Is Resume Distribution Worth It?

Is blind recruiter outreach or mass resume distribution the Executive equivalent of AI mass application tools?

In each scenario, you have zero intel - zero relationship - zero quality control - zero ability to customize your resume, bio, and outreach to speak to priorities for a potential opportunity. There may not even be an opportunity, just you creating more noise.

I recently chatted with an Outplacement Expert, formerly at a top Executive Search firm, who shared: "We see less than 1% rate of return on blind recruiter outreach."

Are Recruiters and Executive Search Firms valuable partners in a job search? YES, they can absolutely accelerate your search and provide invaluable insights. I'm not saying to ignore them as a potential channel for opportunities. However, we do want to deploy targeted outreach.

So how do you make that connection?

• Follow up with Recruiters who have reached out to you in the past. They are more likely to be generating leads in your field.

• Ask colleagues about the firms they have had good experiences with. If your colleague seems open, ask for an introduction.

• Search Preplexity for recruiting firms based on your target role and location.

• Use LinkedIn to dig deeper into the backgrounds of various Recruiters. Each has a specialty, so you want to try to find the right person.

• Make sure your messages are personalized and customized. Yes, this takes more time, but to improve outcomes, we're looking for quality of outreach, not quantity.

Where can we streamline the process?

Using a spreadsheet to track outreach, timelines, relevant data, and rank hot / cold leads can work well. Likewise, it can streamline your process to create a batch of letters for each type of outreach (known opportunity, letter of interest, extending an introduction, etc.) and then customize each time to list a shared connection, mention a colleague, remind the recipient of an event you attended together, and more.

Mark your calendar or your spreadsheet to indicate when you intend to follow-up again. One-and-done outreach rarely lands. Select your timeline based on the nature of opportunities you are pursuing. Higher-level roles have longer hiring windows and longer timelines for consideration. As such, your follow-up cadence can stretch out a bit more to a few weeks or even a few months for board-level roles or opportunities that will not be open for six months to two years.

More methods to build trust

• Leverage social channels to build visibility where professionals in your field hang out: LinkedIn (Broad Professional), Instagram (Creatives), X (Tech), etc.

• Engage on content recruiters in your field are posting (sparingly if you are currently employed and searching stealthily).

• Offer introductions to your connections and colleagues. Recruiters often note in databases if people are helpful (or rude).

We can’t email blast outreach and expect a personal response. We know when something is automated. We can tell when an AI bot has hit its wall and can no longer say or do anything meaningful. We need a dose of human connection.

Make sure you are adding personality, clear intention, and human insights at the right points of your outreach to convey your purpose is not to inundate, but to resonate.