E-Mailing Resumes to Recruiters Won't Generate a Big Response

6 September 2004

8 minute read

E-Mailing Resumes to Recruiters Won't Generate a Big Response

Most of the top retained executive-recruiting firms now post job openings and solicit applications and resumes for their databases on their Web sites. Many high-level candidates view responding to these ads as a necessary part of their searches, but they're disappointed with the process.

Job hunters who e-mail resumes or correspondence to top retained search firms say they never receive replies or acknowledgement -- including C-level managers. Some believe that the firms' e-mail boxes are a way to get candidates to stop calling. They doubt that any recruiters actually see resumes that arrive via e-mail.

"My suspicion is that providing an e-mail address for resumes gives them a way to make prospective applicants feel proactive," says Peter Berger, a former chief executive officer and an ex-division president for Fortune 500 companies, who is seeking another senior-management job. "That way, everyone feels good."

Mr. Berger, an executive in his 50s from Woodside, Calif., was interim CEO of Valley Media Inc., a consumer-media-distribution firm in Sacramento, Calif., that closed in 2002. He's now a managing director with the Ventana Group, a Menlo Park, Calif., investment-banking firm, but wants another operational job.

He sends e-mail concerning job postings to recruiters' personal e-mail accounts, but doesn't get an acknowledgement 80% of the time, he says. Search executives he knows personally will write back, and the other responses come as form letters. This irks him because search firms contact him frequently for referrals about possible candidates or to learn about potential assignments.

"One would expect the basic courtesy of a reply," he says. "But it's like a black hole. It's disappointing that the most nominal of efforts aren't made."

The leading firms work on retainer for companies that hire them to conduct searches for candidates. Recruiters at these firms rarely take calls from job seekers they don't know and typically don't disclose information about current searches. In the past, executives could mail resumes, but retained search firms rarely advertised actual job openings.

Applying directly for an assignment posted on a search-firm Web site allows job seekers to get a foot in the door they never had before.

"For the experienced, high-performing executive, this crack in the door might be all they need to get on the radar screen," says Joseph Daniel McCool, editor of Executive Recruiter News, published by Kennedy Information LLC in Peterborough, N.H. (Kennedy is a partner of CareerJournal.com.)

Weeding Through Resumes

Executives with retained search firms say it isn't true that their firms never review e-mail from candidates. Firms process the resumes and applications they receive either manually or by computer.

Herbert Mines Associates Inc., a large recruiting firm based in New York, sorts its resumes and letters manually. "I beg to differ that [the electronic mailbox] is a black hole," says Connie Murray, director of research with Herbert Mines. "I do look at every one that comes in."

Herbert Mines, which specializes in the retail and consumer-products industries, receives between 50 and 100 resumes electronically each day and keeps between 10 and 20 that pertain to its specialties, says Ms. Murray.

DHR International in Chicago receives about 1,000 resumes daily and sorts them by computer. It discards "a lot" and sends the rest to a general database, says chairman David Hoffmann.

Korn/Ferry International, one of the largest search firms in the U.S., has one of the most visible electronic candidate-registration systems, called "e-Korn/Ferry." Executives complete an online registration process, and their profiles are reviewed for initial eligibility for active opportunities, then stored in a database, says Jim Saltmar, vice president of Internet services. The profile of each new registrant appears on an internal online bulletin board for five days, he says.

The firm's site allows registrants to apply to its online job ads by clicking a button at the end of the posted job description. The consultant responsible for the search reviews their profile, and they receive an e-mail update on the status of their candidacy for the position within two to four weeks.

Korn/Ferry researchers also prepare periodic reports about newly registered executives, says Mr. Saltmar. About 50% of registrants are qualified for senior-level opportunities, he says. They account for about a quarter of all candidates submitted to clients.

