I think it is great. Everyone is constantly being harassed by recruiters and they are sooo obnoxious and they lie so much and their presentation is so canned. So he's turning the mirror back on them. See, here is the next step and it benefits me instead of your parasitic self centered self. ha ha.

I'm sure this thread will make L2L sad.

half the commenters on here think everyone is a d-bag, so i'm not sure the comments are a fair measure of true d-baggery.

anyway, i think it's clever. and free, so if one or two buy the book, why not?

at least in my experience, HH calls are preferable to sales/charity solicitations that don't take no for an answer, esp the Red Cross (aka "the bloodsuckers"). at least HHs are polite.

Very clever. He should have cold called all of them too.

meh

can we have some more of these happily-not-a-lawyer posts? I could use some more inspiration.

Atlanta to $35k!

I think he's crossed the line here. Just seems like a tremendous amount of time/energy to expend - and to what end? To irritate a bunch of recruiters who themselves have probably gone off to greener pastures?

This is the second novel (this year!) from the NYU Law Class of 2002. The first being, of course, the much discussed Chambermaid by Saira Rao.

Clever -- like the book appears to be.

How about a NY salary thread today? It has been over a month since there has been any discussion of movement from the $160k payscale. With a new year coming up, and first years just arriving, will anyone step up and raise NY salaries to where they should be - higher than the rest of the country?

Lame and not at all funny. Much like that "web page" that his name links to. "If you're name is Google..." Good bit.

except that he spells "your" correctly.

Why does everyone from NYU look like they haven't seen the sun in a decade?

So the guy quit the legal profession to do something else. Who cares? I quit being a computer programmer after 15 years to become a patent attorney. Does that mean I was disillusioned and escaped the computer field? Most people end up having more than one career.

And, yes, I think his tactic speaks of d-baggery. While HH's are sharks, that's their job.

Im a recruiter who has defintitely gone on to greener pastures. I don't find the e-mail annoying or obnoxious at all.

I think he's just genuinely desperate to sell books, given that his novel doesn't exactly have blockbuster written all over it.

He might also be trying to reconnect with the HH's in a very subtle way. Given that the book probably won't sell enough to support him (no dig on the book -- that's just the way it is for most writers), he may be thinking that he'll need their help someday soon.

Why would receiving that email annoy a head hunter?

Yes, many headhunters are douchebags. That said, why did he take the recruiting calls personally? Biglaw, by its very nature, has high turnover. Firms are constantly in need of associates; corporations also need in-house counsel. Yes, the volume of recruiting calls one receives as an associate is excessive, but that’s only because biglaw, as stated before, is a high turnover environment (frankly, a flawed environment, but that’s a discussion for another time). So, it’s fine to hate a headhunter who has been particularly douche-ish, but remember that their calls are a symptom, not the disease.

Rudolph the red head lawyer (or author)

12:37: I don't know why it would be annoying, but he does seem to be gloating a bit. It would annoy me, I know that.

What's a Jennica?

Lat, please, please don't make a habit of using "d-bag" in your above the jump posts, as you do here. It degrades you, tarnishes ATL, and explodes what I thought was the line between your own scandal-filled-but-generally-in-good-taste tabloid content which is marked with your impromatur and the no-holds-barred and sometimes tasteless comments which, while often fun to read, can also be readily dismissed when tasteless.

I think it's great that he's published a novel, but it's not like he's going to be able to support himself or a family with it (although from the title, this looks like a lame date movie in the making...). His e-mail really isn't all that funny, and I can't see how headhunters are really going to care all that much. They call a lot of people. Unless he had an ongoing relationship with one of them, they probably don't even remember his name.

What are they paying you people $160K+ to do? Get back to work.

I don't find the email offensive, but I do find it distastefully smug. I also had to extend that contention to also apply to the author after visiting his website. I can't judge the novel without first having read it, but if the publisher's summary is accurate - and if Delson’s email and website serve as an example of his writing style - well, no thanks. See you in the Barnes & Noble sale rack, Maynard.

