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Recruiters, get a clue

Update:  Had another call from a recruiter yesterday.  It was night and day difference!  He was very professional, knew what he was going to say, and even though I turned him down he asked.....let me say that again, HE ASKED....if it would be alright to contact me again in the future.   I do not think I have ever had a recruiter ask that before.  Normally they just call again in 3 months unless I tell them not to contact me again.    So I guess there are good recruiters out there as well as bad ones.  Of course he did ask the obligatory, "...if you are not interested do you know anyone who is?".    I would really love to hear from a recruiter to see if that question ever worked. 

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OK, recruiters,

 reality check.   If you are making the cold call to a person guess who is most likely going to be the first person from your company you are going to talk to?   That's right.  YOU!  Act professionally!

I had a recruiter call me yesterday (on my work phone no less) from, shall we say, a rather large consulting organization.   Even if I was looking for another job, which I am not (if there is anyone from my current company reading this .  If someone from Microsoft SharePoint development is reading this I can be reached at......   ) I would not even consider going to this company based on the recruiter alone.  This man was the most unprofessional person I have ever spoken with (and I was around during the dot-com days when I would get 10 recruiter calls a week).  Not only could he not put 2 words together without adding an "Umm" in between he seemed to actually be upset I would not consider going to his company.  When I said I was not looking for another job he actually said "Do you know who ..... is?".   Oh wait, now I want to work for you!

Here is a wake up call for recruiters.  Not everyone wants to work for a big company.  I like the fact that I know everyone in my company....or at least I thought I did until I went to the last Holiday party!   Guess we are growing.   In any case, I know I can pick up the phone and call the president of the company if I had an issue.   Cannot do that with a lot of consulting companies I know of.  Heck, cannot do that with a lot companies period!

So to summarize:

1. Act professionally.  If you need to, reherse what you are going to say.  Believe it or not a person's view of your company may very well be swayed by you.
2. If the person is not interested do not take it as a personal insult.  As I said, some people just do not want to work for large companies.
3. Above all, stop calling my work number!  You have no idea where I am or what I can say.
4. Oh yeah, if you want the person to call you back, leave a phone number.   My work phone gets forwarded so I have no idea what number you are calling me from.