Dear recruiters, I know you have an extremely difficult job. The hiring market is white hot and getting worse (better, for candidates) by the hour. We all get pinged repeatedly, daily. I mostly don't mind. However, here are a few rules you should follow to help you improve your contact:hire ratio and not turn candidates off to your pitch: 1) Don't email candidates at work. Just don't. It's incredibly unprofessional.If you email me at work (and I get these daily), you are guaranteed to be blocked and added to Junk Mail. 2) Take the time to read candidate profiles to see where their interests lie, where they are in their careers, and how your role would help them get ahead. Emailing blindly for stuff that clearly doesn't fit just turns candidates off. 3) Don't force a fit. Ever. For any reason. Don't lie. Be as transparent as possible about the opportunity. You're talking to a highly educated populous with access to data and inside company networks that you don't have. We're not dumb and we do our own research. Start with this. Adhere to integrity and first principles. Candidates actually like hearing from you about opportunities they may not otherwise have. What they don't like is to be pestered, intruded upon, and lied to. Thank you for considering the feedback. …see more