Lately, I've gotten a lot of contact from recruiters for positions that are clearly junior roles compared to the one that I'm in (eg first level manager position vs VP+), and that I definitely would not be a fit for. What is a recruiter thinking when they are deciding to make contact in these situations? Is it anyone passing a key word search? Pure numbers game? I'd get it for something close, but not for something this far apart.

Thanks for answering.

It's a numbers game. Important to remember that agency recruiters don't know the hierarchy of your organization. The title of your role may mean something completely different at another company. If it's not the right fit, don't be offended. Agency recruiters are trying to fill a job not find you one.

These have been in house recruiters for fortune 500s. I am certainly not offended and I know they are trying to fill a job, I just don't get the behavior.

Hmmm... in that case, I don't have a good answer. Other than they should be in a different line of work.

TecRecAg said:

---

Hmmm... in that case, I don't have a good answer. Other than they should be in a different line of work.

---

Their KPI's include number of candidates contacted maybe...

If you manage people, you probably have more and better connections and targeted names of folks who might be looking for a role than just searching a job title on LinkedIn or whatever. It isn't necessarily about placing you... it is about building a good network for those guys.

I can see that, but there is a better way to ask. They could ask for recommendations. I like to help people, it's rewarding.

I was contacted by a recruiter this week about a Surveyor-in-Training role in Nashville. She wanted to know if I was interested in the role. That was the sum total of her ask. I'm in DFW and am a Texas Registered Professional Land Surveyor and have an expired (for two years) Tennessee PLS license. I am WAY over qualified for this role by the state in which it occurs. To boot, I've publicly and voluntarily allowed my over-qualification license to expire in a record short amount of time. Obviously I'm keyed into Tennessee.

Three minutes on the TN Board site will inform an interested party that there are EXACTLY 81 people on the planet currently qualified for a role requiring a TN SIT Certification. Other candidates either have to relocate from other states or pass an exam with a ~40% all time taker pass rate. Many people take it 3 or more times to pass.

If you want access to my network, ask me the question 1) from a position that understands the basic metrics of my network, and 2) ask me about the network, not my interest in a downgrade.

I have seen an uptick in this as well lately and mostly from international recruiters or recruiters with a very lean profile. Almost always inquire about my network too... to any junior recruiters out there, this comes across as you looking for me to to do your job for you. Happy to connect dots if something is obvious, but probability of me responding goes up with a little more effort/transparency.

More than likely they did a basic search for the role, you popped up in their search, and they mass messaged you plus 50+ other candidates on Linkedin without even looking at your profile. Like someone said before its a numbers game. They probably weren't necessarily targeting you specifically, but you had some keywords on your profile that came up in their search.

By the way this happens all the time to recruiters/HR as well. I get hit up frequently for recruitment admin or coordinator level jobs, and I am a more senior level HR candidate. If this happens to me I either ignore their message, or let them know this is way below my experience/pay grade.

Dont take offense to it. There are millions of people who never get hit up for jobs by recruiters, they would love to be in your position.

It isn't a numbers game when there are 81 likely candidates. I can make a legitimate effort to directly contact all of those people before the end of the week. Are these recruiters that ignorant of the market from which they are attempting to extract value? That's scary.

normaleagle05 said:

---

It isn't a numbers game when there are 81 likely candidates. I can make a legitimate effort to directly contact all of those people before the end of the week. Are these recruiters that ignorant of the market from which they are attempting to extract value? That's scary.

---

I was referring to the OP's situation.

I got that. But I think my example illustrates that many (most?) recruiters haven't thought out a strategy beyond the numbers game. Low success/high volume is a great strategy where it works well but it's a **** strategy where it doesn't. It's depressing to think that so many white collar workers are putting so little effort into their careers. This isn't limited to recruiting, recruiting is just a shining example.

normaleagle05 said:

---

I got that. But I think my example illustrates that many (most?) recruiters haven't thought out a strategy beyond the numbers game. Low success/high volume is a great strategy where it works well but it's a **** strategy where it doesn't. It's depressing to think that so many white collar workers are putting so little effort into their careers. This isn't limited to recruiting, recruiting is just a shining example.

---

I agree with you, theres are a lot of recruiters out there that suck since there is a low barrier of entry, same as real estate agents. But they are just trying to do their job and its nothing to get mad over if they reach out to you for a job you're overqualified for. Either ignore them or respond with a "no thanks, this would be a step down for me".