Web Developers: Take 20 Seconds to be of Service
February 28th, 2010
Even if you’ve been living in a cave, you know full-well how tough the economy has been on jobs over the past couple of years.
However, one group that doesn’t seem to be suffering from this shortage of jobs is the workforce of web developers, and really, computer programmers in general.
Is this because we’re just so smart and have everything figured out? As much as some developers would like to think so, the answer is a highly recursive NO.
The way I see it is that our field is just plain less competitive than that of our non-programmer colleagues. The demand for folks who know how to muckety-muck with code is way greater than the number of deranged souls who actually enjoy sitting in a dark room all day (and night) fiddling with functions and hashes and overflow:hiddens and….are we asleep yet?
So because of this lopsided ratio of demand for code vs willing code-monkeys, many of us developers find ourselves receiving numerous emails and phone calls on a weekly and even daily basis from recruiters and technology companies eager for resources. As a happily self-employed web developer with no plans of re-joining the ranks of the full-time employed anytime in the foreseeable future, I have been on the receiving end of many of these inquiries myself – almost to the point where my ungrateful ass started getting annoyed. But I’ve figured out a way to make the best of these seemingly useless inquiries that come via email.
Using my cherished Gmail along with the Canned Responses add-on, I crafted and saved a simple email response that not only politely lets the interested parties know that I’m not currently available, but that I have a few super-talented non-developer tech-industry colleagues who are currently on the market who they might want to contact.
Of course, it’s a bit of a numbers game, but I believe that it can definitely work in getting our friends and former colleagues hired, as these recruiters and hiring managers are extremely eager to place people (not to mention picking up that commission check).
Here’s the letter I use, feel free to customize for your own purposes:
Hello [RECRUITER NAME],
Unfortunately, I am not seeking a position at this time. I also don’t have anyone I can recommend with the skills you require who’s seeking a job. However I do know of 2 other *great* colleagues who are currently seeking new positions:
Mary Johnson (Widget Maker)
http://www.linkedin.com/in/[LinkedIn ID]John Smith (Widget Analyst)
http://www.linkedin.com/in/[LinkedIn ID]Of course, I’m not sure if you’re looking for folks with John or Mary’s skill set, but perhaps this helps.
Either way, thanks so much for your interest!
On more than one occasion, I’ve actually had the recruiter say that they checked out my friend’s LinkedIn profile and were interested in speaking to them right away.
The jury is still out as to whether this method is actually successful in placing our job seeking comrades, but I know for 100% sure that it succeeds in making me feel a lot better than simply writing back “sorry…” or deleting the inquiry email altogether.
Of course, if someone were to get placed, then I stand to end up with some commission money and there would be no complaints with that either.
In other words, 20 seconds of my time, all upside, no downside.
Now go start canning some responses!
Category : 2-Minute Tips & Blog & Good Business & Web Wisdom
