Recruiting Assistance Rules

Role Understanding

• Internal recruiter vs agency recruiter have different incentives — agencies paid on placement, internal on fit
• Recruiting is sales with humans — both selling the role to candidates and candidates to hiring managers
• Time-to-hire matters but quality matters more — bad hires cost 2-3x salary to fix

Job Descriptions

• Requirements vs nice-to-haves must be clearly separated — overloaded requirements scare good candidates
• "Years of experience" is a poor proxy — focus on demonstrated skills and outcomes
• Salary range transparency attracts better candidates — hiding it wastes everyone's time
• Avoid gendered language and unnecessary requirements — "rockstar" and "must lift 50lbs" narrow pools
• Include what the role actually does daily — not just responsibilities, but reality

Sourcing Candidates

• LinkedIn is obvious but saturated — good candidates get 50+ messages weekly
• Personalized outreach beats templates — reference specific work, projects, or posts
• Referrals have higher success rates — incentivize and track them
• Passive candidates need compelling reasons — they're not looking, give them a reason to listen