Recruiter emails are getting better.
This was where we used to be:
I wanted to shoot you a quick note on hot new Silicon Valley startup
MonkeyLab. MonkeyLab is x months old, has y million dollars in funding
and is going to transform the home monkey-rearing market.When can we talk on the phone?
Now the low bar is a mention of my linkedin profile and some skill I have that they need.
The high bar is an email that isn’t from the recruiter but from the hiring manager. Mentioning specific things that are only true about me. These get a response at least.
Hi,
My name is Bob and I’m not a recruiter. I run the Advanced Something group
at MonkeyLabs.I see from your LinkedIn profile that you are a ruby programmer and that you
have some experience of Erlang. We’re building an Erlang program with
ruby web app interface and we’d love to add you to the team.I’m building for the future so even if you aren’t looking for an opportunity
now perhaps we can have a chat?
Does this represent a newfound earnestness on the part of those in charge of recruitment in Silicon Valley? Or is it just an arms race between my personal filter and the content of their emails? An arms race they can win because of the increasing amount of personal information available about me on the internet. In some sense it doesn’t matter. Forcing this kind of more sophisticated personal email that explains why I might be interested makes the initial interaction much more valuable either way.
Now I’m just waiting for this email:
Hi Tom,
My name is Paul Graham. I’m not a recruiter.
We’re looking for a tall developer with blue eyes who wants to
simultaneously build the next generation Magic: the Gathering app and do
something worthy-yet-technical like Kiva while being fabulously
overcompensated.The app is going to be written entirely in Haskell. You will work alongside
Simon Peyton-Jones, Steve Yegge and Aaron Swartz.In your spacious private offices in London, San Francisco and Tokyo there
will be live music from the Decemberists and Amanda Palmer.Here’s my personal cell number, call any time of day or night.
Thanks,
Paul
PS Spectrum BASIC > Lisp