{"id":1269,"date":"2012-06-27T19:16:16","date_gmt":"2012-06-28T02:16:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/recruitloop.com.au\/blog\/?p=1269"},"modified":"2023-05-15T11:16:28","modified_gmt":"2023-05-15T18:16:28","slug":"the-recruiter-honeypot-the-best-recruitment-post-ive-read","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.zippia.com\/employer\/the-recruiter-honeypot-the-best-recruitment-post-ive-read\/","title":{"rendered":"the recruiter honeypot: The best recruitment post I have ever read"},"content":{"rendered":"

the recruiter honeypot<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Elaine describes her dire struggle to find Javascipt engineers in Silicon Valley over the past 2 years. And how she created a fake persona – a self-described ninja – called Pete London in an elaborate 2 year experiment.<\/p>\n

The goal: to attract most innovative recruiters. A ‘honey-pot’ manoeuvre, to find the best recruiters she would then engage for her company. In the process, she uncovered some damning (and extremely interesting) insights. She packages them as tips for any company recruiting in a competitive space.<\/p>\n

It’s a long read, but well worth it.
\nHere’s a few of my favourite examples:<\/em><\/p>\n

1. Recruiters only use LinkedIn (but it’s not the best channel for startups)<\/strong><\/h5>\n

When Elaine (or ‘Pete’) created a profile on a personal website, she received no contact. Once she posted on LinkedIn, it was a deluge. Her ‘personal’ details were on her own website, but the majority of emails still came via LinkedIn. Insight?<\/em> Recruiters look to LinkedIn first, and rarely beyond it.<\/p>\n

However, she found a troubling contrast when comparing their actual hiring experience at Meebo. Only one tech hire (from 20+) in over 5 years came from LinkedIn. The rest came from guerilla techniques, networking and referrals. Insight?<\/em> Get outside.<\/p>\n

<\/h5>\n
2. External recruiters, on average, can’t be trusted<\/strong><\/h5>\n

Over 2 years Elaine had a unique experience as a potential candidate (Pete London), and the founder of the company he worked at. Some disturbing practices, I’m sure we’ve all seen too often:<\/p>\n

Meebo employed lots of external recruiters when we were getting off the ground. We had standard 18-month no-poach restrictions with all of our contractors that specified that those recruiters were not allowed to contact Meebo employees within 18 months of our contract expiring. Most of those contracts expired in 2008-2009.<\/p>\n

However, every recruiter and firm we\u2019d worked with who was still in the recruiting business tried to poach Pete London.<\/p>\n

Every single one!<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In one case, a recruitment agency tried to poach Pete London, then wrote to Elaine as founder 15 minutes later offering their services!<\/p>\n

3. The stiffest competition for startup talent comes from other startups.<\/strong><\/h5>\n

The benefits of a startup often sound the same from one to another: Culture, learning, autonomy, impact. Many startup founders imagine they’re competing against Facebook and Google, and emphasise these points. But so is every other startup founder! And that’s +85% of other companies.<\/p>\n

Insight?<\/em> Use more imagination when pitching startup opportunities, than ‘fast-paced, innovative startup’.<\/p>\n

4. Founders, managers and board members are the most effective recruiters<\/strong><\/h5>\n

The emails that Pete received from managers, execs and founders (who presumably weren’t professional recruiters), outperformed those from any other professional recruiting segment. Metics included email quality, outreach technique, and word count.<\/p>\n

Insight?<\/em> If you’re leading a company, ABR (always be recruiting).<\/p>\n

5. Pick up the phone!<\/strong><\/h5>\n

The honeypot was only exposed when an ‘imaginative’ recruiter did the unthinkable: called someone who should have known Pete, looking to get his phone number.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, it was also a recruiter who’d served Meebo within the last 18months. Innovative, but conflicted!!<\/p>\n

Insight?<\/em> If your’e trying to hire the best, they’ll be in demand. Pick up the phone.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Elaine deserves an award for the innovative approach, and great write-up. Professional recruiters deserve some scrutiny.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

