Experiment 7: Giving recruiters what they want

I got a phone call from a recruiter today. Let me restate: I got a phone call from a recruiter today! She found me on some job board, and wanted to ask if I would apply from some position at her large biotech. Uh, yes... of course? I was a little confused at first by this interaction, but she sent me the info on the job (post-doc in Mol Bio Group working on lipids and membrane for Agilent, let me know if you want more info), and encouraged me to apply. And if not apply, could I please tell her someone else who might be interested?

Oh! This is where all this time on Twitter is starting to pay off. You see, one of the MAJOR worries of recruiters is that the best talent for any given job isn't where they are looking. They are constantly sharing tools and tactics for finding the right person, the hidden networks and getting the best candidate in the job. After observing a few weeks of this, I do wonder- if they are spending so much time looking for the right person, why don't I have a job yet? More on this later (hint, the best candidate doesn't get hired, the candidate who sells themselves best gets hired), but being reminded of that haunted feeling of Recruiters, I sent her the contact info for a few friends who are also in the market and might be a good fit. Why? Why would I give myself competition for this job? Well... I don't really think it is a dream job (I mean, I'd flip if I got hired, but I can't honestly confess a lifelong interest in lipids. Or, studying them that is). And I'd rather have a good relationship with a recruiter a major tech company in CA. Who knows, maybe we'll all get lost in the shuffle and none of us will hear from her again, but I hypothesize that I will hear from her.

Recruiters are so much less squimish about these business social activities. I mean, her email literally said "If you are not interest, would you please send this along to others who I can network with." 4 months ago, that would make me cringe (it still makes me cringe a little), but yes, "reaching out," "connecting" and "networking" are all just ways to sending infomation to where it needs to get. I am hoping that if I can provide that for this recruiter, when a job I am crazy excited about comes up, she'll contact me and put in a good word, too.