Can LinkedIn Solve This Cold Contact Problem?

Recruiters cold contact me every week about positions I’m not qualified for, don’t want, or that really shouldn’t exist, like a UX Designer/Developer. Sometimes I tell them, I’m not a developer. Sometimes I remind them that unicorns don’t exist. If I’m in a really bad mood, I just delete the emails/voicemails and don’t respond at all. For repeat offenders who clearly have no idea about my qualifications, I’ve even been known to mark as SPAM.

There needs to be a better user experience for both recruiters and candidates to deal with this.

A Little Rant on the Designer/Developer Role

The problem I have with this role is that designers and developers have completely different focus and skill sets. You need both skill sets to produce a good product but that cannot be obtained in one person no matter how skilled they are. A designer will develop based on the limited code they understand that may underserve the user. A developer will design a user experience that only other developers will love. So unless you’re creating a product for developers, that won’t work.

When I see these types of role, it tells me that the company either doesn’t understand good user experience, isn’t committed to good user experience, or won’t pay for good user experience. In all cases, I’m not interested in working for this company.

LinkedIn Solution

Until we can eliminate this role from the collective consciousness, I suggest we find a discrete way to indicate to recruiters that we’re not open to this role. I nominate LinkedIn for the fix.

I have a “job seeker” account. Why can’t I have a blind set of criteria that include exclusions as well as preferences that “recruiter” accounts can ping against? That way the recruiter knows they have a higher qualified lead and the candidate doesn’t get inundated with a massive amount of mismatched job solicitations. Sounds like a win-win to me.

Potential Criteria

  • Locations
  • Companies
  • Job Titles
  • Minimum Salary

Privacy Concerns

Most job seekers won’t want this list open to the public or current employers. This is why I suggest the criteria be hidden from view but allow recruiters to ping their job descriptions against it to see if there’s a good enough match to warrant contacting the candidate.

So, LinkedIn, if you could get on that right away, we’d all appreciate it. Thanks!

Update November 2016: Ask and you shall receive! LinkedIn has pretty much implemented my full request. You can find it in the Jobs section under Preferences.

Note: I know I’m opening myself up to the rants of many self-identified unicorns. Just remember, unicorns and trolls don’t peacefully coexist either. Be careful which one you represent yourself as here.

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