11:50=douchebag

Rudolph pretty obviously did this so he could have a good cocktail party story to tell about turning the tables on HH, not because it was some measure of revenge against HH or because any HH would buy his book. Therefore, d-baggery confirmed.

Delson=Douchebag

Maynard and Jennica by Rudolph Delson?

More like Douchenard and Baggica by Rudouche Bagson.

PS- I dated a girl named "Jennica" once. And she was pretty hot, too.

Novels have trailers?

It's not really obnoxious, but I agree with Mr. Hunt -- if you're trying to make your living writing comedy, it's important to actually, you know, be funny.

Plus why did he save the e-mail address of every headhunter that ever contacted him? For this? That's pretty pathetic.

can't he be both clever and a douchebag? that's my vote.

I agree with Anonymous @ 2:42. Except for the being clever part.

It's a brilliantly conceived stunt designed to end up on numerous law blogs, each of which is read by a large number of douchebags who, not coincidentally, are the target audience of his book.

I went to NYU law and there are a lot vampire types there. Not sure why.

From a soon-to-be former headhunter, the email doesn't bother me. If anything I respect the guy in a twisted sort of way. It takes an unhinged wackjob to save email addresses for purposes like that and I tend to respect unhinged wackjobs because they oftentimes are the only people who I speak to during my day who don't infuriate or bore me. I know from experience (hence why I'm leaving a suprisingly lucrative job to take one at approx 1/5 the pay) that most HH's are dripping with douchejuice and this guy must have had some bad experiences. Good for him I say.

http://www.villagevoice.com/nyclife/0008,schlesinger,12745,15.html

Wow. His website suggests to me that he's a really annoying writer. I went there seeking a simple answer to a simple question: What is the book about? I wound my way through various links only to find that his answer is, in essence, "It's too hard to describe, so I'm not going to tell you, and instead I am going to take this opportunity to spout some smug prose demonstrating my skillful word choice and quirky yet charming style. Oh, and also, I am going to be really annoying in the part about my biography, by claiming to be so modest that no biography is deserved but then proceeding to boast of every detail in my legal career, from paralegal job to clerkship."

This guy walks around knowing -- KNOWING -- he is smarter and more clever than the guy next to him. That's annoying.

Why does everyone hate headhunters so much? I've been fielding their calls for nine years, and it has yet to become something that keeps me up at night. If I'm not interested, I say "Thanks. Not interested. Call me back in a year if you'd like." And that's what they do. And once, I was interested, and the headhunter helped me with my next job.

In any event, I don't think his e-mail is mean or offensive or somehow "turns the tables" on headhunters. I would imagine most of the recipients read it, said "Huh.", and deleted it.

Whoa. He really got them!

From the D's website: "As for what I look like, here is one of the author photos that my publishers rejected:"

Ahhh...rejection.

Sorry guys - you just don't get it. Almost 40! people commented on this blog about Delson's book or about him. That is a phenomenal number of comments in the space of 5 hours. Aren't lawyers on the clock??!!

I guarantee you that this blog was not the only place where those who commented here spoke about the "ex-lawyer of the day". As a non-traditional marketer, what Delson did is not that unique and is pure early 21st century marketing - commonly called influencer outreach, word of mouth or conversational marketing - AND he hit the viral video button as well. He also took to understanding the online viral interactive approach and got others promoting him - FOR FREE! Not only that - he does not give the plot away so he creates more conversation and intrigue.

Delson has reached a LARGE audience for a fraction of most law firm's annual marketing budgets, for a small portion of a print ad or a tv spot's cost, and he has got a lot of recruiters and lawyers talking about him and his book - and if just one happens to tell the right person at the right time - Delson ends up on the Today Show or Letterman or the like and he has a best seller. In the meantime - keep up the good work as his silent sales force. And by the way - most recruiters probably picked up the phone and called their colleagues or their lawyer friends or possible lawyer placement candidates and said did you see....

Good for you Delson! I for one will pick up your book - for my wife :-)

Well I'm 1/2 way through his book and I like it! Good for him I say. I think a lot of you are jealous. Go Delson.