First, thank you to the 3,700+ amazing people who signed up for this newsletter.

Hi, it’s Joel Lalgee, AKA The Realest Recruiter, AKA The most infamous recruiter in the world AKA a normal dude and dad.

I publish this newsletter every 2 weeks and highlight all my top content from TikTok, Instagram, LinkedIn, and X. Along with bad takes, news, and a ton of other stuff I think is not boring.

I hope you enjoy it!!!

I’ve said this for a while the people who want to work remotely are people like me, Millennials/Gen X who value time with their family. Gen Z wants to go to the office to learn and be social. On the opposite side of the spectrum, empty nesters value the social side that the office can bring.

In terms of mentorship, I think it has less to do with being fully remote/ in the office and more to do with overall company culture and how much managers are willing to invest in early career professionals.

With that being said, I couldn’t imagine having to Slack message my manager every time I needed something early in my career. It’s much easier to ask questions in person without feeling like you’re bugging them.

In 2021 we had “Quiet Quitting” and in 2024 the pendulum swung the other way. We now have Quiet Layoffs, which is the return to office. So many companies are evading negative news in the media from mass layoffs by forcing remote workers to quit by forcing them to either relocate close to an office or quit.

We saw this towards the end of the year in 2023, with massive companies like Amazon making the headlines with “Return to the office or Quit.”

My thought, as bad as it is, I see why companies are doing this. No headlines, no severance… they win.

My other thought, is I still think the moment we go back to a candidate market, remote work comes back… more on that some other time ;)

I think we can all agree that this is the worst moment… already has 2 million views.

Have you experienced this? I know I have…

If you aren’t on the job market you are LUCKY, don’t underestimate how challenging it is right now,

I’ve been asking people who have landed jobs quickly in this market and this is their advice:

1. You need to apply to a lot of the right jobs. Like 100-200 a week minimum.

2. Don’t just rely on Linkedin and Indeed. Find niche job boards that are related to your industry.

3. Network, network, network with people you’ve worked with in the past.. and follow up with people if you don’t hear back.

4. Go to online/in-person events for your industry to get your name out there.

5. Be prepared for interviews, don’t neglect the homework!

Candidate experience is at an all-time low but it doesn’t mean that top talent will wait around - check out this post on Linkedin and see the comments.

If you’re a hiring manager or recruiter, this is the easiest way to stand out right now.

Be timely, be transparent, and have empathy!

Since I started in recruitment a decade ago, nothing has been "easy"... but there are so many great tools available that can help you focus on being a better recruiter.

Since I got back in recruitment at the end of last year, here are the tools I am using, and the great news, you can try most of them out yourself for free:

EQ Buddy: Eq Buddy is the best AI personal recruitment assistant on the market. From sourcing, messaging, and creating job ads, EQ Buddy does it all. With membership, you get access to the product as well as networking opportunities in the EQ Connect community. I use EQ Buddy for Business Development, candidate outreach, and gathering news for the industries I serve. It’s a must-have and getting even better every day.

Recruiterflow - When I started in recruitment I used a spreadsheet, since then I've worked with a lot of frustrating ATSs. When I started my own shop I decided I needed a new tool, so I was referred to Recruiterflow. Their interface is clean and customizable, they can provide me with client portals so I look more professional, and best of all their data migration is painless. You can try them here if you're sick of the ATS Bull**** 😉 

Betterleap: Contact information is expensive and usually not accurate, and most sourcing tools have confusing prices. That's why I love Betterleap, you can source using natural language and they have access to the best contact information (DM me if you want to put it to the test against your tool). You can try Betterleap for free!

Metaview - of course, I love this one. No more note-taking for recruiters with instant conversation summaries so you can focus on being the most engaged recruiter you can be. This is a time saver and easily one of my favorite tools. You can try Metaview here and mention “Joel 2024” for the extended month-long trial.

So please guys, if you aren't upping your game, try these tools for FREE,

It will make your life easier, even if recruiting is still a challenge 😉

I am partnered with all the companies above and highly recommend their services!

If your company is looking for a strategic way to increase visibility and reach a targeted audience, consider sponsoring our newsletter.

By doing so, you'll support our platform's growth and gain exposure to a diverse and engaged readership. Contact us at [email protected] to discuss the details.

Thank you for reading this episode:

About the Author: Joel Lalgee has built a social media following of over 500,000. In 2019 he started creating content on Linkedin and since then he has expanded to Tiktok, Twitter, Snapchat, Facebook, Instagram… yeah everywhere. He’s also hosted 2 successful podcasts. His content has been viewed over 500,000,000 times and he now coaches recruitment teams on how to create content successfully to win on social media.

If you need additional help with your content I’m providing 1 on 1 coaching, corporate team workshops/training, and ghostwriting and advising services. Want to work with me?

You can book a quick call here

Until next time!

Joel

✌🏽

therealestrecruiter.com