market the guy, knowing that I would get job orders and interviews. Anyway, I got some interviews. I asked my boss what I should do with this guy. He said to send him out and tell him to take a shower, which I did over the phone. He goes on the interview and gets the job.
“But wait, it gets better. This guy becomes a bit of a cash machine. I have the guy on six interviews, get him four offers, and place him three times. It turns out he had a gland problem, and there wasn’t much he could do about his sweating. He works at Cisco in California now, I believe. The lesson here, at least in Engineering, is don’t let appearances stop you from setting up an interview!”
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Remember, there are three ways you can submit your “Craziest Recruiting Story”:
- You can email your story to marketing@TopEchelon.com.
- You can post the story by including it in the comments section at the end of this blog.
- You can give me a call and relay your story to me.
The deadline for submitting your “Craziest Recruiting Story of 2011” is midnight on Saturday, December 31. We’ll announce the winner during the first part of January in The Pinnacle Newsletter Blog and the Recruiter Training Blog.
Three months to go! Keep those “crazy” stories coming!
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MDeutsch@TopEchelon.com
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