Customer service much?

After a weekend in Sea Isle City, NJ, or known to Philadelphians as the quintessential summer getaway, I talked to a good friend of mine who like most people is still looking for the perfect job opportunity to continue his career. He had sent a few resumes out and like me he knows the summertime is notoriously slow for hiring because for one decision-makers are, for one, down in Sea Isle or other beach towns across the Eastern seaboard. When asked any takers, he said that he received one message which sort of caught him by surprise. He said that a recruiter responded to him with this three word phrase:

"Position filled. Sorry."

Now, one can take that a few ways. Some may take it as a response to the position actually being filled and moving on from there. Being that my friend, who enjoyed a stellar career as a VP of Business Development for a highly reputable firm in the Philadelphia area, sees things differently. For starters, the first thing he told me he thought of was "wow, I wonder how successful his business is, because for him to turn someone away like that is amazing". Second thing he noticed, which was the first thing that came to mind, was "how do you build relationships like that?"

In doing some research, it was pretty tough to find anything that would point back to the stellar career of this particular recruiter. Both my friend and I searched LinkedIn for the recruiter, and were not able to tie anything back. Is it because the recruiter is so good at what he does that he wants to stay off the grid? It's 2010 and we are closer to a depression than full economic recovery; if I were that recruiter, I would want to develop any relationship I can. People often forget about paying it forward and never think about the consequences of a snarky response.

We live in a world where reputation is built off of networking and hard work. Granted if my friend was not best qualified for the position, I might have phrased something a little bit differently:

"Hi, Ryan. I appreciate the time you took out of your busy day to respond to my posting. While your qualifications are strong, I regret to inform you that the position has been filled. Given the volatility of today's economy, I believe there may be some upcoming roles with which your skill set may better match. Would you be available for a telephone call this week for about ten to fifteen minutes to speak about how we can work together to get you to the next level in your career?

Thank you,

Adam"

Granted the response may be a little verbose, but you are showing 1) respect for the candidate and 2) looking to build a long-term relationship without explicitly saying that you want to keep in touch. I feel it makes the candidate, or the customer, feel good about themselves and more open and willing to have an open dialogue about looking for a new position. Never forget that recruiting is selling, and that you have to sell every day, whether it's telling someone they did not get the job or get invited for an interview to actually closing the candidate on a position.

I can say one thing, if I ever received an e-mail with a similar response that my friend received, I would love to know how much business they are bringing in given the further reluctance of companies to utilize third-party staffing agencies. Recruiters have egos, so my guess is that the recruiter that contacted my friend is still learning the ropes or has strong testicular fortitude. For his sake, I hope it's more of the latter than the former.