EditorialsBy Matt Bud, Chairman, The FENG

What is a qualified member? With many members out of work these days, and search firms with assignments in short supply, I thought I would take the time tonight to restate our approach to leads posted in our newsletter.

Those leads which include “please use my name in contacting” and generally speaking leads for positions being handled by retainer based search firms, are not for distribution outside of our network. Recruiters are always afraid they will lose control of a search by having it broadcast too widely. Confidentiality and professionalism is vital on our part to keep recruiters as allies in our respective searches.

Each member is asked to abide by these guidelines.

With regard to “please use my name” leads, it is asked that you only respond to positions for which you are reasonably qualified. If the compensation is clearly beyond your level, or if the criteria listed don’t represent at least a 75% match with your background, consider not responding. It is important to all of us that we not “wallpaper” our friends in the search community.

Friends, we don’t want to hear dissatisfaction from members of the search community about the number and quality of members responding. It has been said before and I will repeat it again here that the flow of leads can stop very suddenly if members don’t play by our informal rules.

This is why I ask our more senior members to TAKE THE TIME to call our new members. Many of our approaches are somewhat counterintuitive. You need to talk our new members through the reasoning behind them!

I don’t want to be in the position of deciding who is and who isn’t qualified for a particular lead. You are all adults and the ball is in your court!

I go to great lengths to emphasize with the recruiters with whom I speak that the more information they provide the better and more targeted will be the response. In most cases they appear to be doing their job. It is now up to all of you to do yours.

Ask yourself the question: Would I hire me for this job? If the answer is no, please consider not responding.

If you are not qualified for the job, or if you are in doubt, consider sending your best “blind” letter and don’t mention my name, The FENG or the job in question. All recruiters are listed somewhere and they get unsolicited mail every day. If you are a fit they will believe that the guy upstairs smiled upon them this very day. If you aren’t, they will just send you THEIR best thanks but no thanks note and no one will be the worse for wear.

Don’t let our being famous blind you to the reality in which we all live. No one has enough time to go through all their email with the care of yesterday (and yesterday is just a myth anyway).

Let’s keep building on our great reputation and not let the magic of our network disappear just because our circle of friends is (gasp) now 40,000+ strong.

Regards, Matt

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