When you are contacted by a recruiter on linkedin or elsewhere, what are the things that are positives or negatives for you? Personally, it drives me nuts when I have to have a back-and-forth to get them to send me the job description first rather than a phone call. Conversely I am so happy when someone just provides the information up front; even if it is not a good fit, I am happy to work with them.<p>What are your positives/negatives?
> How do you evaluate a recruiter?<p>1st - Check out their profile-- do they look real? Does their firm online presence look legit?<p>2nd - What's the tonality of the email exchange? Is this someone with solid business acumen or a flunky?<p>3rd- Have a script ready-- "Joe, thanks for reaching out. You may appreciate, I get several requests like yours every week. So we don't waste too many cycles, please forward a full, detailed position summary. Also, tell me about your relationship with the client/hiring executive. If it's not a match for me, happy to see if I can refer some one."<p>That dialog should inform if it's worth going forward.<p>Like all salesmen, recruiters prefer to have live conversations to foster discovery and build rapport. A 10 minute exploratory phone conversation will tell you a lot.