I get about five calls a week where a recruiter finds my name in LinkedIn and call our company reception number asking for me by name. I can see this on my phone so I'm always prepared for them to be a cold call, otherwise they'd have my number.
It's got to the point where I ask if they're a recruiter straight up and then say "no thanks, not interested" and hang up. Anything else and I end up wasting a good half hour as they give me the spiel and expect me to give a detailed description of what my team does and our backgrounds, to zero benefit for me.
Sometimes they get a bit shitty about this and follow up with more calls or emails accusing me of being rude. Cos there's nothing more polite than cold-calling someone and wasting a bunch of their time trying to flog him a product he doesn't want.
Today's example was pretty hilarious. I'll change names to protect the innocent and not so innocent, but I want to point out that the name dropping she did was in italics which I thought was quite hilarious.
Funnier still, she claims to specialise in "Software and Web Development" yet her title in LinkedIn is rather clear: Recruitment Consultant - Business Transformation & Development
Well, it made me laugh anyway.
Hi Simon,
I hope this finds you well.
I just got off the phone with you after being cut off once you heard I was calling from a recruitment firm.
If given the opportunity, I would have explained that we have an existing relationship with the business having liaised with someone in finance and someone else in finance.
I have personally supplied to someone actually in my department as I specialise in recruiting across the Software and Web Development market.
The reason for my call was to introduce myself, gain a better understanding of your role and your team, and become a potential point of contact for you should you require the assistance of external resources when it comes to on-boarding technical hires.
It was a professional introduction that was cut short and so I do hope that you are willing to speak at some point in the future.
All the best,
Recruiter McPimp