Today I received an email from a recruiter asking me if I might be interested in a terrific Juniper Engineer opportunity. It seems the recruiter in question “found” my profile on LinkedIn and thought this would be a great fit for me… and my 20 years of recruiting experience. You see, I’ve PLACED Juniper Engineers in the past, so I guess that makes me qualified to build networks. Or at least get caught in the keyword search and blast email for those professionals.

In just the past week I’ve been approached for two network engineering positions and an administrative assistant job. Solely because the right keywords show up on my profile, and the person doing the search didn’t bother to actually read anything about me to see if I’m qualified, or in these cases, not qualified. Assuming this was a typical week (it was) that’s about 150 “opportunities” I receive a year that have absolutely nothing to do with what I’m actually qualified to do.

Technology and social networks have enabled recruiters to connect with potential candidates like never before. But they have also enabled many among our profession to become incredibly lazy. Enter a few key words, maybe a zip code and job title and voila! Instant candidate list. Add in the mass email function of an ATS or paid LinkedIn account, and it becomes very easy to cover a lot of potential candidate ground in no time. Which is of course a good thing, right up until the lack of actual thought involved makes it a bad thing.

In fact, I would say this sort of low effort, low skill sourcing adds very little value for either the candidates or the hiring managers/clients, and frankly degrades our entire profession. Is it any wonder that we have to fight for a place at the corporate strategy table and are regularly tuned out by candidates? Don’t even get me started on the going rate for a “mid-level” recruiter these days…

Recruiting 101 tells us to start with a well-developed position description, then go forth and identify potential candidates who possess the required background and skills to fill the position. In my experience, there are two critical pieces to the front end of this process: reading through resumes, and actually talking to candidates. Key words alone simply don’t cut it.

So my advice to all of those who would call themselves recruiters is this: Take the time to read about the candidates you contact before you blast them with your “great opportunity” email. After all, reading IS fundamental.