Is recruiter blasting worth the expense?

Question:

Cheryl,

I recently signed up to receive job leads from CareerBuilder.com and subsequently received an email from them offering a recruiter blasting service. Are these services worth trying?

Answer:

That's a great question, and the answer depends mostly on you. Allow me to explain:

• First of all, there will be a charge for this service, so you will need to evaluate whether or not it is worth it to you to expend that money. While it can be helpful to have these services assist you in getting lots of resumes out the door, it comes at a cost. How would you rather spend your money - to purchase a service that gets more resumes out the door, or to fund other expenses? If money is tight, this is an easy expense to forego.


• Second, not all recruiter blasting services work the same way, so it will be important to check out the ones you're interested in. The better services will allow you to target your recruiter mailings by some combination of geographic areas and industry specialties, while the cheaper services will force you to mail to an entire database. Needless to say, avoid the latter and use only the former.


• Third, some services allow you to tailor each letter you send to recruiters, while others force you to send the same letter and resume to each and every recruiter. If you plan to job search across more than one industry, it will be extremely counterproductive for you to send the identical letter/resume to each and every recruiter. Recruiters, like hiring managers, want to believe that you are courting only them, so customization, however simple (and it need not take more than a minute or two per resume/letter) is critical.

The bottom line? Recruiter blasting services can be helpful, if you use them strategically. Investigate which service you buy, and make sure it has all the customization and targeting options noted above. And remember this: recruiter databases are available for free on the Internet, so if you want to tailor a customized blast to carefully selected recruiters in your preferred geographic areas and industry specialties, you can do so without investing any money.

If, on the other hand, you have the cash to invest in such a service, and little time to get recruiter resumes out the door, then recruiter resume blasting may suit you well.

FYI, ExecutiveResumeRescue.com just launched our own recruiter resume blasting service which will allow you to send your resume to recruiters in up to 3 recruiting specialties in your preferred geographic areas. Our beta pricing is still in effect, so visit ExecutiveResumeRescue.com for pricing and details.