Commentary: Does it really matter where a great candidate comes from?

Glen Cathey, the Boolean Black Belt, recently wrote a rather provocative blog post entitled “Don’t be a sourcing snob.” He asks:

• Is a candidate identified on LinkedIn intrinsically “better” than a candidate sourced from Monster?
• Is candidate sourced by cold calling inherently “better” than a candidate sourced from a job posting on Careerbuilder?
• Does it really matter where a great candidate comes from?

Cathey says, “You just can’t go around claiming all job board candidates are bad. That’s like saying everyone in New York is rude, or that everyone in California is a hippie. To stereotype all job board candidates as low quality is downright insulting to the many fantastic people who make the decision to post their resume to well known online resume databases.”

This post prompted an interesting "conversation" via Twitter with Michael Long and Debra Wheatman, and we each agreed  to put our thoughts in writing.

Early in my career I posted an ad on one of the well-known job boards. After sifting through hundreds of applications I was able to find two or three applicants who met the minimum qualifications for the job.

That’s right. Fewer than one percent of the applicants met the minimum requirements. Hundreds of dollars and hours of time wasted.

I learned quickly that I preferred to take a targeted, focused approach.

I stopped posting ads and instead used the boards’ resume databases. Over a period of several months I found some great looking resumes and interviewed hundreds of qualified candidates for multiple positions. I placed some of these candidates in jobs with my clients.

I also learned the hard way that many times the candidates I’d found on a job board were also working with a handful of other recruiters and didn’t have much control or knowledge over where their resume went. When asked whether they had applied to my client either directly or through another recruiter, many times they’d say no - and I’d find out later from my client that they had in fact already received this candidate’s resume.

[Shocking, I know – surely no recruiter would grab someone’s resume off a job board and submit to a company without his or her consent!]

Regardless of the reason, this results in a lot of time wasted by all parties, and nobody wins.

On the other hand, when pursuing candidates through referrals and other passive sources it’s much more likely that you’re the only recruiter talking to this person; therefore, less risk for throe.

Another factor is level. Maybe it’s changed since 2002, but I do not recall seeing many VP or C level resumes on job boards. Is it because there are fewer of them than rank and file, or that they’re more savvy and judicious when it comes to control over their online presence? Based on experience I’d say that it’s probably both.

With all of this said, there is something else to consider.

Some companies now have policies that recruiters may not submit candidates whose resumes can be found on a job board. So, even if a recruiter finds a candidate via a referral, cold calling, or LinkedIn, before submitting to the client they must check and be sure that the candidate cannot be found. Furthermore, if a candidate is submitted and the company then finds their resume on one of the boards, the company will not pay a fee for the candidate – and many times they won’t interview them, either. In this situation not only do recruiters lose; candidates stand to lose even more. A job. The job.

I predict that this will backfire. As people learn that posting their resume on certain sites can actually prevent them from getting the job they want, many will change their behavior.

I do not believe that "all candidates on job boards are 'bad.'" I do, however, think that there is a whole lot more to this conversation that should also be considered.

Perhaps the question is not, “Does it really matter where a great candidate comes from?” but, “How and where can that really great candidate be found?”

You can find Michael Long, The Red Recruiter, and Debra Wheatman, Career Strategist and resume writer extraordinaire, on Twitter, along with me, here and here.