Anti-Social Media

A few days ago, I was poking around on LinkedIn and saw that one of my connections was looking to hire a Vice President of Human Resources in the Washington, DC metro area. As it turns out, I’m a pretty connected fellow (or at least I like to think so) and I know a few great people who might be interested in the opportunity. So, me being me, I sent this person a message telling her that I knew someone great and that she should give me a call (I even provided my number to make it easy).

This was the response I received:

“I am going to be out of the office for the next few days. Can you forward the resume? Are you a recruiter? Or is this a personal referral?”

Sigh. Here we go. I’m just trying to help, trying to make a connection. But instead, I feel resistance. My response:

“Yes, I am a recruiter. But I’m a corporate recruiter. Im not trying to sell you anything. You posted a link and I have a lead for you – just trying to help. I know someone great you should talk to, but I’m not interested in just firing off a name. That provides little value to anyone. Same with just sending a resume – very little context. If you are interested, give me a call. If not, that’s fine too. Have a great night.”

Her response:

“Fair enough. Just wanted to clarify. I am going to be out of town for a few day so that is why I suggested sending the resume. I am interested and will reach out to you next week. I really appreciate the consideration.”

Great! That sounded really positive. And then….nothing.

This was mid-September. Oddly enough, I saw the same status update for the same job yesterday. I even sent one more message that I still know someone great. Do you think I ever heard anything?

Nope.

So my question is this: why use social media and then fail to be social? As recruiting professionals, we post these updates on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, etc. in hopes of generating buzz and interest in our open positions. But then we hide, get defensive, and only want to communicate via email or guide people to an applicant tracking system when someone wants to engage. Especially as a recruiter myself, I just don’t get it.