A CFO Finds a Job Electronically

Registering with e-Korn Ferry paid off for John Dick. After being downsized from his position as director of finance for a Charlotte, N.C.-based division of Solectron Corp. in 2002, Mr. Dick began reviewing job postings on search-firm Web sites. He noticed an opening on e-Korn/Ferry for a chief financial officer at Flexcel Inc., a Jasper, Ind.-based subsidiary of Kimball International. Shortly after applying for the job, he received a call from one of the firm's Chicago recruiters.

Several phone interviews with the recruiter and then an in-person interview followed. Mr. Dick, 50, next interviewed with Flexcel and Kimball executives, who offered him the position. He accepted and started work in January 2003, four months after initially applying to the Web site.

"For me personally, it has been a good exercise," says Mr. Dick. When he accepted the Kimball post, he notes, he also was being considered for a position he applied for through a different search firm's Web site.

Few Winners With These Odds

But what is the likelihood of being interviewed or hired if you contact a search firm online? Ms. Murray and other researchers say they don't keep track, but it does happen.

"It's rare we fill a job from the database," says Mr. Hoffman of DHR. "It's occasional, but not often."

The odds for job hunters are slim. Spencer Stuart, the largest U.S. recruiter in terms of revenue in 2003, has records of between 1.5 million and 1.7 million executives in its computer database, says chief financial and administrative officer Richard M. Kurkowski. In 2003, the firm completed 4,000 searches, a figure that represents less than 1% of all the candidates in its database. If Spencer Stuart had interviewed 10 executives from the database for each job, less than 3% of the executives listed in the database would have received a call.

Korn/Ferry's database contains profiles of 3.8 million candidates. This search firm filled 6,823 positions between May 2002 and April 2003, or the equivalent of less than .2% of the listings in its database. The firm declined to disclose how many executives identified through the database are actually hired.

Is Anyone Out There?

This may account for why Brian Thompson, a former chief information officer from Mount Pleasant, S.C., didn't heard back from Korn/Ferry after applying for 30 positions listed on its Web site in the past year. "I'm more than qualified for several positions that they have posted, but I've yet to receive a response," he says. "It seems like a black hole."

Mr. Thompson was CIO for Hagemeyer North America, a unit of an international business-to-business supplier based in Holland, until July 2003, when his and the jobs of eight other executives in this division were terminated in a cost-cutting move. Mr. Thompson, 43, has held other senior information-technology posts and speaks several foreign languages.

In May, after this reporter contacted Korn/Ferry about Mr. Thompson, he received a form e-mail from the search firm telling him he was no longer being considered for a position he'd applied for in January.

No Paper, Please

At least candidates who send e-mails have a better chance of making it into a search-firm database than those who send snail mail or fax their resumes, says James Seeto, senior associate and director of research in the Summit, N.J., office of Boyden, a national retained recruiter. "It's easier to ignore unsolicited paper-mail resumes than e-mailed resumes because a mailed resume in general isn't passed on by the person who opens it," he says. "E-mail is more likely to be disseminated to the proper person who can make a decision." Ms. Murray agrees. "It is easier to point and click than to pick up a piece of paper," she says.

Boyden has a system that allows executives to register and send their resume to the firm electronically. Candidates can then re-enter the system to update their addresses or other information, says Mr. Seeto. Executives can also e-mail each office directly, he says.

Mr. Seeto receives between 30 and 50 unsolicited resumes daily and reads them all, he says. When he has time, he acknowledges receiving the e-mail and sometimes contacts candidates to learn more about them, as does Ms. Murray. "They do think sending a resume this way is like sending it to a black hole," says Mr. Seeto. "When I call them, they say, 'I can't believe you called me.' "

Perhaps 30 executives who contacted Boyden electronically have been finalists in searches over the years, he estimates. Mr. Seeto considers these good odds considering how few executives who send resumes actually fit the industry specialties at his office: food, chemicals and consumer packaging.

Ms. Capell is a senior correspondent for CareerJournal.com. She can be reached at frances.capell@dowjones.com