Boss Looking To Hire For An Open Position Ignores 392 Applications And Employs A Friend Of A Friend
Why would he post the job listing in the first place?
LinkedIn, Reddit A man on LinkedIn claimed to have posted a job listing for the “Head of Recruitment” position at his company and received nearly 400 applications in 24 hours — 392 to be exact.
Naturally, he was shocked by the number and thought to himself that there was no way he would be able to comb through 400 applications for this position. He decided to reach out to a friend who works in recruiting that would hopefully give him some tips, but she gave him something else instead.
He decided to hire a friend of a friend and ignored the 392 applications he received.
He posted his story on LinkedIn which was then reposted on Reddit’s “r/LinkedInLunatics” forum — a place where people share a “mix of rampant virtue signaling, cringeworthy titles, and stories.” This certainly falls into one of the above.
“I posted a Head of Recruitment job listing,” claims Laith Masarweh, CEO and Founder of Assistantly. “The result? 392 applications in 24 hours. So I said, ‘Holy s**t, I can’t filter these.’ And called a friend who works in recruiting.”
Photo: Reddit
He was looking to hire someone for recruitment — the job that he was currently performing himself — so who better to ask than a friend who works in that department? She could give him a few tips and look over his processes and tell him what he should be looking for.
She did all of those things, “then introduced me to a friend. Cheryl Ann Arnold ended up being the perfect fit.” Once he had been introduced to the friend of a friend, he claims to have “hit it off” during their 45-minute conversation and said, “Her expertise was exactly what Assistantly needed.”
“So I introduced her to the team the next day. My team loved her. Boom. Hired,” he continued. “I didn’t open *one* of those 392 applications.”
He then went into explaining that nothing will be as valuable as your network.
“My point? Cover letters, video resumes, perfect work records, none of it will be as valuable as your network,” he explained towards the end of his post. “So before you spend your hard-earned money on resume experts: be reliable, get s**t done, treat people like you’d want to be treated, go above and beyond for the people you work for.”
He finishes his post by claiming you never know who’s watching you at work and welcomes Cheryl to his team, but the people of Reddit were much less welcoming to Laith’s post.
Photo: Reddit
“Why would you even admit to this?” one of the top comments read. “Sure, we know these personal referrals happen, but to be so brazen about it? I really hope he's getting a new hole torn in the comments.”
This person touches on a very important point, and it’s the claim that we all know that these kinds of referrals are common. The post itself claims that it’s “nepotism,” which isn’t exactly true because that’s giving positions to family members, but the concept is fairly similar in practice.
The problem most people are having with the post is the brazen nature in which it was laid out and basically insulting people who work diligently for years for not having a good enough network. Not only that, but it’s admitting the fact that he was inadequate in performing the task he set out for himself and then bragging about it.
Networking for your career is important, and LinkedIn is one of the largest avenues for building that network, just think twice before going about it the same way Laith did.
Isaac Serna-Diez is an Assistant Editor for YourTango who focuses on entertainment and news, social justice, and politics.