I got a pushy note from a recruiter today. It annoyed me.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s great to have recruiters contacting me every few days with real job prospects. As an American, this is wonderful. Most people are not so lucky.

But good lord they can be pushy prats.

This one was particularly bad: basically demanding a new copy of my resume, filling out some forms, etc. Note that they already have pretty recent info on me. They just want me to do their work for them.

So this is the response I sent back:

Hello, thanks for contacting me. I don’t need a job. I already have two at the moment. But apparently you need to fill a position. That’s great.

But you already have all of this information and I’m already in high demand. For this reason I don’t waste time sending personal information out applying to mystery jobs to unknown parties, especially in response to those who send demanding letters requiring me to do a lot of work. This is not, might I add, how you are likely to find top employees.

If you have a specific job that you think I might be interested in and could possibly be well-suited for, pitch me that particular job. I’m not in a place in my career where I am desperate for work. I am good at what I do and I take pride in it. So it follows that I will only work with employers that meet my standards  — and for me to determine that, I need to know who they are in advance.

If this is not acceptable, please remove me from your list. If it is acceptable — great. We can work together. Thank you.

Yes, I know 100% that will get me nuked from this recruiter’s database. It is both a bit arrogant and dismissive. That’s the whole point — even though everything in the letter is true.

I just don’t have time for that anymore, and if it makes someone think (I know, probably won’t), all the better.

And now I have a form letter I can send out to all these sharks.