The Non-Salesmans... (AKA PC Salespersons...)

A recent trend I'm seeing are these recruiters approaching me on LinkedIn with quick introduction, almost zero information, and insisting on calling much like a salesman trying to close a deal or one that thinks their tremendous sales skills and persuasive personality will reel me in. I don't understand - why not show your cards, be informative and transparent up front? Remember you never get a second chance to make a first impression.

Here's a recent example. I was approached by one Sierra who leads with:

Hi Andrew, I would love to build a proactive relationship so that we can partner now or down the road. I consistently work on DevOps roles in San Diego and would love to be a strategic career partner long-term to help you identify opportunities that align with your goals. 

Best, Sierra

As you can see, I have no idea what sort of DevOps roles she may or may not have, whether I'm qualified for any of them, etc. There's zero detail, save that they are supposedly DevOps roles and in San Diego.

Now I had been approached but a number of recruiters in this fashion and usually they're just trying to fill their rolodex (does anybody use those anymore?) and really are a waste of my time. So I decided to "play" with Sierra, especially if you just read her first sentence and stop. Go ahead, do it now.

Feels like one of those spam emails from some Eastern European chick right? So I respond:

I'm up for a movie... ;-)

She didn't respond so I then wrote:

I guess you're not up for a movie eh? How about dinner then? I mean you said "I would love to build a proactive relationship so that we can partner now or down the road"

Eventually she responded with:

Hi Andrew, it sounds like you interpreted my message the wrong way. I take my career seriously and use LinkedIn as a tool to establish professional relationships with people and act as a career partner. 

I'm not interested in anything but a professional partnership. Thank you for the response and if you are open to new positions I would be happy to have a conversation.

Best,
Sierra Well she took the high road so naturally I responded...

I was just screwing with you precisely because of all the PC crap I see nowadays. Hell #metoo2! 

Plus have you ever noticed how all of you female recruiters look like their side gig is real estate? Surely you know what I mean...

Anyways, I find this preemptive "hey let's start a business relationship" out of the blue type contact to be disingenuous to me. It's like a sales job with no product.

Look if you have something for me then present your "product" be it a service or a good. Tell me what it is and why I need to get it from you. Convince me... sell me... Otherwise all I see is somebody wanting to connect business wise, but has nothing to offer, no value proposition. 

Just like if I were interested in a business relationship with you I would have sought you out and only contacted you if I thought I had something to offer you that you'd be interested in and I'd present you a full detailed listing of my skills over the years, no, decades - I call it a resume! You would have gotten a casual message like "Hey I'm a Devops guy in San Diego - got anything?". You'd be fully informed.  

Guess I'm grumpy today...