the recruiter honeypot Elaine describes her dire struggle to find Javascipt engineers in Silicon Valley over the past 2 years. And how she created a fake persona – a self-described ninja – called Pete London in an elaborate 2 year experiment. The goal: to attract most innovative recruiters. A ‘honey-pot’ manoeuvre, to find the best […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[74],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nthe recruiter honeypot: The best recruitment post I've read<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The founder of Meebo set an elaborate, 2 year trap for recruiters in the tech space. It's one of the best we've seen.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.zippia.com\/employer\/the-recruiter-honeypot-the-best-recruitment-post-ive-read\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"the recruiter honeypot: The best recruitment post I've read\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The founder of Meebo set an elaborate, 2 year trap for recruiters in the tech space. It's one of the best we've seen.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.zippia.com\/employer\/the-recruiter-honeypot-the-best-recruitment-post-ive-read\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Zippia For Employers\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Zippia\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-06-28T02:16:16+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-05-15T18:16:28+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Michael Overell\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@ZippiaInc\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@ZippiaInc\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Michael Overell\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.zippia.com\/employer\/the-recruiter-honeypot-the-best-recruitment-post-ive-read\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.zippia.com\/employer\/the-recruiter-honeypot-the-best-recruitment-post-ive-read\/\",\"name\":\"the recruiter honeypot: The best recruitment post I've read\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.zippia.com\/employer\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2012-06-28T02:16:16+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-05-15T18:16:28+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.zippia.com\/employer\/#\/schema\/person\/cc6b6075f24a502d51b06f97cd18cd1e\"},\"description\":\"The founder of Meebo set an elaborate, 2 year trap for recruiters in the tech space. It's one of the best we've seen.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.zippia.com\/employer\/the-recruiter-honeypot-the-best-recruitment-post-ive-read\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.zippia.com\/employer\/the-recruiter-honeypot-the-best-recruitment-post-ive-read\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.zippia.com\/employer\/the-recruiter-honeypot-the-best-recruitment-post-ive-read\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.zippia.com\/employer\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"the recruiter honeypot: The best recruitment post I have ever read\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.zippia.com\/employer\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.zippia.com\/employer\/\",\"name\":\"Zippia For Employers\",\"description\":\"How to find the best employees.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.zippia.com\/employer\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.zippia.com\/employer\/#\/schema\/person\/cc6b6075f24a502d51b06f97cd18cd1e\",\"name\":\"Michael Overell\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.zippia.com\/employer\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/04f9ec9a86bab0592028efcb56f95c4e?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/04f9ec9a86bab0592028efcb56f95c4e?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Michael Overell\"},\"description\":\"Michael Overell is a seasoned entrepreneur and business leader with a proven track record in building companies, products, and teams in both startup and hyper-growth environments. Currently, he serves as a key executive at ClassDojo, where he is responsible for driving revenue growth and helping children around the world access quality education. Michael is also actively involved in investing and providing support to promising foreign founders looking to break into the US market through his work with Antipodes.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/michaeloverell\/\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.zippia.com\/employer\/author\/michael-overell\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"the recruiter honeypot: The best recruitment post I've read","description":"The founder of Meebo set an elaborate, 2 year trap for recruiters in the tech space. It's one of the best we've seen.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.zippia.com\/employer\/the-recruiter-honeypot-the-best-recruitment-post-ive-read\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"the recruiter honeypot: The best recruitment post I've read","og_description":"The founder of Meebo set an elaborate, 2 year trap for recruiters in the tech space. It's one of the best we've seen.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.zippia.com\/employer\/the-recruiter-honeypot-the-best-recruitment-post-ive-read\/","og_site_name":"Zippia For Employers","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Zippia\/","article_published_time":"2012-06-28T02:16:16+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-05-15T18:16:28+00:00","author":"Michael Overell","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@ZippiaInc","twitter_site":"@ZippiaInc","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Michael Overell","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.zippia.com\/employer\/the-recruiter-honeypot-the-best-recruitment-post-ive-read\/","url":"https:\/\/www.zippia.com\/employer\/the-recruiter-honeypot-the-best-recruitment-post-ive-read\/","name":"the recruiter honeypot: The best recruitment post I've read","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.zippia.com\/employer\/#website"},"datePublished":"2012-06-28T02:16:16+00:00","dateModified":"2023-05-15T18:16:28+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.zippia.com\/employer\/#\/schema\/person\/cc6b6075f24a502d51b06f97cd18cd1e"},"description":"The founder of Meebo set an elaborate, 2 year trap for recruiters in the tech space. It's one of the best we've seen.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.zippia.com\/employer\/the-recruiter-honeypot-the-best-recruitment-post-ive-read\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.zippia.com\/employer\/the-recruiter-honeypot-the-best-recruitment-post-ive-read\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.zippia.com\/employer\/the-recruiter-honeypot-the-best-recruitment-post-ive-read\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.zippia.com\/employer\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"the recruiter honeypot: The best recruitment post I have ever read"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.zippia.com\/employer\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.zippia.com\/employer\/","name":"Zippia For Employers","description":"How to find the best employees.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.zippia.com\/employer\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.zippia.com\/employer\/#\/schema\/person\/cc6b6075f24a502d51b06f97cd18cd1e","name":"Michael Overell","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.zippia.com\/employer\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/04f9ec9a86bab0592028efcb56f95c4e?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/04f9ec9a86bab0592028efcb56f95c4e?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Michael Overell"},"description":"Michael Overell is a seasoned entrepreneur and business leader with a proven track record in building companies, products, and teams in both startup and hyper-growth environments. Currently, he serves as a key executive at ClassDojo, where he is responsible for driving revenue growth and helping children around the world access quality education. Michael is also actively involved in investing and providing support to promising foreign founders looking to break into the US market through his work with Antipodes.","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/michaeloverell\/"],"url":"https:\/\/www.zippia.com\/employer\/author\/michael-overell\/"}]}},"articleguide":"","showTableContent":"","showFeaturedImage":"","pageCategoryL2":"","authorsExperts":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zippia.com\/employer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1269"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zippia.com\/employer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zippia.com\/employer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zippia.com\/employer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zippia.com\/employer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1269"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.zippia.com\/employer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1269\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zippia.com\/employer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1269"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zippia.com\/employer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1269"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zippia.com\/employer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1269"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}